Luxury&Precision L&P P6 Review

L&P P6

Sound Quick Basics (Bass, mids, treble)

The P6’s bass is more about quality than it is about quantity. The bass reproduction of the P6 is natural and normal and of the highest quality. There’s no boost or big slam, it’s neutral in that regard but its all about the extension, tightness, detail and impact.

Bass extends low and has good sub presence, so if your IEM can render it, you’ll be very pleasantly surprised. The bass layering is really nice, and the presentation is clean and natural. In short: you get top quality, natural bass with an engaging and musical character

The mids connect perfectly to the lows and they have the same amount of body. The mid section is spacious, precise and ultra-clean. The mids have an airy and natural presentation, and this  combined with a very rich timbre, excellent decay and perfectly black back ground. Because of their naturalness and analogue character the mids are very easy to listen. The P6’s lower regions are great but the mids are even more spectacular. As said, some find the vocals to be very forward, but I don’t really feel that’s the case. If they are it’s just a tiny bit.

The highs share the same amount of spaciousness and air, and they extend well in all directions. Treble layering is excellent and notes are detailed and precise. The treble section is engaging and energetic, but it is never sharp or sibilant. It’s a very easy to listen to, easy to like and musical treble presentation.

L&P P6

Comparisons

The Astell& Kern SP2000 is miles ahead when it comes to versatility and user friendliness. Sound-wise both of these units perform at a very high level. Both have great sound stages, detail retrieval and speed but it’s the way it’s delivered to your ear that’s different.

The P6 has a tiny bit of extra bass body compared to the SP2000, but it’s less analytical and brighter sounding than the SP2000. The P6 is more natural and smoother sounding (especially in the treble region) and it carries a bit more warmth across the frequency range.

Sony’s WM1Z is starting to get older but it’s still a top level player. It’s not as versatile as the SP2000 and in that regard it’s closer to the P6. The Sony however is a lot more user friendly than the L&P P6 is. Sound-wise both units perform at a very high level and the sound signature here is much more a like. Both DAPS are not like the more neutral and analytical SP2000. And between the L&P and the Sony, the matter one is warmer, fuller and even smoother sounding. Especially the treble section of the WM1Z is soft, compared to that of the P6. Looking at a pure technical level and the precision that comes with it, I probably have to give the upper hand to the P6.

L&P’s previous R2R DAP, the LP6 Gold, has a different R2R implementation and it comes with a touch screen (yes!). The LP6 is the more powerful DAP as it was built to power full-sized headphones on the go (or at home) from a portable source. For the rest the versatility and interface are quite similar, there’s no surprise there. At the same time, the P6 has the BT capability and its design and form factor in its favour.

Sound-wise these two DAPs are fairly close to each other, but the LP6 has a slight edge over the P6 for what technicalities are concerned. They do share the same characteristics and present the music in the same way. The LP6 sounds more powerful, where the P6 is more normal sounding, and I mean that in a positive way.

L&P P6

Soon I hope to be comparing the P6 to the L6 PRO but I am still waiting for my Pro sample to arrive. So once we get to reviewing that one, you can expect a comparison to this “regular” P6. The P6 Pro features a touch screen, a partly different design and an even better R2R implementation.

Conclusion

This is the chapter to come to if reading long reviews isn’t for you. So here’s the TL;DR:

The Luxury & Precision P6 DAP sound signature can be described as follows: Effortless and natural with a high level of technicalities and a musical delivery.

The L&P P6’s design team did a great job and they’ve created a beautiful looking player. Usability-wise, as we’re used to from L&P by now, you get a limited versatility and sometimes the P6 is a pain to work with, especially if you have many files loaded to the player and SC-card.

If you can live with all that, then you’ll find that the P6 is one of the very best sounding DAPs on the market. It’s that simple.

Full specs on the next page.

4.3/5 - (62 votes)
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedin

Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

Be first to comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.