[bluestorm1992]

this image made me believe that only 3.5 output would work as line output


Now if you look well in the next photo, it can be seen that the side that the Oriulus amplifier cable is connected to the w2 is through the 3.5 output, if I'm not mistaken:


@twister6 Going back to your experience with the C9 amplifier, I see that it has worked normally, so yes it can, I do not understand why those images confused me at the beginning, thanks for the clarification, also to @FooFighter

It is SPDIF output, which is a digital output (without DAC conversion to analog signals).

The BD20 can take SPDIF input and then do its own DAC & Amp job. Many full size DACs also accept SPDIF input.

 

[twister6]

Yes, SPDIF is not Line Out, it is a digital coax out to drive external DAC/amp. And, only 3.5mm port of W1/W2 has SPDIF output.

 

[Cat Music]

Es una salida SPDIF, que es una salida digital (sin conversión DAC a señales analógicas).

El BD20 puede tomar la entrada SPDIF y luego hacer su propio trabajo DAC & Amp. Muchos DAC de tamaño completo también aceptan entrada SPDIF.

Thanks

 

[twister6]

Surely some of you want to know these:

Output impedance:
SE: 0.89 ohm
Bal: 0.48 ohm

Power draw is only second to E1DA 9038S G3 in all my Type-C adapter, though output power is also only second to E1DA. This means it will drain your smartphone a little faster, but at the same time you'll get more power out of it. So basically just physics.

Hey bud, what current draw are you measuring?

So far, here is what I'm getting in high gain:

Lotoo S1 - 0.070 A
L&P W1 - 0.090 A
L&P W2 - 0.110 A

AudioQuest DF (OG 1.2) - 0.100 A
AudioQuest Cobalt - 0.070 A
Hidizs S9 - 0.130 A
iBasso DC01 - 0.090 A
Cozoy Aegis - 0.130 A

 

[ClieOS]

Hey bud, what current draw are you measuring?

About the same on W2.

 

[eloelo]

Surely some of you want to know these:

Output impedance:
SE: 0.89 ohm
Bal: 0.48 ohm

Power draw is only second to E1DA 9038S G3 in all my Type-C adapter, though output power is also only second to E1DA. This means it will drain your smartphone a little faster, but at the same time you'll get more power out of it. So basically just physics.

2nd to 9038s g3? G3 drained my battery pretty fast

 

[Rockwell75]

This thread jumped 40 pages in the last two weeks...interested in how this compares to my current reference, the PAW S1, in terms of SQ (not features). Any info would be helpful

 

[W1ll1eTheP1mp]

Despite my posts being so enthusiastic about the W2 I really was skeptical that it would be better than the portable USB DACs I had collected over the last couple of years. In fairness, I never bought the higher end, but rather collected the mid-tier (xDSD, NX4 DSD, DF Cobalt, Monolith THX portable, Micro iDSD BL) but I spent today comparing those DACs connected to my iPad Pro 12.9” 2020 (USB-C) with the W2 (using IER-Z1R for all).

***The W2 was the best sounding DAC***

Seriously. No question for me IMHO. I played Redbook and MQA via TIDAL; I played Hi-Res up to 192kHz via Qobuz. The W2 out-performed my battery-powered external DACs. I can’t see a reason to ever use those DACs again on the iPad when this dongle sounds better, and due to its size and lack of a battery, is way more convenient. I had more volume range on the W2 too.

Now, my portable DAC/Amps don‘t have the power of a C9 or Diablo, so volume range isn’t really a useful metric. But pure sound quality is, and the W2 sounded better than all my DACs connected to the same source with the same headphones. I still don‘t fully believe it: how can something this small with no battery power sound this good and this powerful? This is the future for IEM users, not the C9. You don’t need more amplification for IEMs than what the W2 provides. [Caveat: the C9 can bring some tube magic to the equation though if that’s your thing.]

I also have 2 DAPs, Sony ZX507 and FiiO M11 Pro (again, mid-tier, not high-end DAPs), that I compared to the W2/iPad combo. Note: UAPP recently released an update that allows the ZX507 to play bit-perfect* out to the proprietary Sony DAC (*almost: it zero-pads everything to 32bit but honors the sample rate). The M11 Pro allows bit-perfect for 3rd-party apps since a couple of firmware updates ago.

In summary, the W2/iPad combo was better than the ZX507, but the M11 Pro was equal in performance to the W2/iPad. I should note that this is typical for the ZX507: 3rd-party app performance does not sound as good as it‘s native Walkman Music player app. So, my caveat is I played locally stored FLAC on the native ZX507 app vs streamed music on the iPad/W2 setup and the Sony local playback was unsurprisingly better (Sony apps with locally stored music is hard to beat on any Sony DAP).

TLDR and jumped to the end: this W2 (connected to an iPad Pro 12.9” 2020 USB-C connection [no lightning connections here]) was really awesome compared to some mid-tire USB DACs I own.

Nice to read about the comparison's. How did you test them against each other? Would be really interesting to know what you thoughts are if you do an unsighted test!

Im wishing that blind

From what I heard, it is actually the other way around. They initially released black cable and then had to update the design, new cable is white to distinguish it from their original black cable. Not sure if something got lost in translation of explanation for redesign, but it was related to performance at higher volume, and I'm just guessing that maybe they had to optimize the cable with thicker gauge wires to handle higher current. And also one of the reasons you shouldn't have issues using other aftermarket usb-c cables because those are designed to handle QC3.0 and PD charging with higher voltage/current.

Yeah, i know. Its just weird that they decided on a white cable anyhow to distinguish them. Could be a color that paired more nicely if the cable is a most for iPhone users

 

[bluestorm1992]

This thread jumped 40 pages in the last two weeks...interested in how this compares to my current reference, the PAW S1, in terms of SQ (not features). Any info would be helpful

Several users have shared their comparison impressions against S1; some ended up selling/returning their S1 after getting the W2. You can try searching within this thread.

 

[twister6]

This thread jumped 40 pages in the last two weeks...interested in how this compares to my current reference, the PAW S1, in terms of SQ (not features). Any info would be helpful

If you are going for W1, no need to upgrade from S1. I don't have iPhone and people are claiming W1/W2 has less interference relative to S1, that could be the only main argument for S1 -> W1 upgrade. But W2 does step up in sound quality, especially soundstage being more holographic. I didn't spend too much time noting all the details, but hopefully will get to it in a near future, just too much stuff on my review plate.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

That makes sense. Thank you so much.

For IEMs I couldn’t imagine a better pound for pound DAC/amp. I live in Hawaii and was looking for something lightweight for hiking/jogging and while the Fioo BTR5 is good, it obviously not as resolving as a properly wired DAC/amp. I tried dongles like the Audirect Beam and the AQ Cobalt but while the DACs were good they felt wimpy with a moderate impedance IEM like the Thummim or the Noble Kaiser K10. The W2 is the best of both worlds for IEMs - resolving and punchy.

But when puttering around the house you may want to swap out the IEMs for headphones.
The Wa11 is powerful enough to drive even my Abyss Diana Phi and ZMF Verite Closed but the DAC section was always the Achilles heel. Hopefully getting a proper interconnect will fix that.

Aloha @MaggotBrain. Where do you live? I love on Oahu near Diamondhead.

 

[snapandslide]

If you are going for W1, no need to upgrade from S1. I don't have iPhone and people are claiming W1/W2 has less interference relative to S1, that could be the only main argument for S1 -> W1 upgrade. But W2 does step up in sound quality, especially soundstage being more holographic. I didn't spend too much time noting all the details, but hopefully will get to it in a near future, just too much stuff on my review plate.

And there I was about to write on needing more comments on whether the jump from the W1 -> W2 is worth it......

 

[FooFighter]

Yes, SPDIF is not Line Out, it is a digital coax out to drive external DAC/amp. And, only 3.5mm port of W1/W2 has SPDIF output.

Anyway I am not getting so much the sense of such an optical out port as that would imply that the target DAC will do the DA conversion and could therefore be directly connected via USB from your actual source phone / laptop etc and don't need to go through W2 for that?
I would have preferred rather a SPDIF in to do conversion from a different digital source

 

[bluestorm1992]

Anyway I am not getting so much the sense of such an optical out port as that would imply that the target DAC will do the DA conversion and could therefore be directly connected via USB from your actual source phone / laptop etc and don't need to go through W2 for that?
I would have preferred rather a SPDIF in to do conversion from a different digital source

Some DACs have poor USB interface and could benefit from the SPDIF input instead.

 

[MaggotBrain]

Aloha @MaggotBrain. Where do you live? I love on Oahu near Diamondhead.

Up on Waialae Iki.