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Just as a preamble, I still waiting to receive LPGT review sample and only had the opportunity to play with a short term loaner from MusicTeck (who will be distributing it in US very soon). Also, in the last few months Lotoo released close to half a dozen of fw updates, finally implementing all the features their originally promised, along with a lot of optimizations which obviously indirectly affect the sound performance. They were waiting to finalize FW, and then make LPGT available globally for sale, that is a reason for delay. I did take notes which I wasn't planing to share until I have review unit, but i'm getting way too much "pressure" from you guys/gals asking me to share initial Impressions, along with a brief comparison to LPG, SPK SS, WM1Z, DX200Ti, and N8 (which I have to return soon after my recent review). So, I probably going to put something together in a week or so.
Regarding the sound, from what I understand, Lotoo was never planning to update the signature. Keep in mind, LPG was released 4 years ago, and last year 2017 refresh was mostly cosmetic with a few internal optimizations. And even after release of Touch, LPG is still in production and not discontinued. The idea behind LPGT is to enhance LPG with missing features, to bring it up to current flagship standards.
In terms of sounds signature, it's indeed very similar, except you no longer hear LPG's sub-bass boost, instead LPGT is more neutral and more reference. In terms of sound performance, LPGT over-sampling has a noticeable improvement in terms of layering and sound dynamics. The biggest change to my ears is that LPGT is dead quiet even with the most sensitive IEMs, while for those who tried LPG with sensitive iems like Andromeda, Solaris, Zeus, etc - you will know how bad it hisses. But overall, I think Lotoo tried to stick to the same sound sig formula and if you think about it, this is quite impressive considering LPG uses PCM1762 while LPGT uses AKM4497EQ DACs. Coincidentally, LPGT 3.5mm output uses the same LME49600 opamp as LPG, and even its 4.4mm output with OA1622 opamps tuned to sound nearly the same as 3.5mm output. Lotoo likes their signature sound and wants to keep it in the new model, I guess. Even all the same PMEQ and ATE effects are there.
The big difference is in the features. LPG is a non-touch screen, push button/d-pad, playback ONLY device with a proprietary wall charger. There is no Bluetooth, no USB DAC, no wired or wireless connection to your smartphone/tablet, no charging through usb port, and no over-the-air (OTA WiFi) firmware updates. Touch adds all of that. You have USB DAC, you have Bluetooth, you have duplex Bluetooth so you can turn Touch into a wireless USB DAC (streaming from your phone), you have USB charging, you have touch screen, you have updated Parametric EQ II, you have the same PMEQ and ATE effects as in LPG which you can apply in USB DAC and Bluetooth modes, including Parametric EQ, and you can even update firmware over WiFi now. You also get on-the-fly over sampling, and support of DSD512. Plus, you have Line Out from both 3.5mm and balanced 4.4mm if you want to drive external fully balanced amplifier.
Bottom line, there are a lot of similarities in sound between LPG and LPGT, but I think it was done intentionally. LPGT is like an Extreme Makeover of LPG, if you want to put it that way
Regarding the sound, from what I understand, Lotoo was never planning to update the signature. Keep in mind, LPG was released 4 years ago, and last year 2017 refresh was mostly cosmetic with a few internal optimizations. And even after release of Touch, LPG is still in production and not discontinued. The idea behind LPGT is to enhance LPG with missing features, to bring it up to current flagship standards.
In terms of sounds signature, it's indeed very similar, except you no longer hear LPG's sub-bass boost, instead LPGT is more neutral and more reference. In terms of sound performance, LPGT over-sampling has a noticeable improvement in terms of layering and sound dynamics. The biggest change to my ears is that LPGT is dead quiet even with the most sensitive IEMs, while for those who tried LPG with sensitive iems like Andromeda, Solaris, Zeus, etc - you will know how bad it hisses. But overall, I think Lotoo tried to stick to the same sound sig formula and if you think about it, this is quite impressive considering LPG uses PCM1762 while LPGT uses AKM4497EQ DACs. Coincidentally, LPGT 3.5mm output uses the same LME49600 opamp as LPG, and even its 4.4mm output with OA1622 opamps tuned to sound nearly the same as 3.5mm output. Lotoo likes their signature sound and wants to keep it in the new model, I guess. Even all the same PMEQ and ATE effects are there.
The big difference is in the features. LPG is a non-touch screen, push button/d-pad, playback ONLY device with a proprietary wall charger. There is no Bluetooth, no USB DAC, no wired or wireless connection to your smartphone/tablet, no charging through usb port, and no over-the-air (OTA WiFi) firmware updates. Touch adds all of that. You have USB DAC, you have Bluetooth, you have duplex Bluetooth so you can turn Touch into a wireless USB DAC (streaming from your phone), you have USB charging, you have touch screen, you have updated Parametric EQ II, you have the same PMEQ and ATE effects as in LPG which you can apply in USB DAC and Bluetooth modes, including Parametric EQ, and you can even update firmware over WiFi now. You also get on-the-fly over sampling, and support of DSD512. Plus, you have Line Out from both 3.5mm and balanced 4.4mm if you want to drive external fully balanced amplifier.
Bottom line, there are a lot of similarities in sound between LPG and LPGT, but I think it was done intentionally. LPGT is like an Extreme Makeover of LPG, if you want to put it that way
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