Seems pretty neat, lotoo stuff has been real solid in the past, and the feature and size seems appealing. It’s been out for a while now, but haven’t really seen too much on it
I so wish this was bluetooth.
I am surprised that it didn’t have it
Small footprint, single ended and balanced, gain switch and EQ = 
Seems pretty neat, I’ve always been a fan of lotoo stuff, want to try this out
Saw this the other day and wondered if anyone had tried it as an alternative to the BTR5 or ES100. Seems like it’s a similar amp as what’s in some of their nice DAPs
No Bluetooth with the Lotoo though if that’s a deal breaker?
Ah, well I guess I didn’t look closely enough to notice that
Advanced apologies for an esoteric question on a seldom discussed device.
I like to maintain a reasonably elevated level of paranoia about what gets installed on my PCs. Does anyone happen to know where the supposed automatically installing Windows drivers for this device actually come from? I’ve been researching this device for a couple of days now and I’ve seen drivers auto-installing mentioned by at least two reviewers.
Are they more or less vanilla drivers for a device class which are sourced from Microsoft or the Windows OS’ own driver store? What I am not really comfortable with is the idea that this device may first present itself to the PC as a flash drive which contains an installation package for its drivers.
Has anyone here heard one of these yet?
I did recently, was actually pretty great, feature rich and pretty solid sound
Any thoughts on how it would fit into DAP tiering purely based on sound quality? Aside from no built in battery or bluetooth and no screen or storage…supposed to get trickle down architecture from some of the higher Lotoo stuff.
It’s pretty much a dongle dac with a bit more features lol
I would say it does well for it’s price, I don’t think it really touches anything like a lpgt or lpg, or a 6000 for that matter, but it does sound pretty great for it’s price, I might prefer it to a nano idsd depending on the iem used (and prefer it over a hip dac), but in terms of portables I don’t know if it’s on the same level as like a mojo or xdsd. In terms of daps I might actually prefer it slightly to the sound of the m11, but I might find something like a r5 or dx160 to be a bit above the lotoo
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I just pulled the trigger on one of these.
I found it on sale in “like new” condition for $139 from MusicTeck: https://shop.musicteck.com/products/lotoo-paw-s1-portable-usb-dac-amp-like-new
I’ve been wanting to switch to a pocketable portable solution that isn’t one more thing that I have to remember to charge. I’ve enjoyed the Hip Dac for transportable desktop use but it wasn’t working for me as a true on-the-go unit. Hoping this is a solid plug and play solution for my Android phone and my Mac when I am on the go and away from my desktop setup.
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Been listening to the S1 for a little bit. So far very impressed with the sound. Plus this thing is super portable and feels well made. Sounds nice with my new BL-01 and also drives my Elegia well from the 4.4 output. I think this one might be a keeper.
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How do the NH sound on it
I need to give it a little longer listen. Might be able to do that tonight. But from my short session it drove the hawks very effectively off the balanced output. The bass was powerful and controlled, the highs were clear and smooth. The imaging was solid. It was a good enough experience that I’ll be going back to it on a regular basis and I feel like you are getting a solid representation of the capabilities of the hawks.
Thanks for your time. Does it expand the sound stage at all? How is it over a full sized dac/amp? I know you had the Ifi Hip Dac. How do they compare? The small form factor of the Paw s1 is very compelling.
I’d say the S1 gives a good representation of soundstage. Imaging seems clear also. I prefer the S1 to the Hip Dac for a few reasons.
No 1. I like the overall sound better and I feel it is more clear with a very natural sound and better imaging. It doesn’t have the same amount of power as the Hip Dac but it is perfectly adequate for all of the headphones and IEMs I’m using on a daily basis. I don’t have any that are hard to drive.
No 2. I like that I don’t have to worry about the battery dying. The plug and play functionality is simple and just works. With the Hip Dac it was supposed to draw power from the computer or phone if you hook the cable up before you turn it on, but I would still have it die on me sometimes in the middle of listening.
No 3. The S1 is much more pocket friendly than the Hip Dac. The size difference is drastic and because it uses a usb C cable instead of the recessed USB A, I was able to find exactly the type of cable I wanted so that I could attach the S1 to the back of my phone and have a nice stable connection through right angle USB C connectors.
I still have a desktop stack that I use at home for those special dedicated listening times. The S1 can’t beat that, but I’m happy with the S1 for on-the-go use and taking to work. I don’t feel like I’m missing out or wanting more while I’m using it. Hope that helps!
What headphones / IEMs would you be thinking about using with the S1?
My good ol’NH Carbons, and my tin t2, and Klipsch X6i. Nothing hard to drive. Just ordered cables from Hart Audio and want to hear the difference xlr or 4.4 would make.