Before I start my write up, I would like to Thank Luxury & Precision for providing a review sample in exchange for my honest opinion. The manufacture page is http://www.luxuryprecision.net/, and it's available from http://penonaudio.com/Luxury-Precision-LP5
Luxury & Precision is a name one would expect from a company specializing in a design of luxury timepieces. Indeed, the product I would like to share with you about has a craftsmanship of a luxury watch, except this is a high resolution digital audio player brought to you by a design team responsible for a line of popular ColorFly DAPs. Prior to receiving my review unit, I was already smitten by images of LP5 and also impressed by a choice of top tier components used in its design. L&P is offering their LP5 model in two variants, Silver + red shadow wood (32GB version) and Gold + rosewood (64GB version). To justify a price difference between two models, you are not only getting a different finish with a double of 24bit ECC Flash memory capacity, but also a selection of higher quality components to deliver a cleaner sound. The unit I received was a Gold model, the one I would like to share with you about in my review. Here is what I found.
The packaging it arrived in had two separate boxes, the main “luxurious” gift box with the actual LP5 and separate smaller box with accessories. I gotta be honest with you, after seeing pictures of this DAP before its arrival, the level of my curiosity to see it in person was at ultimate high! The main box had a sturdy thick carton construction with a form fitted, felt covered cutout where LP5 was sitting like a crown jewel. Besides a pocket under the cover flap with a warranty card and instructions (in Chinese), nothing else was inside of the box. Btw, later I was very pleased that L&P had transparent plastic stickers overlaying every control and port on the DAP with explanation of functionality in English (I kept those stickers for most of the review pictures, only removing it at the end).
The only included accessories were usb to micro-usb cable, for charging and data transfer, and 6.3mm headphone adapter, essential to use with LP5 where HO port is not a traditional 3.5mm. The included USB cable was of a high quality and even had a ferrite bead choke, though not sure if it was even necessary. Considering its premium price, I would have loved to see more accessories, maybe as a minimum some kind of a custom protective leather case.
Unboxing & Accessories.
I’m sure some might argue that a protective case is not really necessary because once you take LP5 out of the box and hold its sexy body with a carved wooden back against the palm of your hand – you will realize this DAP was meant to be seen in its full glory without covering any details under a protective skin. Though its design looks relatively solid, I can’t imagine handling it carelessly by throwing it in my pocket next to keys or tossing it in a gym bag or just dropping it on a table like I handle some of my other DAPs.
The combination of metal and wood material reminded me somewhat of ColorFly C4 design, which is not a coincidence since I already mentioned about the same design team being behind both of these DAPs. I guess their vision is not only to make a great sounding audio player but also to make it unique enough to stand out from the crowd. With that respect - mission was accomplished! The combination of a shape which reminds me of a flask with an analog volume potentiometer (Alps pro audio series volume knob) at the top, a round display with a small screen window, four elongated directional buttons and a small round button in the middle, and a hourglass shaped wooden sides with a comfortable grip - all these details make LP5 stand out with a modern-classic look.
The volume knob at the top has a nice textured sides and a smooth rotation. To prevent it from accidental bumping, there is a metal protection cover piece placed over the top like a bridge. The buttons on the front of the DAP are a bit on a small size and have some rattling, but at the same time they have a nice tactile response with a good feedback when pressed. At the bottom of the LP5 you have 6.3mm (1/4") Headphone output, 3.5mm Line Out output, a slot for micro-SD card, micro-usb port, and a coaxial SPDIF port with RCA type of connector (cable for this port would have been another good accessory to consider). Micro USB port is to charge the unit and also to transfer files (LP5 is recognized with a logical drive letter when connected to PC/laptop). I’m still finalizing my battery measurement since there is a noticeable difference between playing mp3s vs FLAC/DSD files and at a different volume levels, but I heard from others who were able to achieve 10hrs without a problem. Also, with an upcoming firmware update, USB DAC functionality is going to be enabled to use LP5 as an external soundcard. Last but not least, the top and the bottom has two sets of small screws to take this DAP apart.
In my opinion, LP5 has one gorgeous design that really gets attention. I showed it to a number of people, and everybody wanted to hold it in their hands, to touch controls, and made comments if "this is a real wood". But from a different perspective, would I consider this to be pocket friendly DAP to carry with me everyday? Probably not. At 206 grams it's not too heavy, but with a thickness of about 25mm and dimensions of approximately 130mm x 65mm - it's not exactly compact in size. This is a type of DAP you would want to sit down with at home to relax with a glass of fine vine while listening to some smooth groovy high resolution tunes in DSD format.
Design details.
Unfortunately, once you turn the power on, the beauty of exterior design doesn't exactly translate into internal GUI. Don't get me wrong, LP5 still has a capable user-friendly interface, but the GUI is rather primitive and somewhat limited. It's limited by a screen diameter of about 35mm where graphics cleverly covers a full circle shape, but the actual dynamic area of the display seems to be of a rectangular shape and fitting only 5 lines of text.
With a power on (holding down middle round button), you are presented with a Main Menu to access Internal or Flash Memory, to go to Now Playing screen, and to go to System Setting. With a current firmware version while accessing memory with music content, the songs will be arranged by a file date. There is no alphabetical sorting order, though I heard it might be implemented with a next firmware update. Browsing through files is self explanatory, and only requires using up/down directional buttons to navigate and clicking a middle button to start playing a song. Once in Play Mode, you get a small rectangular area in the middle with a song name scrolling across and a song time below it. When you're fast forwarding through a song, progress bar fills in that rectangle to indicate elapsed time. Above this rectangle there is an analog style needle gauge of the remaining battery, and another needle gauge indicator corresponding to VU meter (needle was moving, but I'm not sure if it was accurate). Underneath of that rectangle, you have info about bit depth and sampling rate of the song, and if SPDIF is on or off, as well as playback mode indicator.
System Settings menu has three choices with Play Mode (with Repeat, Sequence, Repeat All, and Shuffle), Audio Output setting with HP Output (which has Low and High impedance setting, similar to low and high gain), SPDIF (on/off), DoP SPDIF (DSD over PCM through SPDIF on/off), and Digital Filter Setup (with fast or slow attenuation setting). The last menu choice in System Setting is Advanced with Display Setting (light on time and brightness level), Language selection (LP5 arrived by default with Chinese language which took a little while to figure out how to change), Auto Shutdown, Sleep Timer, Default Settings reset, and System info. Perhaps more features will be added in future updates, but the one I was missing the most were EQ, gapless playback, and playlist creation. Also due to a limited screen real estate, there is no display of album art.
GUI.
Of course, all the pretty looks will mean nothing if you can’t back it up with a quality performance. Even so I felt LP5 GUI was a bit too primitive for such an exquisite exterior look, you can be rest assured that Luxury & Precision redeemed themselves with a sound quality! In a world of Wolfson WM8740, Cirrus Logic CS4398, and TI PCM1792 popular DACs, it was my first experience with AKM AK4414 DAC. I always preach that DAP should be treated as a black box, and it should be judged by its sound rather than components (such as DAC) used in the design. Still, it was an interesting fact that L&P team decided to stand out from the crowd by using a different DAC to make their sound more unique while supporting every available loss and lossless audio format. As a matter of fact, I read that L&P design team wrote their own software system to support decoding of all these formats.
In general, It's not easy to describe a sound signature of the DAP because you are hearing it through headphones and their own unique sound signature. Therefore, I went through a number of my headphones ranging in sound sig from neutral to balanced and flat in order to find a common thread to describe LP5 sound. I found LP5 to have a smooth and slightly mid-forward sound signature with a touch of warmth, courtesy of a rich textured sub-bass and a slightly rolled off top end.
Starting with a low end, it has a healthy amount of sub-bass which is nicely balanced with a fast mid-bass punch. I actually think it has the most articulate sub-bass delivery among all of my DAPs. At the same time, low end is very well controlled with a surgical separation from mids.
Lower mids have a nice body which adds to the organic tonality of a sound, and upper mids are slightly forward with an excellent retrieval of details. Such combination of mid-range spectrum balance plays an important role in natural and very convincing delivery of vocals, both male and female.
At the same time, a solid low end and a slightly forward upper mids push the treble a little bit to the background. Treble has an excellent extension, and I'm sure if LP5 would have an EQ - you would be able to "correct" top end with a little more sparkle, but at the same time it's still very detailed and not fatigued which is excellent for extended listening pleasure. Based on my listening experience with LP5, if you are craving a more analytical treble extension with some extra sizzle from your cymbal crashes - LP5 might be a bit too smooth for this task.
I found the background to be black, and there was a very minimum hiss with my most sensitive IEMs. Soundstage has an excellent depth and above average width, where I found staging to be a bit deeper than wider in relative comparison. Also, it has a lot of power to drive any IEM or Full Size headphones, even HAVI B3P1 and ATH-R70x (drove those 470 ohm cans with authority!), though I did have to switch HO output high/low impedance setting like a Gain control to pump more juice. It does pair up OK with external amp, but might not be really necessary. In general, I found it to pair up better with my neutral and brighter signature headphones, but not so much with a darker signature ones like UM Pro 50 (and lack of EQ support doesn't help either).
Next to other DAPs, I wanted to see how it compares to X3ii, AK120ii, X5, and N6, all of which I currently have access to.
LP5 vs N6 - N6 has a slightly better retrieval of details, a little leaner and brighter sound, a touch less sub-bass, a little more sparkle at top end (slightly better treble extension), mids are nearly identical in quality while N6 quantity is more balanced. Soundstage has the same depth, while N6 has a little better width. In general, LP5 was a little bit warmer and smoother.
LP5 vs AK120ii - AK is a little bit smoother, very similar low end though LP5 sub-bass has a bit more impact, LP5 mids are brighter/crispier and a bit more upfront. With treble, LP5 has a little brighter and more analytical treble. Also, both have a very similar soundstage, maybe with AK being a touch wider.
LP5 vs X3ii - In my opinion, both have a very similar low end extension, down to sub-bass and mid-bass, though LP5 is more detailed. X3ii mids are not as detailed and also more balanced, and treble was a bit crispier. LP5 has an overall more detailed and slightly brighter sound and a little wider soundstage.
LP5 vs X5 – I found X5 sound to be thinner, airy, and with less sub-bass quantity. Soundstage is a little bit wider and deeper. Sound of X5 has a little less body.
Conclusion.
I want to start my summary a little bit different this time. For sure, Luxury & Precision LP5 is a very unique looking and quite pricey DAP. The more I was thinking about it, the more it started to remind me of a race car. Take for example Bentley Continental GT3-R special race edition. When you look at it, you see a modern-classic look, a similarity I found with LP5 having modern build and design while still having classic curves, retro color tones, and mix of material including wood. Under the hood of GT3-R you will find a very powerful engine with a top notch performance, similar to LP5 with its powerful DAC and array of top notch performance components. But when you look inside of GT3-R, you see a strip-down minimalistic interior design with all the bare essentials to control this car - very similar to LP5 with its minimal GUI design to cover only essential functionality.
Is this the best sounding DAP I have ever tested? It comes close with its unique sound signature and when paired up with a right set of headphones. In my opinion, the design really stands out, and I still find it to be very tastefully done to look like a piece of art! At the same time, this opinion could be polarized where some people might not like its look and could even find it tacky. You can even refer to it as a niche product for those who collect rare audio equipment. But no matter how you look at it, you can't take away how great LP5 sounds, how smooth its analog volume control operates, how cleverly its small screen was utilized even under circumstances of limited GUI. Regarding some missing features, we can hope it will be added in the future firmware updates, like a support for USB DAC, file sorting, and so on. If you are looking for all-around portable DAP to take with you everywhere - LP5 wouldn't be my first choice. It's more like a race car for a special occasion to take around the track, to show off to your friends, and to indulge your fast and furious need for speed with some bling-bling!
It was actually great to see some real pictures of the GUI as opposed to the renders.
Personally I love the look and I love that they have carried the design into the screen/ui with the round appearance (unlike the n6).
To be honest, the sound you described is also what I would expect from its design/looks.
It would almost seem odd had it been a bright dry or overly analytical sound. Would be like someone starting a Ford GT40 and it having a 4 cylinder engine.
If I could justify having multiple devices (I tend to just keep one as I always end up putting one in a draw and never looking at it again) this is definitely something I would have waiting for those special occasions. To sit back on a chair with a scotch and just relax.