T oday we look at the Luxury & Precision LP6, one of the most expensive R2R DAPs on the planet, costing $4,399 USD.
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Disclaimer: The Luxury & Precision LP6 GOLD (General Edition) was sent to us free of charge in exchange for this review. Headfonia is not related to Luxury & Precision in any other way.
Luxury & Precision
It’s not the first time we feature the Chinese Luxury & Precision on Headfonia.com and we have looked at their L3, L3PRO and L5PRO and L6 before. L&P still after all these reviews is a bit of a mystery company on this side of the world and their Chinese only website doesn’t really help in that regard. Luxury & Precision isn’t as famous as Enrico Pallazzo, that’s for sure, but I did manage to meet the sales director when he was visiting Antwerp’s Chinatown.
The social media pages which they launched a while ago have all disappeared and only one Japanese old Facebook page remains. This is not going to help to increase the brand’s notoriety, but it is what it is. There do are several L&P threads on Head-Fi, but there’s no dedicated LP6 GE thread, there however is a LP6ti thread which is the top level version of the DAP we’re looking at today.
The general idea about Luxury & Precision DAPs is that they look and feel luxurious, sound extremely good but that they are very basic in features and usability. Music first has been the L&P philosophy so far and on one hand that’s really good as they do sound exceptional, but on the other hand, it’s 2020 and DAPs should have basic functionalities. We’ve been asking L&P for some simple things and it seems they have finally started listening. The L6 saw the introduction to limited swiping (still present in the LP6) and the brand new L4PRO seems to be a fully modern DAP. You can find out about that one right here.
L&P LP6
The L&P LP6 isn’t featured on Luxury & Precision’s own website but you can find it on the famous Penon Audio website here: https://penonaudio.com/luxury-precision-lp6.html?
Luxury & Precision LP6
If you’ve read any of our L&P DAP reviews before or if you’ve been following Luxury & Precision then you know their audio players have a non-Android operating system. They have developed their own OS in order to get the best possible sound. According to L&P, non-Android operating systems have lower EMI and lower noise than Android operating systems. So that means great sound, but you won’t get that UI you’re used to. As said earlier, the new L4PRO will feature Android, but the LP6 is still designed “the good old way”.
So what’s so special about then LP6 then? For sure that must be the Intel large-scale FPGA and two ultra-high linear industrial grade R2R decoder chip. And then there’s the fact that the power supply for decoding and amplification is completely independent.
The L&P LP6ti flagship was built to drive full-sized headphones and this normal LP6 version also does exactly that. Compared to the ti version the power output has been reduced to make it work better with IEMs, but it’s still very potent in this regard. As such it has high driving power but with extremely low background noise. The LP6 has very low distortion and ultra-high dynamic range.
Price & Accessories
The L&P LP6 GOLD as you just read isn’t the flagship L&P DAP, that one is the L&P LP6ti, which is even more expensive than the regular LP6 in this review. The “regular” LP6 Gold on Penon sells for $4,399. Yes, that’s more expensive than the Sony WM1Z, Astell&Kern SP2000 and Hifiman’s R2R2000 DAP. It’s a lot of money for a DAP, that’s for sure.
The LP6 comes delivered in a very simple box but it has a beautiful wooden box on the inside, for the price it’s the least you can expect, though you’re especially paying for the technology inside the DAP. Inside the box you find a USB-Cable, a 6.3/3.5mm adaptor, a pair of screen protectors and a Chinese quick start guide. My LP6 came with a leather case, but I’m not sure if it is a regular accessory. We had the same happen to us when we received the L6, so I wouldn’t be surprised of the leather case isn’t part of the normal package. Which, at this price point, is rather crazy.
L6 Looks & Design
You either love or hate the Luxury & Precision DAP design. I for one really dig it. All L&P DAPs look beautiful with the unique edges, incorporated volume control on top and the beautiful wooden back panels with the L&P logos. With the LP6 this is a bit different though, and the wooden back now “runs” through to the front sides of the player. Its not something I particularly like but with the DAP in its case, this isn’t noticeable anyway. The wood on its own does look great as we’re used to.
Luxury & Precision LP6
If not the first thing, the gold/brass look will be the second thing you notice. A lot of people absolutely love it (look at the WM1Z) but if I could choose the colour, it wouldn’t be gold. It however does look and feel soft and smooth. The Luxury & Precision logo on the lower front of the DAP – because of the brass enclosure – also isn’t very visible, but the case would hide that anyway.
Talking about the case, I have always stated that the L&P cases were the best because of the precise fit, choice of leather and their soft feel. But this case is different. It’s thicker, built from a different kind of leather, and it’s red-ish. It’s not my thing but with a +$4K DAP, you’ll want to use a/the case.
Design-wise there isn’t anything really new, except for the fact that this thing is big and heavy. Without the case the player weighs an impressive 410g, with the case included that becomes 453g. For your reference the new AK SP2000 with case weighs 459g. All the materials used are top notch and the L&P LP6 screams luxury with its perfect finish.
The LP6 DAP features a 3.5 inch screen with a resolution of 480x320px, an ALPS volume control, a 4800mHa battery and only 64GB of internal memory which can be extended by 256Gb by using a microSD card. The battery life of this DAP depends on the headphones used, the screen usage and file types “played”. It’s not the very best on the market but it didn’t disappoint either.
For the full specs and features, check the L&P LP6 page on Penon.
The L&P LP6 article continues on the next page, just CLICK HERE.
Varun
Its quite expensive.
Lieven
It is but there’s always a market for high end products
Jim
When you say free of charge, do you mean that they gift you this piece of HiFi equipment
in exchange for reviewing it? Or do you have to return it when the review is over?
Spent last night reading through this great Website.
Thanks for your contribution to this wonderful hobby!
Jim
Linus
Hi Jim,
I hope it’s okay if I chime in here.
Your question is good, and actually raised many times in the past. I think there is some confusion about it going around.
We do get most of the gear for free from the manufacturers for our reviews, BUT everything they send still remains their sole property. You can think of us as an external storage space for multiple manufacturers. They leave the gear with us so we can feature it in other future reviews which might be relevant. Let’s say a DAP manufacturer sends their latest product to get a full review and they don’t ask for it back just right after the review. We then use this DAP in other DAP reviews for comparisons, so the readers can get a better understanding of how product A compares to product B. The brands of course also want to know how their products fare up against the competition, so they can work on future products to make them better.
Btw, every manufacturer can come at any time and request the samples back. No questions asked.
Also, thanks for your nice comment. It’s always great to see people enjoy our work. 🙂
nicopas
Hi, thanks for all your reviews, it’s always a pleasure to read them.
For those very high end DAP, I am wondering how to they compare to what seems as the reference of transportable: Chord’s Hugo 2?
Regards
Suraj
Hey Lieven, Thanks for the entire review of Precision LP 6. As it is so expensive, hope one I will acquired it.
Harold in Italy
Thank you for your review, but it seems incomplete. You identify several DAP’s that you state were designed for IEMs and not headphones, yet you compare the LP6 to these DAP’s with headphones only. You state that the LP6 is good with IEM’s but give no comparison. It’s like you compared apples to an orange.