Lotoo PAW S1 : One Dongle to rule them all

Portability is the need of current time and a powerful USB Amp DAC is kindling desire of every audiophile who cannot carry their beloved desktop setup everywhere. I am a victim of this problem myself.  This USB Amp DAC by Lotoo solves that purpose beautifully while giving a remarkable listening experience.

In a thickness of mere 13mm and a length equivalent to a big pen drive, Paw S1 packs in itself a plethora of features. Lotoo, an audio brand of Infomedia,  is a well-established name in Audio industry. Paw S1 is a well-deserved addition in their current lineup. Paw S1 comes in a sleek black box with a model and its name stylishly displayed on the front side, the other sides of the box display technical features and other relevant information about the product. 

Inside the box, one would find the unit along with an USB type-c to USB type-c OTG cable, manual and warranty card. The device has a classy black aluminum body with a little display screen on the front side. The design is futuristic with all the important processing information like volume , equalizer stats displayed on this screen. It has both 3.5mm and 4.4 mm output making it useful for a variety of headphones and earphones. The overall feel of this unit is premium and gets one excited to use this along with phone or laptop to upgrade the standard listening experience.    

Disclaimer: 

I have received  as part of review circle sent from Conceptkart in exchange of honest reviews. All impressions of sound are subjective to my own listening and my sources and is based on my experience with DAC/AMPs of similar hardware configurations and price range. One can purchase same using the following link: 

 

Pros:

1. Premium quality build and musical tonality 

2. Expansive soundstage and detailing

3. Lush organic vocals 

4. Nice useful screen and user friendly interface

5. Easy to carry and Cross Platform compatibility

6. Ample power to drive headphones and power hungry IEMs

7. Multiple format support

8. Balanced output

9. Multiple predefined useful equalizer options

Cons:

1. Network interference can be felt at times

Specifications:

DAC Chip : AKM AK4377

Supported Format: PCM 32K-384KHz DSD64/DSD128

Weight/Size: 27.10g, 66mm x 22mmx 13mm

Max Output: 3.5mm:70mW/ch @32Ω 4.4mm:120mW/ch @32Ω

Output Port: 3.5mm Unbalanced and 4.4mm Balanced

USB Port: USB Type C

Noise Level: 3.5mm: -118dBu 4.4mm: -114dBu

Screen: OLED 128x32

THD+N : Low gain: 106dB(0.0005%) High gain: 108dB(0.0004%)

S/N: 3.5mm: 123dB and 4.4mm: 122dB

Pairing 

The device is well capable of Plug and Play and can be paired to all variety of devices out there be it Android Phones/Tablets, Iphone/IPAD or PC. During my testing it worked flawless on all streaming platform out there flawlessly be it Tidal, Qobuz or Apple Music. Standard USB to USB-C connector for PC has been provided in the box along with a USB-C to USB-C cable. USB-C to lightening cable can be purchased separately as it's not a part of the bundle. 

For my testing the S1 has been paired to my laptop, Vivo X50pro and Samsung s6 lite Tab. I really loved the pairing it had with Fiio FD5 and Hifiman HE400i_2020.  I was amazed to see such beautiful tonality and dynamics from a dongle at such price point. Overall the tuning I would say is from neutral to warm side and the sound is very much organic that one can expect out of a dongle. There is not much difference in single ended and 4.4 balanced output in terms of tonality, but 4.4 connection does feel slightly more powerful with bit more dark background. 

Highs:

Treble response is towards the neutral side and has a sense of airiness to it. The dynamics and detailing is top notch and can easily compete to lot of mid-fi DAPs out there. The overall tuning in treble region is towards the relaxing side on stock conditions but different EQ presets can help one change that particular tuning factor. 

Mids:

The mids and vocal notes are weighted and maintains quite high resolution. Vocals are quite prominent and have a very smooth transaction. It has a very musical feel to it with all the emotions in the mids. The timber and tonality is very rich and has lush factor to it. The upper mids felt having bit more energy making it quite resolving. 

Lows:

The bass response is very good with S1. The mid bass has good energy and is like a bliss for some of the mid bass centric IEMs out there. The sub bass is also quite prominent and doesn’t feel lack of energy at all giving a decent rumble. The bass response is dynamic and very much textured and has a very nice feel good factor to it.

Technicalities: 

The separation is very good along with fine imaging. The staging feels very good. The width I would say is average but what amazed me is the depth and the height specially while using the Movie EQ for watching some Netflix and stuff. 

Final verdict:

I have used Dragonfly black and red a lot but I would say Kudos to Lotoo for delivery such a versatile dongle at this price range. I really loved the overall design, screen and the sound tonality of the device. I have not felt any power limitation using it and in my honest opinion this dongle is capable of giving heads on competition to a lot of mid-fi DAPs out there. Only downside that I have observed is bit of network interference that could be due to unshielded cable as well but I am not sure on that part. The power consumption is also minimal, I have not observed any major drains while use power hungry IEM/Headphones over high gain setting. The overall sound signature is musical and can works very to predefined equalizers. I enjoyed the EQ presets a lot for different use cases such as watching movies, playing games or simply listen to music. I am definitely going to buy this one for my day to day use.