[linknet]

Here are some early impressions from a 1.5 hour session I had this afternoon using W4 with my iPhone 13 Pro Max and Sennheiser IE900 IEMs streaming from Apple Music.

Easily the best SQ I’ve heard from a dongle but my experience is limited to only W2, iFi Gold Bar and Lotoo Paw S1. If you’re familiar with L&P sound from their DAPs, I think you’ll feel right at home with W4. It sounds tonally closer to P6P (and LP6 Ti but to a lesser extent) than W2 to my ears. Rich bass, textured treble, and a more R2R-esque transient response. It has a powerful dynamic sound and a very dark background between notes. Staging and imaging seem decent but I’m not blown away by it either. Again I’m reminded of L&P DAPs with their more intimate and forward presentation. However, It doesn’t sound congested or narrow either.

Any "late" impressions ?

 

[Retrorai]

People don't always agree that measurement can reflect 100% of their subjective interpretation of SQ and I respect that. But sometime there comes this one thing that measured so badly that it will let you question the "engineer" that designs it even actually have any engineering training at all, and SG1 fits perfectly in that example.

Seems like I've got some way to go in terms of doing research before buying.

Curious though, have you listened to the SG1 personally? Not trying to disagree with what you're saying, just want to know if you have a firsthand opinion on the product.

 

[ClieOS]

Seems like I've got some way to go in terms of doing research before buying.

Curious though, have you listened to the SG1 personally? Not trying to disagree with what you're saying, just want to know if you have a firsthand opinion on the product.

Never listened to it personally. Then again, an audio device that generates that much distortion (that is much worst than half decent vacuum tube gear) isn't exactly advertising, especially for $400.

 

[Damz87]

Any "late" impressions ?

My listening time has been limited due to experiencing some issues connecting W4 with my iPhone & iPod which seem to have resolved on their own somehow. Now that it’s working, I managed to do a battery drain test. I used my iPod Touch for this because of its smaller battery capacity being a quicker test method.

So the test conditions were iPod Touch at 100% battery, wifi and Bluetooth on, streaming Apple Music lossless continuously and minimal screen use, W4 at vol 40 high gain driving my UM mentor iem from the 4.4mm port. W4 drained the battery to 7% in 4 hours and 15 minutes. W2 under the exact same conditions drained the battery from 100% to 7% in 3 hours 47 minutes. W4 roughly ~11% better.

Also, the volume output appears to be the same across both dongles. I measured this with the same iem using an IEC-711 clone and they both had the same SPL.

In terms of sound impressions, nothing has really changed from my initial thoughts, it still sounds a lot warmer than W2, going for a signature that sounds akin to L&P DAPs. It works well for some of my IEM’s, but not all. A few still sound better to me from W2. I’m guessing some people will indeed prefer the more neutral/analytical tone from W2.

 

[becauseim]

..going for a signature that sounds akin to L&P DAPs.

LP6 or P6?

 

[ClieOS]

With any luck I should receive mine by the weekend. At worst it will be here on Monday. Fingers crossed.

 

[Damz87]

LP6 or P6?

I would say more like P6Pro. I owned the LP6 Ti 7AE but I haven’t heard LP6 gold or the regular Ti so I can’t comment on whether it sounds like them.

 

[Hanesu]

Never listened to it personally. Then again, an audio device that generates that much distortion (that is much worst than half decent vacuum tube gear) isn't exactly advertising, especially for $400.

I get your point and have been critical of some aspects concerning the SG1 by myself, but I honestly think you are bashing the device a little bit too much here („insult of the word insulting“). Subjectively it really doesn`t sound bad and you should at least give it a try! The hiss of the Go Blu for example is far more distracting from a good listening experience!

 

[Hanesu]

Just read through everything here... seems promising. I'm looking to upgrade from my Dethonray Pegasus SG1 as it doesn't have enough power to drive my Helios (and soon the Helios SE.)

Currently I'm considering the Pegasus SG1 Gold which is much more powerful and allegedly better sounding than the original. However, it's $570 USD or so after ship from Switzerland (and not available elsewhere to my knowledge) so kind of a lot of swallow considering I paid a bit over half that amount for the original. Aside from that, I've also been looking at midrange DAPs on the used market (like Hiby RS6, Shanling M6U, iBasso DX240, etc.) All of a sudden I'm seeing this W4 spreading around the forums, and from what I've read L&P has made some excellent sounding equipment in the past.

So my question is, from a pure cost/sound quality ratio perspective, what would be my best portable option(s) in this $500 ± 200 budget? Bluetooth amp, DAP, or dongle, doesn't matter as long as I can stream Apple Music and bring it around without looking like this guy. I think I prefer a more warmer, musical sounding option as opposed to a bright or analytical device.

Hopefully this question doesn't sound silly. Thanks!

Well, I think you should ask yourself in which situations you listen to music. If you exclusively use a dongle that can be pretty annoying if you listen to music on the go - because you will always have something dangling from your phone. I have tried that by myself and have gone back to multiple devices / BT devices for on the go. For sitting down (for example listening to music while I work), I feel comfortable to use something bigger or a dongle.
If you want to be really flexible you can get a small modern DAP that can do it all (USB, BT and Player)!

 

[Polky74]

My listening time has been limited due to experiencing some issues connecting W4 with my iPhone & iPod which seem to have resolved on their own somehow. Now that it’s working, I managed to do a battery drain test. I used my iPod Touch for this because of its smaller battery capacity being a quicker test method.

So the test conditions were iPod Touch at 100% battery, wifi and Bluetooth on, streaming Apple Music lossless continuously and minimal screen use, W4 at vol 40 high gain driving my UM mentor iem from the 4.4mm port. W4 drained the battery to 7% in 4 hours and 15 minutes. W2 under the exact same conditions drained the battery from 100% to 7% in 3 hours 47 minutes. W4 roughly ~11% better.

Also, the volume output appears to be the same across both dongles. I measured this with the same iem using an IEC-711 clone and they both had the same SPL.

In terms of sound impressions, nothing has really changed from my initial thoughts, it still sounds a lot warmer than W2, going for a signature that sounds akin to L&P DAPs. It works well for some of my IEM’s, but not all. A few still sound better to me from W2. I’m guessing some people will indeed prefer the more neutral/analytical tone from W2.

From what you wrote so the consumption is not even close to half of the W2 (as advertised) honestly one could say that it has a consumption closer to a W1 than a W2.
Not exactly good news for those of us hoping for a miracle…but so be it. I'll wait for other indications before jumping into a purchase that exceeds $400.
For now I'll stick with the excellent W1.

 

[ClieOS]

I get your point and have been critical of some aspects concerning the SG1 by myself, but I honestly think you are bashing the device a little bit too much here („insult of the word insulting“). Subjectively it really doesn`t sound bad and you should at least give it a try! The hiss of the Go Blu for example is far more distracting from a good listening experience!

My IEM doesn't hiss with Go Blu. if it does, I will say so.

Also, read what I have posted about Go Blu in my BT adapter (and some on the Go Blu thread) - let me give you a hint: I didn't exactly praise it either. I like to base my comments on fact. Measurement happens to be as factual as (and often more so than) personal experience,

 

[Retrorai]

Well, I think you should ask yourself in which situations you listen to music. If you exclusively use a dongle that can be pretty annoying if you listen to music on the go - because you will always have something dangling from your phone.

Good point, I've been using the SG1 with a BTD600 connected to an iPhone camera kit, and to be honest it feels a little ridiculous having that wiggling around when I walk around. It does give a noticeable improvement in sound quality over directly connecting to the phone with bluetooth.

So unless I want to compromise sound quality for the ability to not need to attatch anything to my phone, a separate source seems like the best option, on paper at least. This gives me some more material to read up on. Having so many things to choose from is both such a blessing and a curse.

 

[Damz87]

From what you wrote so the consumption is not even close to half of the W2 (as advertised) honestly one could say that it has a consumption closer to a W1 than a W2.
Not exactly good news for those of us hoping for a miracle…but so be it. I'll wait for other indications before jumping into a purchase that exceeds $400.
For now I'll stick with the excellent W1.

Yeah, definitely hasn’t halved the battery consumption from my basic test. I’ll try again but this time using my iPhone 13 Pro Max which obviously has a lot more capacity and see if it makes any difference.

 

[becauseim]

please try to discuss other devices and device selection issues in the relevant forum topics

 

[ClieOS]

From what you wrote so the consumption is not even close to half of the W2 (as advertised) honestly one could say that it has a consumption closer to a W1 than a W2.

I think someone pointed out L&P was listing W4's idle battery consumption being half of W2, which of course isn't helpful and kinda deceiving.