[Maru10]

Couldn't agree more with you, Hakuna Matata. The difference between my main desktop unit (Dangerous Music Source) and the S1 are small. It raises the question; is the Source even "better" than the S1? Well, yes - in some areas. Connectivity can't be compared, nor the power provided by the amp section, but then one's a mains powered studio-reference unit and the other is a hilariously small portable solution, and I only have easy to drive headphones. All in all, the Source does just edge the S1 in overall sound quality for me, but by small margins.

If circumstances necessitated I had to sell the Source and live with only the S1, I'd remain content.

Why someone pays for 30y Talisker which is ten times more expensive than classic 10y, and 30 times the price of Johnny Walker? Why someone prefers Grant’s over Four roses? Why pay for BMW when Seat or Hyundai gets you same place in similar comfort? Don’t we all pay the premium for our major vices because of that ephemeral, marginal advantage that we swear it‘s there?

And speaking of Hugo 2 vs S1, this is no mere wishful thinking - the difference is there in detail, separation, vividness, liveliness, timbre, tangible and hearable even to untrained ear. Again, I like S1 for what it is - great pocetable symetrical dac for any device at hand, but let‘s not pretend it is better than a proper tabletop. Sometimes, like in office, S1 is great for the purpose, but at home I like to enjoy aged single malt with touch of peat so to say.

 

[waveSounds]

I don't believe anyone said it was better than the Hugo 2? Also, "better" is in the eye of the beholder.

I just A/B tested the S1 and Dave, and the S1 won. Hands down. The awarding factors were portability, diminutive size and being able to be powered from another device. S1 is better. Dave sucks. You read it here, folks.

 

[rcoleman1]

I don't believe anyone said it was better than the Hugo 2? Also, "better" is in the eye of the beholder.

I just A/B tested the S1 and Dave, and the S1 won. Hands down. The awarding factors were portability, diminutive size and being able to be powered from another device. S1 is better. Dave sucks. You read it here, folks.

I love this hobby. Lol

 

[musicday]

I don't believe anyone said it was better than the Hugo 2? Also, "better" is in the eye of the beholder.

I just A/B tested the S1 and Dave, and the S1 won. Hands down. The awarding factors were portability, diminutive size and being able to be powered from another device. S1 is better. Dave sucks. You read it here, folks.

Certainly Lotoo Paw S1 is better then Chord Dave if all you have is 200 USD.

 

[corgifall]

I love the little S1 but my SMSL stack runs circles around it when it comes to sound quality. It competes well with the hip dac price wise but both devices have their ups and downs.

 

[jsmiller58]

It's probably just me, but I can only tell the difference in my DACs/Amps when I am doing AB comparisons, and only then when the AB listening is for very short clips. Once I am more than a song or two into my listening I really forget to look for the difference and consequently rarely can tell. Of course, this assumes the amp is sufficient to power what I am listening to, loudness being an incredibly important influence in perceived sound quality. I am more likely to be able to hear the differences in IEMs and cans than DACs/Amps, again assuming power is not an issue.

I don't doubt that others have more discerning hearing than I do! I just count myself lucky

 

[hakunamakaka]

It's probably just me, but I can only tell the difference in my DACs/Amps when I am doing AB comparisons, and only then when the AB listening is for very short clips. Once I am more than a song or two into my listening I really forget to look for the difference and consequently rarely can tell. Of course, this assumes the amp is sufficient to power what I am listening to, loudness being an incredibly important influence in perceived sound quality. I am more likely to be able to hear the differences in IEMs and cans than DACs/Amps, again assuming power is not an issue.

I don't doubt that others have more discerning hearing than I do! I just count myself lucky

If you remove aesthetics, excitement and bias opinion because you got a brand new luxury dac/amp, looking purely into sound quality alone differences are not that large in that department. I was in search for my audio nirvana and buying equipment because of rave reviews and lots of money was drained down the toilet in my case. I went through various combos in shop hugo 2, woo audio, monolith and honestly none of these things will transform your headphones/IEM to different beasts no matter what review says. . For people who can easily afford it, this improvement can be worth it, but still they might feel the need to justify the purchase so it will be raved in forums no matter what. For me the sooner I understood that there is no game changer the better.

I sold HF-EF6, bought a cheap'o topping dac/amp combo for a fraction of EF6 price. I really don't care how luxurious my amp looks/feels when I'm pressing buttons. S1 can be compared to hugo if you are using very sensitive IEM/headphones, if the differences are night and day there is most likely impendance missmatch or you are one of the folks who will praise 10% of SQ improvement up to the moon.

 

[bluestorm1992]

If you remove aesthetics, excitement and bias opinion because you got a brand new luxury dac/amp, looking purely into sound quality alone differences are not that large in that department. I was in search for my audio nirvana and buying equipment because of rave reviews and lots of money was drained down the toilet in my case. I went through various combos in shop hugo 2, woo audio, monolith and honestly none of these things will transform your headphones/IEM to different beasts no matter what review says. . For people who can easily afford it, this improvement can be worth it, but still they might feel the need to justify the purchase so it will be raved in forums no matter what. For me the sooner I understood that there is no game changer the better.

I sold HF-EF6, bought a cheap'o topping dac/amp combo for a fraction of EF6 price. I really don't care how luxurious my amp looks/feels when I'm pressing buttons. S1 can be compared to hugo if you are using very sensitive IEM/headphones, if the differences are night and day there is most likely impendance missmatch or you are one of the folks who will praise 10% of SQ improvement up to the moon.

I would second this. I have owned Lotoo's two flagships - LPG and LPGT. Do they perform better than S1? To some extent yes, and they have lots of other added features as well. However, the LPGT is 20 times as expensive as the S1 - for about 20% SQ improvement.

 

[Maru10]

I would second this. I have owned Lotoo's two flagships - LPG and LPGT. Do they perform better than S1? To some extent yes, and they have lots of other added features as well. However, the LPGT is 20 times as expensive as the S1 - for about 20% SQ improvement.

To everyone’s their own. Most of us with spare cash pay the price of diminishing return somewhere, be it cars, brand clothing, spirits, food, pc gaming, sports or other hobbies or equipment. It should not be such surprise that those paying big buck for marginal improvements in SQ flock around Head-Fi.

 

[hakunamakaka]

To everyone’s their own. Most of us with spare cash pay the price of diminishing return somewhere, be it cars, brand clothing, spirits, food, pc gaming, sports or other hobbies or equipment. It should not be such surprise that those paying big buck for marginal improvements in SQ flock around Head-Fi.

I'm not trying to dismiss folks who pay premium money on goodies, it's your money and you can do whatever with it. S1 can't compete against powerfull dap/amps with dedicated baterry matched with power hungry iem/hp, but if we are considering testing it with high sensitivity equipment I don't see why it can't be brought to the table for comparison.

 

[bluestorm1992]

I'm not trying to dismiss folks who pay premium money on goodies, it's your money and you can do whatever with it. S1 can't compete against powerfull dap/amps with dedicated baterry matched with power hungry iem/hp, but if we are considering testing it with high sensitivity equipment I don't see why it can't be brought to the table for comparison.

I once tried to pair the S1 with my Diana V2 and, not surprisingly, the performance is no good. I have tried many portable devices and none of them is capable of doing this honestly. That’s where my spending in desktop setups begin to bring great return to me.

For most of the IEMs, the difference of using it with different (good) DAPs and small dongles is not that big IMO.

 

[Bandit87]

Hi all. I currently use the s1 with a meze 99 classics connected by the silver plated cable. I stream qobuz with uapp. The synergy between this headphone and the s1 is superb. Much better than with my final Pandora VI. I love this combo. I use the "headphone" preset.

 

[Bondipix]

I use my S1 almost exclusively with my HiFiMan HE400i 2020. I swapped out the standard cable for the Meze 99 balanced and connect using a DDHIFI 4.4 adapter. To me, this is an almost perfect combination. I don’t feel the need to upgrade anything. The S1 is just superb!

 

[_daRK]

I use my S1 almost exclusively with my HiFiMan HE400i 2020. I swapped out the standard cable for the Meze 99 balanced and connect using a DDHIFI 4.4 adapter. To me, this is an almost perfect combination. I don’t feel the need to upgrade anything. The S1 is just superb!

I suggest taking your Hifiman somewhere to try it with a better Amp. You will be surprised what is missing here, it is impossible to be satisfied with the combination of S1 + He400i. This is not about the loudness. Seriously, you need much higher output than the S1 (even with a balanced cable).

 

[Bondipix]

I suggest taking your Hifiman somewhere to try it with a better Amp. You will be surprised what is missing here, it is impossible to be satisfied with the combination of S1 + He400i. This is not about the loudness. Seriously, you need much higher output than the S1 (even with a balanced cable).

Like I said; ..”to me”..
I don’t feel the need to spend any more money to achieve a degree of listening pleasure above and beyond what I now have. I am happy enough.
Sure, there will always be “better” out there.
But it really can become a never-ending/enough pursuit. I don’t intend to get sucked in. Experience is all relative. To me, in my experience, this simple combo is everything I need.