EvoAria Evo Era

EvoAria Evo Era

CD, USB and Bluetooth All-in-One DAC and Headphone Amplifier

Evo Era puts a CD transport, a high-resolution USB input, a flagship Bluetooth receiver, and a fully configurable headphone amplifier inside one compact aluminum chassis. It is small enough to carry, powerful enough to sit at the center of a desktop setup, and flexible enough to feed an external system when you want the music somewhere else in the room. Two decoding architectures, three analog timbres and a full set of gain and power options mean the sound is yours to shape rather than something you simply accept.

Three Sources, One Lever

A single SOURCE lever moves Evo Era between CD, USB Audio and Bluetooth. There is no menu diving and no guessing which input is live. Flip the lever and the front display tells you exactly where you are.

The CD side runs a customized mechanism and servo system with full transport control, including track selection, playback modes, and both individual track time and total time on screen. USB Audio is handled by an XMOS XU316 module with selectable UAC 1.0 and UAC 2.0 operation, supporting PCM up to 768 kHz and DSD up to DSD512. Bluetooth 5.4 arrives by way of the Qualcomm QCC5181 flagship audio platform with Snapdragon Sound, covering aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, aptX HD, aptX, LDAC, AAC and SBC.

Two Decoding Architectures, Three Ways to Listen

Evo Era carries both a String R-2R decoder and a delta-sigma decoder, and lets you choose between them. The String R-2R section is built from 170 high-precision, low-temperature-coefficient resistors across four specifications, arranged as a true dual-channel decoder with fully independent power supplies for the left and right channels. The delta-sigma section uses two ES9069 DAC chips running in MONO mode for fully differential decoding.

That gives you three selectable decoding modes: dual ES9069 delta-sigma, R-2R with oversampling, and R-2R without oversampling. The same album can be smooth and effortless, or raw and immediate, depending on which architecture you hand it to. A high-capacity 100K-LUT FPGA manages I2S signal processing and handles precision calibration of the R-2R section, which is the part that keeps a resistor ladder honest over time.

Analog Timbre and Amplification

Three analog timbre modes are carried over directly from Evo One. TR is a fully transistor-based path, clean and fast with excellent grip. VELVET is a hybrid mode with a warmer presentation and a richer midrange, and it suits vocals and small ensembles beautifully. LUMINA is also hybrid, but tuned for transparency, clarity and a more articulate presentation across a wider range of material.

On top of the timbre choice sit three hardware gain settings (H, M and L), three power levels (TURBO, P+ and P), and switchable CLASS A or CLASS AB operation. Sensitive IEMs and demanding full-size headphones are both accounted for, and the combinations give you real room to tune the amplifier to the load and to your own taste.

Volume Control That Feels Analog and Behaves Digitally

Evo Era pairs an ALPS potentiometer with an NJW1195A volume control IC. You get the tactile feel of a traditional analog knob, while an internal ADC reads its position and drives the NJW1195A electronically. The result is precise, repeatable volume adjustment with minimal channel imbalance at very low listening levels, which is exactly where most analog potentiometers start to fall apart.

CD Ripping to USB

With CD selected and a compatible USB drive connected, Evo Era rips discs directly to the drive as lossless WAV files. Audio is read straight from the CD transport, and you can keep listening while the rip is in progress. Your physical collection moves to a file library, with no computer anywhere in the chain.

Outputs

Headphone outputs are provided on 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm, with matching 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm line outputs for connecting to an external system. Digital output is available over coaxial or optical SPDIF with automatic output detection.

The analog outputs use intelligent connection detection. Headphone output takes priority over line output, and when multiple connections are detected simultaneously, the most recently connected output takes precedence. Plug in and play, without reaching for a menu.

Power and Battery

A 3.87 V, 10,000 mAh battery lets Evo Era run entirely off the grid. Expect roughly 9 hours in CD mode with the 4.4 mm output in hybrid timbre, and up to around 14 hours in CD mode with the 3.5 mm output in TR mode. Charging is handled over USB PD at 9 V and 2 A, taking approximately three and a half hours, or approximately five hours with a standard 5 V, 2 A supply.

Connect a PD-compliant adapter, then select DC INPUT mode from the menu. The adapter then powers Evo Era directly while simultaneously charging the battery, and DC TURBO mode engages automatically for maximum output. The menu also offers idle auto power off, and detection circuits at the analog outputs shut down unused analog sections based on what is actually connected, so battery life is not spent on stages you are not listening to.

Build and Finish

The chassis is machined from 6063 aluminum, anodized, and given a No. 200 glass bead micro-sandblasted surface treatment, finished in silver white and gold. Function markings are deep-engraved and laser-etched rather than printed. Every unit carries a dedicated stainless steel plate on the rear panel with its own serial number.

Evo Era measures 182 x 182 x 29 mm, with the height excluding the 2 mm feet and the selector knob, which protrudes a further 4 mm. Net weight is 1,025 g.

Display, Controls and Firmware

The front display carries the source, playback status, volume, menu settings, firmware upgrade progress and system notifications. Four physical buttons handle playback and menu navigation, while a POWER and HOLD lever manages screen-off, power, and the HOLD lock. Firmware for the MCU, FPGA and SERVO can all be updated from the menu using a USB drive, following the upgrade instructions supplied with each release.

Specifications

Headphone Output Power (THD+N ≤ 0.5%)

DC IN mode requires a PD compliant power adapter with Power Source set to DC INPUT in the menu.

3.5 mm Single-Ended Headphone Output

4.4 mm Balanced Headphone Output

3.5 mm Line Output

4.4 mm Line Output

Measurement conditions: USB audio input, Turbo mode, Gain H, Class A.