[pdxfletch]

A&K is Korean, not American, and is owned by iRiver

I stand corrected. Their website at least lists an office in Irvine, CA and a U.S. phone number. That makes it simpler to get information as opposed to WeChat or whatever people have been using to contact L&P (at least for those living in the U.S.).

Don't get me wrong, I bought into the hype and ordered a W2. But for this price (and the price of their other products), I certainly expect a usable website, support, and firmware upgrades via Mac. If he SQ is as magical as noted in this thread, I'll gladly shoulder these inconveniences, but I think my point about the inflated price point of the W2 (with a cheap white iPhone adapter?!?!) vis-a-vis similar A&K components still stands.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

A&K is Korean, not American, and is owned by iRiver

Interesting. So A&K really means something like An & Kim?

 

[musicday]

I just saw on the home page that A&K just announced a USB dongle of their own. Interesting trend.

Yeah we will be seeing them more often. What's hard is to get one right and make it powerful.

 

[jeffhawke]

I stand corrected. Their website at least lists an office in Irvine, CA and a U.S. phone number. That makes it simpler to get information as opposed to WeChat or whatever people have been using to contact L&P (at least for those living in the U.S.).

Don't get me wrong, I bought into the hype and ordered a W2. But for this price (and the price of their other products), I certainly expect a usable website, support, and firmware upgrades via Mac. If he SQ is as magical as noted in this thread, I'll gladly shoulder these inconveniences, but I think my point about the inflated price point of the W2 (with a cheap white iPhone adapter?!?!) vis-a-vis similar A&K components still stands.

I totally agree with you about the website. Bear in mind however that A&K is part of a publicly listed group that in 2020 had a turnover of over 200million usd, whereas L&P is a very small, niche manufacturer. Having said that, if they want to grow bigger internationally, they better work on a proper English website and a dealer network outside of China. Back to technical topics, the fact that the A&K dongle has 2 DAC chips but not enough power (for me) and no balanced output makes it unattractive to me. The fixed cable adds to that too.

 

[jsmiller58]

I stand corrected. Their website at least lists an office in Irvine, CA and a U.S. phone number. That makes it simpler to get information as opposed to WeChat or whatever people have been using to contact L&P (at least for those living in the U.S.).

Don't get me wrong, I bought into the hype and ordered a W2. But for this price (and the price of their other products), I certainly expect a usable website, support, and firmware upgrades via Mac. If he SQ is as magical as noted in this thread, I'll gladly shoulder these inconveniences, but I think my point about the inflated price point of the W2 (with a cheap white iPhone adapter?!?!) vis-a-vis similar A&K components still stands.

Maybe I am misreading things, but these products don’t really seem to be clones of each other, so a bit apples to oranges, and thus unfair to just look at components and price. I cannot find on the A&K site the output power, so that limits one part of the comparison with the L&P W2. The W2 has SE and Balanced outputs, but that is only meaningful if the power of the W2 balanced is greater than the power of the A&K. Actually it would be even better to compare SE to SE power spec. I would also note the benefits in every day usage of having the W2 display, versus a dongle with no display (I have dongles both with and without displays - in MY opinion there is no contest from a day to day perspective). The fixed cable on the A&K is a red flag from a longevity perspective. As long as the A&K measures well enough then it really is not a big deal, but, wow, the W2 measures amazingly (I know, I am bordering on heresy mentioning measurements on a head-fi thread!).

Anyway, whether the W2 is “worth” 2X the A&K is completely in the eye of the beholder, and subject to possibly some still to be revealed details.

But the name... A&K PEE51... really? I mean, the L&P W2 sounds like a US tax form, but PEE51...

 

[musicday]

All the USB dongle DACs from now on need to have the OLED screen so we know what is happening .

 

[jsmiller58]

All the USB dongle DACs from now on need to have the OLED screen so we know what is happening .

Well, it might seem like a luxury, and it is... but it comes in handy when you want to figure out if you are getting the resolution you expected, or if you need to tweak something in UAPP, for example. If you are quickly trying to figure out if your volume is too high or too low when music is paused there is a benefit to looking at a display versus letting your ears do that.

It is a luxury. It is not needed. But, given the choice I gravitate to a dongle with a display. Note that on my post I wrote “I have dongles both with and without displays - in MY opinion there is no contest from a day to day perspective”. I stressed MY for a reason, recognizing that, as the expression goes, “to each their own”.

 

[jeffhawke]

Maybe I am misreading things, but these products don’t really seem to be clones of each other, so a bit apples to oranges, and thus unfair to just look at components and price. I cannot find on the A&K site the output power, so that limits one part of the comparison with the L&P W2. The W2 has SE and Balanced outputs, but that is only meaningful if the power of the W2 balanced is greater than the power of the A&K. Actually it would be even better to compare SE to SE power spec. I would also note the benefits in every day usage of having the W2 display, versus a dongle with no display (I have dongles both with and without displays - in MY opinion there is no contest from a day to day perspective). The fixed cable on the A&K is a red flag from a longevity perspective. As long as the A&K measures well enough then it really is not a big deal, but, wow, the W2 measures amazingly (I know, I am bordering on heresy mentioning measurements on a head-fi thread!).

Anyway, whether the W2 is “worth” 2X the A&K is completely in the eye of the beholder, and subject to possibly some still to be revealed details.

But the name... A&K PEE51... really? I mean, the L&P W2 sounds like a US tax form, but PEE51...

Maybe I am misreading things, but these products don’t really seem to be clones of each other, so a bit apples to oranges, and thus unfair to just look at components and price. I cannot find on the A&K site the output power, so that limits one part of the comparison with the L&P W2. The W2 has SE and Balanced outputs, but that is only meaningful if the power of the W2 balanced is greater than the power of the A&K. Actually it would be even better to compare SE to SE power spec. I would also note the benefits in every day usage of having the W2 display, versus a dongle with no display (I have dongles both with and without displays - in MY opinion there is no contest from a day to day perspective). The fixed cable on the A&K is a red flag from a longevity perspective. As long as the A&K measures well enough then it really is not a big deal, but, wow, the W2 measures amazingly (I know, I am bordering on heresy mentioning measurements on a head-fi thread!).

Anyway, whether the W2 is “worth” 2X the A&K is completely in the eye of the beholder, and subject to possibly some still to be revealed details.

But the name... A&K PEE51... really? I mean, the L&P W2 sounds like a US tax form, but PEE51...

I cannot find on the A&K site the output

"Although it is a small and simple cable type external DAC, it is able to sufficiently drive high impedance headphones with a 2Vrms (Condition No Load) output level."
(From the A&K link posted on the previous page).

 

[Scubadevils]

Picked up a different cable, prefer having black to match plus nice to have the right angle connector. Interesting to see 'let's make things better' on the box - I worked for Philips Consumer Electronics many years ago and that was their line at the time.

 

[FooFighter]

Picked up a different cable, prefer having black to match plus nice to have the right angle connector. Interesting to see 'let's make things better' on the box - I worked for Philips Consumer Electronics many years ago and that was their line at the time.

Which cable is that? Can you post the link?

 

[Scubadevils]

Which cable is that? Can you post the link?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07H96FWY9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_M8620MD4YW0M8CNVZS56

 

[musicday]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07H96FWY9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_M8620MD4YW0M8CNVZS56

Sunguy ) a happy person.

 

[FooFighter]

Anyone using some alternative 90 degree lightning cable with W2?
ddHifi lightning to usbc was suggested before but that's just an adapter and not a cable plus cable goes to the side and not below the IPhone.

Have seen models like this but I am not sure if they work as it will need some OTG function?
UGREEN USB-C auf Lightning Kabel 90 Grad MFi Lightning Ladekabel Typ C Winkel Power Delivery kompatibel mit iPhone 12, SE, 11 Pro Max, XR, XS Max, X, 8, 8 Plus, iPad 2020, AirPods Pro usw. (1M) https://smile.amazon.de/dp/B07Z8W15SR/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0ZKGWCSENTZ127R07PR2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Another important question is regarding cable flexibility.
I mean if cable is too stiff it's hardly controllable even with 90 degree port

 

[rocketron]

Hi there.
I’m using the ddHifi lightning to usbc adapter and the LP cable no problem at all.
I just blue tack the W2 to the back of the phone and it’s all good.
Have used the ddHifi adapter and usbc to micro cable with a Chord Mojo and same thing all good.
Holding up very well.

 

[DatClampTho]

All the USB dongle DACs from now on need to have the OLED screen so we know what is happening .

Well, it might seem like a luxury, and it is... but it comes in handy when you want to figure out if you are getting the resolution you expected, or if you need to tweak something in UAPP, for example. If you are quickly trying to figure out if your volume is too high or too low when music is paused there is a benefit to looking at a display versus letting your ears do that.

It is a luxury. It is not needed. But, given the choice I gravitate to a dongle with a display. Note that on my post I wrote “I have dongles both with and without displays - in MY opinion there is no contest from a day to day perspective”. I stressed MY for a reason, recognizing that, as the expression goes, “to each their own”.

The screen might not be 100% necessary, but the buttons are. There was nothing quite like the experience of sitting down on the train, getting my Dragonfly Red plugged in, and having my ears blasted out while being a few taps on my phone screen away from being able to turn down volume The A&K seems to lack buttons as well.

Though similarly, while I like the buttons and navigation on the W2 overall, I wish there was a way to not have to wake up the screen to change volume. For portability's sake, I totally appreciate that it effectively "locks" the volume with the screen off, but I don't need that feature when I'm listening on my couch. Maybe I'm missing something?