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.