Lotoo PAW Gold Touch Review (DAP)

[YSC]

The AKM4137EQ is an asynchronous sample rate converter. It appears as though they will use this to resample any input data rate.

I found the manual. For a $3000 device you would hope for something a bit better. It is no better than I would expect in a $100 device. Anyway, it appears as if there is a lot of setup options. All the different filters are there. Some EQ options as well, and software control of the output separately for for 3.5mm and 4.4mm outputs. One can set different gains. +14.4dBu(High Gain) -5.6dBu(Low Gain) I suspect the settings were different for the two outputs, and this explains the difference measured. The difference is 20dB, and this is exactly what Amir measured. So the unbalanced output performance is probably the same as the balanced so long as you set the gains. The instructions give no clue as to how this might be effected.

There are ATE (which I assume are pre-canned equalisation) settings. "Brighter" "Sweet" "Dental".. Dental??? Puts one's teeth on edge perhaps? Again, zero clue in the manual. At this price point that is unforgivable. I would expect a professionally written, expansive and complete manual, and a hard copy in leather binding.

Dental likely is auto correct from CN or some kind of google translate error.. if you’ve ever visit China you should have some fun on their translations on billboards or signs

 

[pavuol]

I would expect a professionally written, expansive and complete manual, and a hard copy in leather binding.

I'm not so demanding here.. at least binding wise

On another note - UI, have anyone noticed the first picture?
"Album list" - displays song count instead of artist/interpret, what's the logic behind this?

 

[Francis Vaughan]

Dental likely is auto correct from CN or some kind of google translate error

I'm sure it is. Probably from "sharp". Sometimes the translation errors contain some unintentional ironic humour.
They also provide: Style 701, Style 990, Diffuse field (Near field), Diffuse field (Far field). Which is more interesting. I assume they are referencing AGK k701 and Beyerdynamic 990 headphones in the "styles". But the diffuse field is more interesting. Sennheiser house sound perhaps?

 

[YSC]

I'm sure it is. Probably from "sharp". Sometimes the translation errors contain some unintentional ironic humour.
They also provide: Style 701, Style 990, Diffuse field (Near field), Diffuse field (Far field). Which is more interesting. I assume they are referencing AGK k701 and Beyerdynamic 990 headphones in the "styles". But the diffuse field is more interesting. Sennheiser house sound perhaps?

tell you what, once I saw a huge shop name bilboard have english: Translator Server Error.

I did a search on the dental thing and you will be surprised, it's a tuning to mitigate the "teeth noise/sound" which is also called "interdental" noise tuning. I suspect with their lack of explanation one would scratch their head hard for these funny naming modes.

 

[caocaolatre199x]

Waiting for more music player reviews. Please take measurements with another Chinese brand QLS-hifi. QA 360 or QA361

 

[Mnyb]

Hmm most headphones have unbalanced connections ? So for this price it got of easy for being a DAP.

Is not balanced headphones just unnecessary to begin With ? ( benchmark has white paper about that , you all probably read it already ) so the product works excellent in a “ gimmick” mode that’s not really necessary and just about passable in “ normal “ mode for unbalanced normal use with most headphones .

I would probably not be able to hear any difference, but for nose bleed pricing all features should be equally excellent imho.

In short it underperforms with >99% of headphones and it is meant to drive headphones.

Btw the review is great thank you . I just doing what you ask of us to do , read the data and draw my own conclusions based on my own use case I have normal headphones .
This product is fit for the very limited use case of balanced phones only , that would limit use even fo real headphone enthusiasts with dosens of headphones in their collection.

 

[SegaCD]

...costs US $3,199 although I see it on sale for US $2,599...

...Scrolling around was not as smooth as I like with some judder...

...The low output seems like an afterthought...

...Filter response is the very slow type which I don't like...

...I went to look for the manual to change it but did not find it...

...Notice how switching to higher sample rate fixed the high frequency issue indicating it is a filtering problem...

...The low output is not useful...

...This is above average but not top of the class...

...A proper, working lo output could have aced this measurement...

Happy to recommend the Lotoo PAW Gold Touch for excellence in engineering.

A golfing panther? Seriously? For more than $2.5k USD?

I'm sorry, but...what?

Excellent performance...using specific sample rates via balanced headphones (which apparently everyone uses).

As Francis said, even if the unbalanced performance is due to incorrect settings, there should be no issues at this price point. None. A half-assed user manual, more than one decent UI/UX issue, & bad filtering would not place a $3k DAP on the top of my list nor anyone's list that I know of.

I think we must have forgotten that the LG G7 exists at a $749 MSRP (but can now be had for $199.99 or less) with most of the performance, thinner profile, longer battery life, and more power/utility/help resources (w/ the Android OS) than this DAP...and, go ahead, add an Apple USB-C dongle for $10 for your low impedance headphones. Sure, the SNR (vs. the balanced SNR measured here) is a few dBs lower, but that hasn't been the only factor considered in the past.

Am I missing something or...?

 

[3125b]

What is the XRC option?

Oh that‘s just there in case it sounds too good without

 

[highpurityusbcable]

Nice. But now I understand why audiodummies were buying and selling it fast, saying it's too "clinical". For some reason those who often appeal to music loving in poetic ways don't like how their favorite recordings sound when they are not colored by perverted engineering.
Thank you for the review.

 

[pavuol]

Oh that‘s just there in case it sounds too good without

Headphonics review somehow contrasts with Amir's measurements :

"You can upsample tracks up to 768kHz via the XRC function.
...
It might suck a bit more juice out of your battery life since it pulls from the secondary AK4137EQ DAC but the payoff seems to be a higher level of dynamic range especially in the lower registers and the midrange. The sub-bass presence is more fleshed out with better texture, instrumental timbre has a slightly more liquid tone to it in the lower mids and the treble has a bit more headroom. Definitely a more ‘vivid presentation’ with XRC on over off. "

They also state that ATE stands for ‘Acoustic Timbre Embellisher’ .

 

[Francis Vaughan]

Quoting:
It might suck a bit more juice out of your battery life since it pulls from the secondary AK4137EQ DAC but the payoff seems to be a higher level of dynamic range especially in the lower registers and the midrange.

Sigh. It isn't a DAC, so they are starting from a way back already. Ironically, they are sort of right. There is more dynamic range in the mids and lows. ATE screws up the top end, so in comparison, the mid and low end does have better SNR. Not quite what they thought they meant however.
Writing this sort of drivel seems to have become an art-form all of its own.

 

[Objectivist01]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Lotoo PAW Gold Touch portable digital audio player (DAP). It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $3,199 although I see it on sale for US $2,599.

The unit is hefty as all DAPs seem to be:

View attachment 102325

Scrolling around was not as smooth as I like with some judder. But the VU meter emulation that was active while I was testing it as a USB DAC was the most faithful and beautiful I have seen! The rotary control is easy to turn although it moves through the volume range rather slowly. Luckily a bar graph comes up and you can just grab it and pull up and down.

Dual outputs are provided for balanced and unbalanced headphone connection:

View attachment 102326

As you see, the 3.5mm unbalanced is also the low gain output.

Lotoo PAW Gold Touch Measurements
Starting measurements showed serious problems both with unbalanced and balanced outputs:
View attachment 102327

View attachment 102328

I was about to close the thing up and send it to its owner when I noticed this "XRC" option on the main menu. It was on so I turned it off and was amazed what a difference it made in balanced mode:

View attachment 102329

This kind of performance blows away any other DAP I have tested so far by a mile. It is so good that it give serious competition to desktop DACs:
View attachment 102330

Sadly the improvement did not fully translate to the unbalanced/"lo" output:

View attachment 102331

The low output seems like an afterthought.

Anyway, good news continues as we sweep the output level:

View attachment 102332

And measure dynamic range:
View attachment 102333

IMD test is passed with flying colors:
View attachment 102334

Linearity is as perfect as it gets:
View attachment 102335

Filter response is the very slow type which I don't like:
View attachment 102336

I went to look for the manual to change it but did not find it. Hopefully it is a setting and can be changed to something sensible.

This naturally impacted THD+N vs frequency given its wide bandwidth:
View attachment 102338

Notice how switching to higher sample rate fixed the high frequency issue indicating it is a filtering problem.

Back to good news, we have more of it in the form of multitone signal:
View attachment 102339

Many desktop DACs would be jealous of this kind of performance let alone a portable DAP!

The meat of the unit is a headphone amp though so let's measure power into a high impedance 300 ohm load:

View attachment 102340

The low output is not useful but the balanced out turns in very respectable performance with 53 milliwatts. Switching to 50 ohm we get:

View attachment 102341

Measuring noise when outputting very little signal to sensitive IEMs we have:
View attachment 102342

This is above average but not top of the class:

View attachment 102343

A proper, working lo output could have aced this measurement.

Listing Tests
I started with my killer test which is the 25 ohm, tough to drive Ether CX headphone. The Lotoo had no problem pushing this headphone, producing stellar fidelity in the form of dynamics, bass response, detail, etc. I did not have another headphone handy with the balanced connector handy so tested the Sennheiser HD650 using the unbalanced out. There just wasn't enough volume here to be usable.

Conclusions
Man, we have been waiting some two years for a performant DAP and here comes out of the blue a brand I had not heard of before wiping the floor with the rest of its competitors. Regardless of price, we had struggled to find a DAP that would match a good smartphone let alone one that competes with desktop products. Lotoo PAW Gold Touch changes all that. It delivers desktop performance that you can take on the road with you. Yes, it does so at nose bleeding prices but shows that technically there are no barriers to great performance -- just as we had predicted.

Happy to recommend the Lotoo PAW Gold Touch for excellence in engineering. You want great sound in a DAP? This is it so far.


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This or an iphone is the question for iems!

 

[Frank Dernie]

This or an iphone is the question for iems!

On price alone an iPhone with dongle would be better for wired iems and have many other functions too.
They share the same downside of a touch screen, which is needed for versatility in a phone but just a cheap cop out on a DAP IMO.

 

[somebodyelse]

Is not balanced headphones just unnecessary to begin With ? ( benchmark has white paper about that , you all probably read it already ) so the product works excellent in a “ gimmick” mode that’s not really necessary and just about passable in “ normal “ mode for unbalanced normal use with most headphones .

In a portable device where space is at a premium, and you're starting with a low voltage single supply, it can allow decent power output without having to synthesize a -ve supply rail or higher supply voltage.

 

[3125b]

seems to be a higher level of dynamic range

Wich is the very opposite of what actually happens.
Shows why subjective reviews are so useless.

 

[Prince Valiant]

A golfing panther? Seriously? For more than $2.5k USD?
...
Am I missing something or...?

Always look over the reviews regardless of the panther.

 

[vkvedam]

A golfing panther is being quite generous for this technical performance I feel

 

[xykreinov]

A golfing panther is being quite generous for this technical performance I feel

I almost agree. But, considering how far behind every other DAP has been, I feel it's valid. Still, I think the price is obscene. I don't see why one shouldn't just get a smartphone coupled with a competent portable DAC/AMP instead, beyond just preferring the DAP's hardware/software interface over a smartphone's. But, that's a such a heep of cash just to throw at a bit more fanciness, there...

 

[Lorenzo74]

I’m not sure my aging ears are worthy of a three grand DAP. This Is convincing me to pull the trigger on a decent music player with a great camera (iPhone 12) which appears to be a better value than I originally thought.

Already done. Agree with you.

 

[Francis Vaughan]

dunno why SE output has worse performance in this review. Probably some DSP features are enabled...

If one looks at the AP results in the review, the unbalanced output is swinging 600mV. The balanced output is swinging 6V. 20dB difference. That is exactly the different between the high and low gains configurable on the outputs. It is pretty clear that the unbalanced output was in low gain mode. Why is hard to know. The default, according to the near useless instructions, is high gain mode. Maybe the owner set it to low before Amir got it.
Given how poor the instructions are, it might even have been by mistake.