Luxury & Precision (LP) Portable USB DAC/AMP W1 and W2 (The new W2-131 Version is Available, Related Info on Post #1)

[twister6]

Can anyone tell me what the FLT, HID and Tune menu is?

It is all in the manual included with a device, did you read it? The W1 and W2 are the same, except W1 does not have Tune presets.

 

[FooFighter]

I have Audio Technica ATH-SR9s which are neutral, easy to drive and fairly revealing headphones, and Shure Aonic 4s which are well-balanced IEMs with good imaging and soundstaging abilities.

Also, what's with those EQ presets on the W2? They're really quite crude. The Bass one especially is awful! It just smoothers music with copious amounts of ill defined bass.

Hmm

ATH Over Ear with 57 Ohm, are you running balanced or unbalanced?
In general I wouldn't use a dongle at all for Over ears, maybe for watching TV only as I am doing with my Qudelix 5k which is a solid performer for that

Shure 4s should be quite easy to drive with 7 Ohms so power is not the bottleneck.
Cannot judge as I never had Shure but if they are very revealing and bright they might pair better with a darker source like Paw S1 if you want to have a dongle.

Equing imho is mostly compromising - after trying I always went back to the default on all dongles I had so far.
Only solid implementations I found from my own experience were Neutron or Uapp, respectively firmware in full size DAC RME ADI2-DAC.

More subtle are the DAC filter settings or "tune" setting (which I suppose if working with tuned DAC filters) but if you don't like the general tuning those won't rescue you.

BTW I had a similar experience with AK SR25 with my IEMs - too lean, no body and bass and had to return them and this is for sure no bad DAP but just bad synergy with my Andro Golds.

Better return or swap W2 then...

 

[ClieOS]

... The W1 and W2 are the same, except W1 does not have Tune presets.

It is still a bit confusing what 'tune' really does.

 

[chrisgtl]

It is all in the manual included with a device, did you read it? The W1 and W2 are the same, except W1 does not have Tune presets.

Thanks for this. Mine was an open box used product and unfortunately this was not included, hence my question.

 

[twister6]

It is still a bit confusing what 'tune' really does.

Maybe some DSP effects, similar to Lotoo's PMEQ vs ATE presets? But yeah, it is confusing, in addition to IEM specific sound profiles

 

[JelStIy]

I have Audio Technica ATH-SR9s which are neutral-sounding, easy to drive and fairly revealing headphones, and Shure Aonic 4s which are well-balanced IEMs with good imaging and soundstaging abilities.

Also, what's with those EQ presets on the W2? They're really quite crude. The Bass one especially is awful! It just smoothers music with copious amounts of ill defined bass.

I agree the EQ presets are terrible. That’s the most disappointing aspect of the device. Fortunately I like the stock tuning.

 

[chrisgtl]

I agree the EQ presets are terrible. That’s the most disappointing aspect of the device. Fortunately I like the stock tuning.

Agreed!!

 

[ClieOS]

Maybe some DSP effects, similar to Lotoo's PMEQ vs ATE presets? But yeah, it is confusing, in addition to IEM specific sound profiles

AT least Lotoo naming make sense (*well, except for 'Dental' which should has been 'Sibilance'). "01" vs "02" really doesn't have meaning on their own.

 

[thomaspf]

I have Audio Technica ATH-SR9s which are neutral-sounding, easy to drive and fairly revealing headphones, and Shure Aonic 4s which are well-balanced IEMs with good imaging and soundstaging abilities.

Also, what's with those EQ presets on the W2? They're really quite crude. The Bass one especially is awful! It just smoothers music with copious amounts of ill defined bass.This would match

This is similar to my experience on the Focal Utopia which are only slightly treble forward. The ATH-SR9 actually has a rather non neutral tuning

Audio Technica ATH-SR9

These are bass shy and have significantly exaggerated treble so any analytical DAC will likely be uncomfortable. Few DACs are revealing at the level of the W2 so this might work well for other combinations.

 

[musicday]

I use only " normal " for music and " movie " for YouTube, Netflix, movies.
Very happy with the both presets.

 

[Mr Vicarious]

This is similar to my experience on the Focal Utopia which are only slightly treble forward. The ATH-SR9 actually has a rather non neutral tuning

Audio Technica ATH-SR9

These are bass shy and have significantly exaggerated treble so any analytical DAC will likely be uncomfortable. Few DACs are revealing at the level of the W2 so this might work well for other combinations.

Here's another frequency graph but from DIY Audio Heaven:

A little different, no?

But to revise my earlier statement about the SR9s being "neutral sounding", I confirm that (after extensive burn-in) SR9s are just a little brighter in treble than your average headphone but that just aids clarity and transparency.

Anyway, my complaint against the W2 wasn't about brightness but about its thin, antiseptic quality which the SR9s fully expose.

 

[ClieOS]

Here are what L&P advertises Tune 1 and 2 (rough translation):

Tune 1: Looser sound for mainstream, vocal based music.
Tune 2: Refined sound for complex music such as classical

 

[musicday]

Since my W2 works with the laptop, I don't use the S1 anymore

 

[NYanakiev]

Personally, I find the W2 to be head and shoulders above the Paw S1.

I bought the former and passed on the latter altogether.

 

[musicday]

Personally, I find the W2 to be head and shoulders above the Paw S1.

I bought the former and passed on the latter altogether.

Yes, I've been saying this many times. The W2 is the one to get. If you don't care about power and you need badly MQA decoding get the S1.