[eloelo]

Sorry about my simple explanation about the clarity of the voices in the W2. Certainly I do not have a preference between female or male, I just like them both. Yes the S1 has more forward miss, and the overall sound of W2 is tighter, meatier and denser. On the Lotoo the sound is like on a quality recording while on the L&P the sound is live, it plays by a professional band especially for you.
So basically the S1 it will be a Paw 6000 and W2 a LPGT.

Live concert feeling on W2 vs lush background music on S1

Thanks for all the effort put into your descriptions! I think I have a better understanding of what W2 would sound like now

 

[musicday]

This thread is on fire

 

[saltyfr0g]

Hmm, so do we buy the W2 or wait for the S2 now?!?

I’ll end up buying them both regardless.

 

[rwelles]

Does anyone know the output impedance on these?

 

[FooFighter]

Does anyone know the output impedance on these?

I asked this question before too
Noone knows
According to the behavior of my Andros I guess below 1 ohm, maybe 0,5 to 0,7 on balanced output
But just guessing

 

[Niyologist]

Alright, very quick first impressions using Gaudio's Clariden which are my latest IEMs and the ones which are the most source-sensitive and scale well.

This is using the beginning of four songs:

• I Don't Care Anymore - Phil Collins
• What You Don't Know - Caroline Spence
• Diamond And Rust + Babe, I'm going to Leave You - Joan Baez

Files are the same, either played via Vox on an iPhone XR or Astell & Kern's A&norma SR25.

Cable is OEAudio Digital Audio Cable Type-C to Lightning -- me no likey the bundled whitey cables.

Quick one on L&P's W2 settings:

• Tuning 01: gentle, I confirm it's gentler
• Tuning 02: refine, I confirm it's more refined

These have a clear difference in-between them.
Unless I'll listen to classical music, I'll use Tuning 01 and the following is written with this tuning (Tuning 01 - Gentle) set on the W2.

I've set the W2 to low gain in order to fine tune as much as possible the volume (volume steps are directly on the W2 and is marvelously precise running off an iPhone XR compared to other dongle-type DAC/Amps).

Now, compared to the SR25, the W2 set in "Slow Roll-Off" or "Low-latency Slow Roll-Off" are is the closest to the SR25, as in very close. The W2 seems a tad more precise with a more controlled low-end but not by a huge margin.

Soundstage and amount of air are honestly very close with no night and day difference, perhaps it's the SR25 which has more, no perhaps it's the W2, actually, perhaps, it is... you get it, it's that close.

At this price point, one can't ignore the W2 compared to a DAP such as Astell & Kern A&norma's SR25, and while I won't touch the EQ (don't like EQs), I'm happy with the two tunings together with the filters which allow to get what ones want.

Wow. Nice comparison. Now I'm definitely excited to receive the W2.

 

[musicday]

Hmm, so do we buy the W2 or wait for the S2 now?!?

I’ll end up buying them both regardless.

Buy W2 now and S2 then.

 

[andersos]

Can someone try W2 as lo? I think that one Chinese reviewer mentioned it works as lo with volume at 100.

 

[W1ll1eTheP1mp]

Can someone try W2 as lo? I think that one Chinese reviewer mentioned it works as lo with volume at 100.

Link to that review? Whats lo?

 

[FooFighter]

Link to that review? Whats lo?

Line out
Unfortunately I don't have a destination or cable for that
What I will test at some point is optical out to my Sennheiser Ambeo soundbar...

 

[JelStIy]

Can someone try W2 as lo? I think that one Chinese reviewer mentioned it works as lo with volume at 100.

I tried it with a Zen Can as the external amp and it sounds fine although my ears are not “golden” enough to distinguish the effects of double amping. Just make sure to decrease the volume on the W2 afterwards as I almost blew my ears out when I went back to using it standalone.

 

[NZtechfreak]

Thanks for the impressions from those who have received theirs already (although my order shipped a little earlier than many, I'll be waiting till Monday here in New Zealand for mine).

The side by side shots with the S1 were informative, for some reason I had thought it was quite a bit larger than it actually is. Very nice looking unit.

The comparisons with the S1, were they carefully volume matched?

 

[FooFighter]

Thanks for the impressions from those who have received theirs already (although my order shipped a little earlier than many, I'll be waiting till Monday here in New Zealand for mine).

The side by side shots with the S1 were informative, for some reason I had thought it was quite a bit larger than it actually is. Very nice looking unit.

The comparisons with the S1, were they carefully volume matched?

I agree volume matching is important usually but I assure you the described characteristics are audible regardless
Once you get it you will know what I mean
I didn't want to but just subscribed to Amazon Music HD to better test hires on both later due to the missing MQA

 

[HiFyAK2020]

I got my W2 at lunch time and only had time to listen 5 minutes so far to it and compare to the W1 that i own for a while now.
It looks prettier - but that is not the point i know. For musical differences - I think - it is a tiny little clearer and smoother than the W1 and a bit more powerful (maybe 10% as to my guessing?).
Besides this - more listening and comparing needs to be done. I don't understand why my silver W1 came with a black cable and the black W2 came with a white cable but they are surely exchangeable. I use anyway another cable altogether that is around 30 cm long - to avoid ANY interference from the Smartphone.

ONe last point on the MQA discussion - L&P does NOT produce the DAC itself (which is the heart of those devices). So unless Cirrus is offering a DAC with such features - L&P won't be able to provide MQA. They are very good in making the most out of this DAC from Cirrus and my respect for that - but they depend on this US manufacturer's decision what protocols they support on their DAC's and which not.

 

[FooFighter]

I got my W2 at lunch time and only had time to listen 5 minutes so far to it and compare to the W1 that i own for a while now.
It looks prettier - but that is not the point i know. For musical differences - I think - it is a tiny little clearer and smoother than the W1 and a bit more powerful (maybe 10% as to my guessing?).
Besides this - more listening and comparing needs to be done. I don't understand why my silver W1 came with a black cable and the black W2 came with a white cable but they are surely exchangeable. I use anyway another cable altogether that is around 30 cm long - to avoid ANY interference from the Smartphone.

ONe last point on the MQA discussion - L&P does NOT produce the DAC itself (which is the heart of those devices). So unless Cirrus is offering a DAC with such features - L&P won't be able to provide MQA. They are very good in making the most out of this DAC from Cirrus and my respect for that - but they depend on this US manufacturer's decision what protocols they support on their DAC's and which not.

Hmm, don't want to debate this too much but Cirrus DACs are used by other DAP producers like Ibasso who all support MQA.
But in fact there can be specific Cirrus DAC models which are supported while others aren't.
Am not so much expert there but I understood that the complete device in case of DAPs needs to be certified and not only the DAC chip itself.
The actual decoding can be done by the device firmware and not the DAC only.