[Charente]

Thanks! Found it in France for 279€ here: https://www.noir-et-blanc.com/lotoo-paw-s2.html

Actually, they're based in Belgium

 

[Zachik]

Thanks! Found it in France for 279€ here: https://www.noir-et-blanc.com/lotoo-paw-s2.html

Actually, they're based in Belgium

I could not resist...

 

[powergeek]

Actually, they're based in Belgium

Oops ! My bad

 

[waveSounds]

TomaYto, tomaRto...

 

[discord]

 

[Exit]

I own a W2 and still pulled the trigger on S2. After weeks of listening with Hifiman RE800 single ended, I could say I prefer the sound signature of S2. It gives lushier mids, from vocal to instruments such as violin. Engaging. W2, on the other hand, is cooler and more transparent, offering a bit more micro details. I especially appreciate listening to piano playing with W2. If I had to choose only one portable gear, I would choose S2. It gives me more vibes of music and quality high enough for everyday commuting. The support of Tidal on Android is another killer function which W2 so far still fails to deliver. Music converted from 44.1khz to 48khz by Android SRC is noticeable and unbearable.
Finally, with S2, I am able to get rid of UAPP buffering and also listen to offline Tidal collection natively, and most important of all, bit perfectly.

 

[dgjl]

I own a W2 and still pulled the trigger on S2. After weeks of listening with Hifiman RE800 single ended, I could say I prefer the sound signature of S2. It gives lushier mids, from vocal to instruments such as violin. Engaging. W2, on the other hand, is cooler and more transparent, offering a bit more micro details. I especially appreciate listening to piano playing with W2. If I had to choose only one portable gear, I would choose S2. It gives me more vibes of music and quality high enough for everyday commuting. The support of Tidal on Android is another killer function which W2 so far still fails to deliver. Music converted from 44.1khz to 48khz by Android SRC is noticeable and unbearable.
Finally, with S2, I am able to get rid of UAPP buffering and also listen to offline Tidal collection natively, and most important of all, bit perfectly.

Thanks for this. Very helpful. Could you say anything about the power draw differences between S2 and W2. W2 uses about 10% an hour on my S20, low gain and light iems.

 

[twister6]

Thanks for this. Very helpful. Could you say anything about the power draw differences between S2 and W2. W2 uses about 10% an hour on my S20, low gain and light iems.

It will depend on what you are driving and how loud the volume is, but I noticed that S2 draws on average 20-30mA less current.

 

[musicday]

Anyone knows when the black Friday sale starts for the S2?
I could use one

 

[skedra]

I figured I'd give some impressions of the S2 after a couple of weeks of use, and before the final review. I generally tend to use Bluetooth dongles (Qudelix 5K, Shanling UP5 and alike) on a day to day basis and until recently I didn't have a good reason to use a dongle instead since the jump in sound quality didn't seem worth it in terms of convenience. However, after some time with the S2 I can say that will change in a lot of situations.
Without going into huge detail the S2 very much has a Lotoo sound to it, it's smooth, lush and sweet-sounding without giving up on resolution and technicalities, it's very apparent listening to it side by side with the Paw Gold Touch that they are both tuned by the same people.
In terms of technical performance, as I mentioned above, the S2 may be the first dongle where I feel it's worth using it over a Bluetooth device, the jump in sound quality is apparent, especially with higher-end IEMs (like my daily driver MAD24 and MEST MK2) which benefit from the added clarity and better tonal balance of the S2.
I didn't have a chance to compare it to say L&P W2 but from memory the latter was much drier and "overly" neutral to me, edging on being a bit glary, whereas the S2 was much more natural and pleasant sounding. W2 also gave a bit of a fake detail impression in comparison.
Usability wise, I'm yet to find an issue while using it, plug in, it connects immediately, volume buttons work just fine every time, so does the play and function key. I kinda wish it had dedicated next and last track buttons but that's more of a nitpick.

 

[PhenixS1970]

I also got one a few weeks ago. Really covenient with apple music on my iphone 11 and love the Lotoo sound (also have a 6000). Just paying attention when disconnecting headphones as I noticed that there is bit of wiggle when unplugging (I block the unused input with my thumb when pulling out a headphone to not stress the pcb boards). Btw if you have the apple camera adapter usb to lightning that works as well with the supplied cables .

 

[yoshi15]

I've really been enjoying the s2 with my iphone 11, dunu dk4001. Take it pretty much everywhere, qq about the new firmware. What's the reasoning behind removing the PMEQ settings? the jazz eq hits just right for me

 

[dgjl]

Is anybody using the S2 with Tidal on android? If so, can they say if Tidal, now that it can use the DAC in bit perfect mode, is much the same as UAPP/Hiby, or whether those solutions are still the way to go for sq? Thanks.

 

[Exit]

Is anybody using the S2 with Tidal on android? If so, can they say if Tidal, now that it can use the DAC in bit perfect mode, is much the same as UAPP/Hiby, or whether those solutions are still the way to go for sq? Thanks.

Using S2 with Tidal on S21 Ultra. I can't hear difference between UAPP and Tidal, both in bit perfect mode. However, with Tidal, there is a half a second pause everytime I open other apps. The pause becomes a faint "dat dat" sound while MQA being played. And with both UAPP and Tidal, there is always this "dat dat" at the beginning of every MQA song.

 

[Exit]

Using S2 with Tidal on S21 Ultra. I can't hear difference between UAPP and Tidal, both in bit perfect mode. However, with Tidal, there is a half a second pause everytime I open other apps. The pause becomes a faint "dat dat" sound while MQA being played. And with both UAPP and Tidal, there is always this "dat dat" at the beginning of every MQA song.

I just fixed my own problem. keeping Tidal open in the background solves the stutter when switching apps. So basically now to me, there is no SQ difference between UAPP and Tidal. Static dat sound at the start of MQA songs remains with both apps, tho.

Usability wise, I would like to point out that the remote button of S2 is working with UAPP only. I use physical button of the phone to play next with Tidal.