I am swapping out my hip-dac2 for a Luxury & Precision W2, and will update on how the pairing with the Dark Magician sounds once it arrives.
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I wanna grab a Cayin RU-6 R2R and test it on my DD sets as well. Loving more DM everyday
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We may grab a nice DAP at some point. We are usually at home right now (working from home, kids) so we dont really have a use for a DAP, but the convenience and cleanliness of a good player + DAC + amp + the Dark Magician in my pocket is alluring.
If you usually in the house, just a portable dac/amp that is very good or even has good BT is more than enough! Let me know if you need some help when you decide to!
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Damn straight I will. Iāve only been on this forum a little over a month, but I love this place. I really enjoy talking about hifi and audio tech, and have enjoyed it for 30 years. Its nice to be around a group of people who are as passionate as I, and dont think Im nuts for seeking the highest quality audio gear.
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You arenāt. This is (mostly) a safe place!
And you like DM so you are in the right track 
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We know that you are nuts, but accept you as one of us.
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You are nuts: spending so much money just for audio enjoyment is insane.
But you are asking like-minded people here, so itās ok 
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you folks rock pretty hard
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Ok, I received the L&P W2, and its great! Zero hiss and great list of features, super portable and easy to use, and it drives earbuds and sensitive IEMs very well. Dark Magician sound the way I hoped they would/could, and the W2 hits a little harder in some areas than the hip-dac2.
I noticed right away the sound stage and āholographicā space was larger and more crisp than the hip-dac2, and the EQ of the W2 allows me to better fine tune many aspects of the sound, including low frequency roll-off speed(fast/slow/low latency fast/slow, etc), 2 stage gain, tuning (āgentleā/ārefinedā), something labeled āSDFā that I do not understand, which has these options: āSDF: normal, IER-Z1R, SE 846, IE 800 S, Xelentoā (filters??), SPDIF on/off (it uses a 3.5mm jack for this), and a toggle for HID mode to allow the DAC to control device volume & vice versa. The device also allows UAC 1/2 switching.
I had to post the front AND back of this little DAC because I like the carbon fiber back. The small digital display is bright and legible, but was not on in the photo. The display shows vol, H/L gain, file format, birate, freq.
W2 has 3.5mm unbalanced and 4.4mm balanced outs, and the 4.4 was the lucky socket into which my new DMs were inserted with a āsnickā that made me smile, and since then my dac/iem and I have been inseparable.
Have had around 4 hours with it on my note10+ and it uses less energy than the onboard bluetooth controller when streaming music to a stereo. The bt will use 25% battery inside 25 mins, whereas Iāve been letting the W2 leech my Note10 for 4 hours and Im now at 55%. I could probably get 6-8 hours out of this.
The sound is very good overall, itās spacious & clean, and there is zero hiss or distortion anytime before or during playback. On high gain settings, the volume coming from this thing was more than enough to keep me from going above 60%(on my IEMs) for most content. The eq is a joy, and is a simple list of presets like jazz, bass, rock, pop, movie, game, etc. I keep mine on bass usually lol.
The DM sound great on these and Im super happy it worked out this way and gave me the chance to try a couple devices! Hip-dac2 and DM sounded great except for the hiss, but the W2 + DM is, right now, my go to listening device. I do miss the analog volume control of the hip-dac2, but Iām able to use the very sensitive onscreen vol slider in UAPP pro on my phone to control it about as well.
EDIT: forgot to mention headphones ā the W2 can push some large headphones, but lacks volume and possibly detail. I havent done much testing there, but will at some point.
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If it requires a disclaimer, Iām not very sold on it being all that good. I am concerned about its technical skills, bass, and treble refinement being merely a DD. I suppose Iād expect more for such a price, though this certainly isnāt traditional TOTL price level.
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Anyone here has the revised tuning for the MiM DM?
The one Ian has is the DM V2. OG is no longer sold.
Yes, we all have the OG, V2 just showed up. Im not sold by any meansā¦
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Personally I found the OG DM to be much more attractive sound colouring wise. Sure the new version is cleaner and more precise but it just doesnt have that special vocal sauce that the slight reverb and vocal thickness brings.
That being said its much easier to blind rec the V2 because of that if you dont know what they listen to.
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DM OG is end of the line material.
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Interesting choice from the maker. Not sure why the upper mids got squished.
@nymz your OG freq response is rather different to Ianās in the treble region. Any idea why?
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Im not sure. Mine looks like everyone elses. Either its a coupler thing or he got a different version, I donāt know. Already asked for a manufacturer graph
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Looks like they removed a filter on the nozzle for the new one.
(the coupler peak aint aligned so take that into consideration.)