[Hyde00]

Oh forgot say, turns out HID mode on W2-131 actually works how I had hoped.

Except the volume steps aren't 1 to 1. Let me elaborate. On my windows volume 12 = hardware volume 55. And it's not a linear increment. Sometimes 1 window volume = 4 hardware volume increase, sometimes it's 3 increase. I don't know the exact formula.

And if you have HID on, leaving it at 12 windows volume (hardware volume 55), then you turn off HID mode, and crank your windows volume to 100 (default when you turn off HID mode they'll leave your hardware volume where last left off, which is 55), then I listen to it and volume is exactly the same. Sorry this is confusing to read, here we go:

HID Mode ON:
Windows volume 12 (actually 100%, but you just can't see)
W2-131 volume 55

Is identical in loudness to:

HID Mode OFF:
Windows volume 100
W2-131 volume 55

And I can't perceive any quality difference (or at least to my ears anyway). I know people will call me out on "but it's not scientific" LOL, but I hope I can tell the difference between 12 windows volume and 100 windows volume with just my ear.

Anyway... this mean when HID mode is on, it reads 100% windows volume regardless what you set it in the OS, it only acts as a controller for your hardware volume. So with HID mode on it function exactly like other dongles that rely on OS volume. Secretly pumping out 100% volume but use your OS volume as a control for hardware volume if that makes sense.

 

[emusic13]

I find W2 smooth too.

Maybe you already had the one you were searching for the whole time: your Dragonfly Red

 

[Hyde00]

I find W2 smooth too.

Maybe you already had the one you were searching for the whole time: your Dragonfly Red

That's what I'm scared about...... it's like ever since Dragonfly Red I've tried 7 dongle dac and 3 desktop units thinking I can "find an easy upgrade" because everyone else says Dragonfly Red sucks LOL. I mean.... it does have its flaws too that's why I'm looking for upgrade.

But I've been just mostly running in sidegrade circles (gain some, lose some). Again it might possibly just be "familiarity" where I've listened to it for so long so it's engraved into my brain, that and or maybe I'm looking for specific things and the current trend is neutrality so doesn't offer what I'm looking for. That or what I'm looking for doesn't exist.

It's like I'm looking for emo songs when the current trend is R&B. Or like listening to Celine Dion at a goth club. I must be going crazy LOL.

 

[zeroshiki]

TL;DR version:

I bought W2-131 and wondering if I should try W2 next. Want a bit closer female vocal, a bit more treble, a bit wider, and bit more splashy cymbal / snare drum. Slightly less mid bass. Overall a tiny bit more aggressive.

Long version:

So I've had my W2-131 for almost a week now. Might need a bit more time but I want to share my first impression. My original plan was to buy PEE51 / RU6 / W2-131 to de-throne my all time favourite Dragonfly Red (most of you will stop reading now LOL, like I can't take this guy seriously).

If you're still with me here this is where I am at. First impression is that PEE51 is impressive, tons of layering and details, probably the most detailed out of all of them (my friend says might just because it's tuned treble heavy). But I can't feel it sounds "dry"? Like I'm impressed by all the detail and layering but somehow it sounds boring? Maybe it's lacking warmth, which is weird because it's regarded as one of the most "euphoric" dongle which I agree (mainly why I bought it) but somehow it still sounds "dry" I can't explain. But anyway that's out now, will sell it later.

Next in line was RU6 which I had high hopes for. It also sounded very good off the bat and here I was thinking maybe this is the one!!! But as I listen to it more and more I start to notice more flaws, uhhh or I guess preference differences. It's missing that "surrounded by violin" type of sound that W2 and W2-131 has. So I guess RU6 has a dip somewhere in the mids? And the bass seems impressive at first but the most I listen to it the more it feels it's "rounded" off and sub bass roll off. Like the hits is soft? Can't explain. Also somewhere in the treble seems to roll off again I wish I'm better at identifying frequencies but oh well this is where I'm at LOL. Low gain I notice everything is much closed in which is good because I like intimate vocal, but then it also lacks sound stage, when I used high gain it improves sound stage but then vocal too distant. After trying every option under the sun (high gain / low gain / no oversample / oversample / set my computer to all kinds of sample rates) at the end I decide to give up. Will list RU6 in the classified later also.

So here is where I'm at, W2-131 actually has the most rounded sound. Initially was a bit boring but it's slowly growing on me. Like it does everything well but nothing really "wow" me yet. It has the least interesting female vocal so far (maybe too far in the background). But surprisingly it actually has the most extended bass out of all the dongles I tried. Just wish female vocal is a bit more pronounced. I think W2-131 has a really "inoffensive" smooth sound. If I were to nitpick I'd say I wish there is a tiny bit more treble, closer female vocal, and a little bit more aggressive snare drum / cymbal, and a little bit wider.

This bring me to the point that........ should I have gotten W2 instead of W2-131? Originally I went with W2-131 because I like intimate vocal and bass, but then maybe it went too far so now I wish there is more treble and a tiny bit less mid bass. As for aggressive sound for rock........ is it just how W2 is? Smooth and relaxing kind of sound? Should I bother with W2 or try something else entirely?

Was looking at Ovidius B1 but the proprietary 2.5 mm to USB C thing bugs me, also apparently it's too powerful so you'll have hiss if used on sensitive IEM / headphone. I have 24 ohm headphone so I strongly suspect this will be an issue.

Oh for those are wondering, no it's not a landslide win over Dragonfly Red LOL. In fact it's still more "different" now than it is "better". Dragonfly Red wins in some regards (intimate vocal) but lose out in resolution slightly (not as big as people might think). Like I'm literally splitting hair over the past week A/B all 4 dongles (though mostly on W2-131). But now I'm thinking to sell PEE51 and RU6 and maybe buy / trade for W2, or something else entirely different.

i may be able to help a little..

i also got w2 131 first.. couldn't get over wondering how w2 og and ru6 sounded..

first and foremost: it depends on the pairing, so it may be different for everyone.

for my setup: it's from pc usb>w2>tia fourte

when i got ru6 after the 131, my sentiments mirror yours. i was really amazed at first and really thought this is the one! and then slowly realized the flaws just as you stated(sub bass rolled off, treble rolled off) and i also found out on busy tracks with lots of instruments going on(jazz for example), the separations isn't that good and it can become confusing/congested because of the mid centric tuning. listening to RU6 itself will wow anyone, it has a really pleasant tuning and won't highlight all those flaws but it can be very apparent when AB-ing between the 131 and ru6. decided the ru6 is not for me. so it had to go. mind you, i still think the RU6 is really good, especially on vocals. it's very unique. but unfortunately, it has a faint hiss on the fourte, and that's one thing i avoid at all cost.. other minuses i actually can live with(especially because of the lush mids/vocals, it is really special on RU6)

shortly after, i got the w2 og.. now compared to ru6, this is much more difficult to decide. between the 131 and og.., both are really2 good and has a similar sound sig with the 131 being more relaxing to listen to, vocal more organic on 131 while the OG feels more transparent(on vocals), bass i like better on 131 as the og sometimes feel a little thin on the mid bass. but all in all, both are equally enjoyable to listen to. and as for rock music, my library only has a few rock music, but from what i remember listening to them(lenny kravitz, U2), the OG is better as it has more 'energy' potrayed generally on everything.

i haven't been able to decide yet which one has to go. so both are still in my possesion. and probably will stay that way. 131 is kinda the middle way between W2 OG and RU6. lol. and W2 OG is getting scarce btw, i'd just get it if i were you and give it a try, won't be hard to sell later if you decide not to keep it. hope that helps

 

[Currawong]

Surprisingly hard to find info regarding this. One source did say "Whereas, turning on the HID key, the W2 controls the volume of the smartphone or source. When turned on, the volume on the W2 DAC remains at the last value it was set to. And pressing the volume up or down on the W2 only changes the volume on the smartphone. For me, I’d rather set this off, so that I can control the volume of the smartphone and W2 independently." then that would be terrible.

With HID mode activated hardware volume is locked at 100, which makes me believe that only source (digital domain) volume works.
As for V shaped response for Tune 01, the link I posted was from guy responding to the claim in review, and to my ears he is more on target with his assessment than the reviewer.

I had assumed that HID mode allowed the "computer" to control the internal volume. I'll check with L&P about what it actually does.

mid centric tuning

What you are experiencing has nothing whatsoever to do with frequency or tuning. This is just how NOS R2R DACs sound. It's a pattern of distortion which affects vocals and instruments in this way. Some people really like it. The funny irony is that if you make a high-quality R2R DAC, such as the Schiit Yggdrasil, with a well-made digital filter, it doesn't sound like this at all.

 

[senorx12562]

I had assumed that HID mode allowed the "computer" to control the internal volume. I'll check with L&P about what it actually does.

What you are experiencing has nothing whatsoever to do with frequency or tuning. This is just how NOS R2R DACs sound. It's a pattern of distortion which affects vocals and instruments in this way. Some people really like it. The funny irony is that if you make a high-quality R2R DAC, such as the Schiit Yggdrasil, with a well-made digital filter, it doesn't sound like this at all.

Neither does the GumBy, but they are, after all, not nos dacs. And many times the size and price ofc.

 

[Hyde00]

i may be able to help a little..

i also got w2 131 first.. couldn't get over wondering how w2 og and ru6 sounded..

first and foremost: it depends on the pairing, so it may be different for everyone.

for my setup: it's from pc usb>w2>tia fourte

when i got ru6 after the 131, my sentiments mirror yours. i was really amazed at first and really thought this is the one! and then slowly realized the flaws just as you stated(sub bass rolled off, treble rolled off) and i also found out on busy tracks with lots of instruments going on(jazz for example), the separations isn't that good and it can become confusing/congested because of the mid centric tuning. listening to RU6 itself will wow anyone, it has a really pleasant tuning and won't highlight all those flaws but it can be very apparent when AB-ing between the 131 and ru6. decided the ru6 is not for me. so it had to go. mind you, i still think the RU6 is really good, especially on vocals. it's very unique. but unfortunately, it has a faint hiss on the fourte, and that's one thing i avoid at all cost.. other minuses i actually can live with(especially because of the lush mids/vocals, it is really special on RU6)

shortly after, i got the w2 og.. now compared to ru6, this is much more difficult to decide. between the 131 and og.., both are really2 good and has a similar sound sig with the 131 being more relaxing to listen to, vocal more organic on 131 while the OG feels more transparent(on vocals), bass i like better on 131 as the og sometimes feel a little thin on the mid bass. but all in all, both are equally enjoyable to listen to. and as for rock music, my library only has a few rock music, but from what i remember listening to them(lenny kravitz, U2), the OG is better as it has more 'energy' potrayed generally on everything.

i haven't been able to decide yet which one has to go. so both are still in my possesion. and probably will stay that way. 131 is kinda the middle way between W2 OG and RU6. lol. and W2 OG is getting scarce btw, i'd just get it if i were you and give it a try, won't be hard to sell later if you decide not to keep it. hope that helps

Damn this is super helpful! Thank you so much! Also good to hear I'm not alone on this lol.

My setup is PC USB -> W2-131 -> Denon D5200.

Though I currently don't have balanced cable, only running 3.5 mm single ended. I wonder if I should pick up a 4.4 balanced cable.

But in the mean time I'll try to get a W2 from the classified and go from there. If what you said is correct then this sound promising lol.

Thanks!!!

I had assumed that HID mode allowed the "computer" to control the internal volume. I'll check with L&P about what it actually does.

What you are experiencing has nothing whatsoever to do with frequency or tuning. This is just how NOS R2R DACs sound. It's a pattern of distortion which affects vocals and instruments in this way. Some people really like it. The funny irony is that if you make a high-quality R2R DAC, such as the Schiit Yggdrasil, with a well-made digital filter, it doesn't sound like this at all.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/lux...-info-on-post-1.949448/page-311#post-16845379

I posted a little bit earlier but basically with HID on I think it functions like other dongle dac that's host volume.

I think it receives 100% volume from computer (or whatever source) so it maintain the full integrity of data, and the volume you see in the source (i.e. computer) only acts as a volume controller. Otherwise it would be really bad if it degrades quality when say source volume is at 12%.

Again I guess we could check with Luxury and Precision but this is what I noticed from my own testing.

 

[zeroshiki]

Damn this is super helpful! Thank you so much! Also good to hear I'm not alone on this lol.

My setup is PC USB -> W2-131 -> Denon D5200.

Though I currently don't have balanced cable, only running 3.5 mm single ended. I wonder if I should pick up a 4.4 balanced cable.

But in the mean time I'll try to get a W2 from the classified and go from there. If what you said is correct then this sound promising lol.

Thanks!!!

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/lux...-info-on-post-1.949448/page-311#post-16845379

I posted a little bit earlier but basically with HID on I think it functions like other dongle dac that's host volume.

I think it receives 100% volume from computer (or whatever source) so it maintain the full integrity of data, and the volume you see in the source (i.e. computer) only acts as a volume controller. Otherwise it would be really bad if it degrades quality when say source volume is at 12%.

Again I guess we could check with Luxury and Precision but this is what I noticed from my own testing.

I think i read somewhere for the 3.5mm the 131 has better performance than the OG. There is a chinese review link posted somewhere on this thread, it has measurements comparing 131 and OG and the 3.5mm on 131 measured significantly better. But i dont have any impression firsthand on 3.5mm as my experiences were on 4.4mm. So maybe you should take this into consideration. Cheers

 

[Hyde00]

I think i read somewhere for the 3.5mm the 131 has better performance than the OG. There is a chinese review link posted somewhere on this thread, it has measurements comparing 131 and OG and the 3.5mm on 131 measured significantly better. But i dont have any impression firsthand on 3.5mm as my experiences were on 4.4mm. So maybe you should take this into consideration. Cheers

lol yes my friend told me about this, and this is why I went with W2-131 first since I only have single ended cable. But I guess this is head-fi we always go full circle.

I guess I'll need to pick up a 4.4 mm balanced cable now. Thanks!

 

[Ufanco]

Sounds like the W2 otg might be worth hanging on too? Been debating on selling mine since I bought the ORIOLUS BA300S.
Have a bunch of usb otg cables I bought for it and it’s hard to see it going unused. If I sell sounds like the replacement W2 doesn’t sound as good if later want one.
I haven’t been in this thread in awhile is there any word on a w3 in the works?

 

[musicday]

Sounds like the W2 otg might be worth hanging on too? Been debating on selling mine since I bought the ORIOLUS BA300S.
Have a bunch of usb otg cables I bought for it and it’s hard to see it going unused. If I sell sounds like the replacement W2 doesn’t sound as good if later want one.
I haven’t been in this thread in awhile is there any word on a w3 in the works?

Don't know about a W3 anytime soon, but if they can add more features to the W2 will be great.

 

[Hyde00]

Don't know about a W3 anytime soon, but if they can add more features to the W2 will be great.

lol maybe I'm getting old but...... I thought W2-131 had TOO MANY features. I think I'm old school where I just want to plug it in and start listening to music without having to worry about the 1000 available options.

In this case I think xDuoo Link2 Bal (don't own it yet) fit my preference better where it's just UAC1/UAC2 toggle and high/low gain toggle and that's it! I don't think I need any extra fancy features or fancy OLED screen. Also if we could cut the cost by cutting down unnecessary features that would be great too.

Which new feature you think you might need that's not present currently on W2 and W2-131?

 

[senorx12562]

lol maybe I'm getting old but...... I thought W2-131 had TOO MANY features. I think I'm old school where I just want to plug it in and start listening to music without having to worry about the 1000 available options.

In this case I think xDuoo Link2 Bal (don't own it yet) fit my preference better where it's just UAC1/UAC2 toggle and high/low gain toggle and that's it! I don't think I need any extra fancy features or fancy OLED screen. Also if we could cut the cost by cutting down unnecessary features that would be great too.

Which new feature you think you might need that's not present currently on W2 and W2-131?

I would gladly trade the s/pdif out for a line-out.

 

[Hyde00]

I would gladly trade the s/pdif out for a line-out.

Ah actually that's a good point.

 

[rarewolf]

lol maybe I'm getting old but...... I thought W2-131 had TOO MANY features. I think I'm old school where I just want to plug it in and start listening to music without having to worry about the 1000 available options.

In this case I think xDuoo Link2 Bal (don't own it yet) fit my preference better where it's just UAC1/UAC2 toggle and high/low gain toggle and that's it! I don't think I need any extra fancy features or fancy OLED screen. Also if we could cut the cost by cutting down unnecessary features that would be great too.

Which new feature you think you might need that's not present currently on W2 and W2-131?

The feature I’d like to see, but cannot understand why it couldn’t be implemented for the W2 (or 131), would be to be able to roll your own SDF profile to match your IEM. It’s already there, except L&P insists (at this time) to create the SDFs in house for IEMs for their own reasons (although I do imagine some users find use). Access to the SDFs is already implemented via firmware update—I see no reason why it cannot be implemented via software.