Sound analysis.

I started my review with a very bold statement of LPG being the most neutral and detailed DAP I heard so far, and this is an honest truth.  LPG has a very neutral and transparent signature with a high resolution sound where you get an excellent retrieval of details and smooth reference tonality (very revealing but not harsh or grainy).  The sound has a great layering effect with an excellent separation of instruments.  Also, it has a great soundstage expansion with nearly holographic effect with above the average width, depth, and height.

By testing it with a number of my neutral/reference quality headphones to determine a common sound characteristics, I found that Low end performance brings up the best in bass with a nicely layered sub-bass texture and fast mid-bass punch where low end is tight and well controlled.  Lower mids are clean and on a leaner side, still with plenty of body but not as much warmth.  Upper mids are very detailed, revealing, more of analytical quality but not grainy.  Vocals sound great, but missing a little bit of the natural organic smoothness.  Treble is crisp, extended, well defined, and airy, but not harsh or fatigue.

Lotoo calls it a Reference Audio Player, and that’s exactly how I hear it with a perfect combination of digital reference quality and analog smoothness.  Though LPG is one the most neutral DAPs I heard to date (at the moment of writing this review), it could go both ways when it comes to headphones pair up.  It pairs up great with warmer and neutral sig headphones, allowing them to improve in detail retrieval without making sound bright or harsh, and even with some bright headphones it pushes detail retrieval and analytical quality to the next level.  But it could also raise the energy of upper mids and treble to the level where it’s overwhelming and crosses sibilance threshold, thus making headphones not as enjoyable during extended listening period.

Pair up with earphones/headphones.

ES60 – very transparent expanded sound, with a great low end punch and a nice sub-bass layer extension, clear detailed smooth mids, and crisp airy treble.  Excellent 3D soundstage.

W60 – smooth lush sound with a deep sub-bass and punchy mids-bass, thicker warm lower mids, and detailed smooth upper mids, smooth well defined treble.

UM Pro 50 – great punchy sound, excellent balance of sub-bass and fast mid-bass, smooth detailed mids which also have plenty of brightness to balance out smoothness, treble has a nice sparkle and airiness.  Soundstage has above average width, almost on a level of W60/ES60, and a more intimate average depth.

Savant – amazing pair up, sound is very transparent, fast and detailed, closer to analytical quality, yet still smooth enough without crossing sibilance threshold. Bass is tight and punchy, sub-bass quantity is lagging just a bit, but quality is on high level.  Mids are lean, detailed, a little more on a brighter side, but without any harshness.  Treble is airy, crisp, and with a nice extension.

ZEN – plenty of power to drive these 320 ohm earbuds with authority, though closer to max level of low gain.  Sound is very tight, transparent, but I felt like it lost a little bit of musicality, though gained a whole new level if detail retrieval.  Low end is tight and well controlled, mids are clean, detailed, with a perfect mix of brightness and smoothness, treble is bright, well defined, with a little bit of airiness.

PM-3 – drives them with super authority! Punchy bass with a nice sub-bass crunch, bass is well controlled, no spillage into lower mids, lower mids have a nice tight body, upper mids are detailed and smooth, the best retrieval of details from PM-3 I heard so far, treble is crisp, airy, detailed, but not sibilant or harsh.  PM-3 is more on a warmer smoother side and can get congested with some sources, but not here.  Pair up with LPG is Epic!

EL-8C – great pair up, sound is bright and transparent, nice tight bass, lean bright analytical quality mids, but absolutely no metallic sheen or grainy texture, crisp/airy bright treble without a hint of sibilance. EL-8C is sensitive to bright sources, while here sound sig is still bright but well controlled.

R70x – drives these 470 ohm open back cans with authority but closer to max level of volume in low gain, very transparent and detailed sound, never heard these with so much details before.  Nice tight textured bass, smooth detailed musical mids, crisp airy treble, and 3D soundstage.

With plenty of power to drive even demanding headphones, I don’t see a need for any external amp (unless you want to change the tonality), though I did try it with a few of my portable amps connected to LO.  I found DAC output to be very clean and to pair up nicely with E12A and C5 portable amps.  But it also demonstrated a more analytical reference quality of LPG internal amp, since with other amps sound lost some of the details and became a little smoother.  In my opinion, if you want to warm up the sound, instead of using external amp, try ATE effects or Parametric EQ presets.

Comparison to other DAPs.

Considering a summit-fi status of LPG, I was curious to see how it stacks up against other higher end DAPs I have in my review collection (LP5 Gold, L5 Pro, AK120ii, and QA360).

LPG vs LP5G – very similar tonality with LPG being slightly more transparent and neutral, while LP5G being a little smoother and having slightly more body, LPG has a little more staging width while LP5G has a little more depth, but overall soundstage expansion is very similar.  Low end has a similar extension with a very similar sub-bass texture, and mid-bass quantity, though LPG is a little tighter.  LPG lower mids have slightly leaner more neutral body, upper mids are very similar, and the same with treble.

LPG vs L5Pro – same as with LP5G, LPG tonality is more transparent and neutral, while L5Pro is smoother and a little warmer, similar retrieval of details, soundstage of LPG is slightly wider, while the depth/height is similar, LPG low end is tighter and has a little more control. L5Pro mids are a little smoother and warmer, while LPG mids have a slightly better retrieval of details and upper mids are a touch brighter.  Treble is very similar, but LPG has a little more airiness.

LPG vs AK120ii – similar tonality with a similar transparency, but a slightly different retrieval of details (LPG advantage), also AK is smoother while LPG is a little crispier.  LPG low end is a little tighter and sub-bass texture is more layered.  Lower mids have a similar body, and upper mids in LPG have a slightly better retrieval of details while AK is a little smoother.  Treble in LPG has a little more airiness.

LPG vs QA360 – LPG has a more neutral tonality with more transparency and a little crispier sound in comparison to smooth and warmer QA.  Both have a similar sub-bass texture and similar mid-bass punch, but LPG bass feels tighter.  LPG lower mids are a little leaner and upper mids are more analytical, while QA mids are smoother and more musical.  LPG treble has more airiness and a little more crispy, while QA is smoother.

Next, comparison of PAW Gold vs PAW 5000 is just for the reference to see how they stack up against each other.

Gold vs 5k – 5k has a warmer tonality with a sound being flatter in comparison to a more neutral, transparent, and dynamic sound of Gold.  Gold soundstage is wider while 5k is a little deeper.  Gold bass is tighter and better controlled, while 5k is looser.  Gold lower mids are leaner and upper mids have a better retrieval of details while 5k lower mids are thicker and upper mids are smoother.  Also, Gold has more airiness and better definition in treble where 5k is smoother while still having a decent definition.

Conclusion.

In my opinion, any evaluation of a sound is based heavily on a relative comparison.  What we hear as a warm, bright, or neutral should be relative to some baseline sound.  But how do we know for sure the headphones sound warm and it’s not the boosted lows of your source, or the other way around where headphones have too much treble energy which could be contributed by a thin bright source?  Lotoo PAW Gold takes all this uncertainty out of the equation by providing what I hear as a perfect neutral reference quality source with a high level of transparency and resolution and enough power to drive even demanding headphones.  So is this the end-game TOTL DAP?  I’m sure it could be for a lot of people, but not for everybody.  If you have a collection of bright analytical headphones, the revealing “truth” of LPG can push it over the limit, or if you take a pride in a large collection of songs and albums accumulated over the years – scrolling through a sizeable list of songs could be frustrating where you might prefer a touch screen or some other mechanical scrolling interface.  And of course, if you have a large collection of your songs stored in the cloud or a frequent user of streaming services – this won’t cut it for you either.  But if you fancy the reference quality neutral sound with the top notch transparency and retrieval of details, with an efficient minimalistic all in one display, with top quality DSP effects and access to professional Parametric EQ, a very impressive 11+ hrs battery performance even with high power output, customizable keys, and the bulletproof build quality (aircraft grade duralumin, sapphire glass, gold plated components) – this DAP is definitely Golden and in my opinion worth every penny!

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BONUS: Dignis LPG leather case mini-review.

I know what some might think, red?!?  Not a very common color among typical black and brown DAP cases.  Well, first of all you don’t have a choice anymore because it’s the only available color you can buy from Dignis.  To my surprise, after a short period of time it actually grew on me.  I have a bin full of DAPs, all properly dressed in leather cases, and among black/brown selection the red is very easy to find.  We are not talking about a dull red uniform color, but a rather vibrant leather-pattern “worn out” red case.  To be honest, I wasn’t as crazy about DX80 red leather case because it had no patterns on it.  This Dignis case has more personality and looks better.

I also found Gold navigation pad and power button to blend in very nicely with red leather.  Both openings in the front of the case were large enough not to obstruct the operation, and I like how Dignis imprinted the functionality icons for Play/Pause, Skip Next/Prev, and Stop.  Other 5 buttons are covered, easy to press while feeling a nice tactile response, and also have imprinted functionality so you don’t have to guess.  USB3 and power charging port opening is combined and generous enough not to obstruct cable connection.

The top of the case is fully open, providing full access to a volume pot and HO, LO, Gain, and Hold.  It’s easy to insert LPG through this opening into the case, but not as easy to take out since my trick of using a pencil to push it up doesn’t work in here due to a bottom of the case being fully sealed.  In theory you only need to remove PAW Gold from the case if you want to take out SD card, and if you have to do that – try to grab LPG around volume wheel area and wiggle it as you pulling it out.

Unboxing.

Design & Fit.