Luxury & Precision LP6 Review

Luxury & Precision LP6

LP6 – Sound Classics

 

[responsivevoice_button]

 

As the LP6 was designed to perform best with full sized headphones (but also IEMs) I’ll keep this section limited to the basics and focus on the synergy with a whole series of flagship headphones (in the next chapter).

The way the LP6 manages to do bass with full-sized headphones is impressive. You get the body and impact we all love but bass never becomes too much. No, here you get just the right amount but with excellent depth, layering, speed, tightness and detail. Bass has always been a strong point of the L&P DAPs, but the LP6 just upped the game, doing it with full-sized heavier to drive headphones as well.

The mids are very rich, spacious, natural and also have that excellent depth, layering and decay. Mids are musical and natural at all times and both male and female voices sound natural. The Mid delivery isn’t warm but it does have this layering of smoothness over it. This layering doesn’t take anything away from the technical excellence and precision, it just makes it extra musical.

The treble section is also detailed, well layered and extended. It has just the right amount of energy to keep things exciting and crispy but overall this is the kind of softer treble, which sounds very musical. If you’re into music where sharp and edgy treble is a must, the LP6’s treble rendering might be a bit soft to you. It does however perfectly connect from the mids and it just fits the way the bass and mids are portrayed.

All-in-all you get a coherent high-end level sound with bass, mids and treble that just work very well together. The LP6 is balanced and technically strong at all fronts, but most of all it is very musical and incredibly addictive.

Luxury & Precision LP6

Luxury & Precision LP6

LP6 Synergy – Headphones

In this review we’ll mostly focus on headphones as this is one of the unique selling points of this DAP. As the LP6 is in the high-end price range, we’ve only selected a series of high-end headphones. For this chapter all headphones were connected to the 4.4mm balanced output.

The brand new HEDD headphones sounds great. It’s a new, refreshing kind of sound but to have it perform at its best you do need a good amplifier. Straight from most DAPs and even entry level amps such as the Earmen TR-Amp, the HEDD just didn’t perform as it’s supposed to. For my transportable HEDD setup I now use 2 sources: the Chord Hugo 2 or the L&P LP6. The HEDD sounds sublime from both of these sources with good impact, body, speed and precision. The LP6 not only gives it the power it needs to sound incredibly good but it also makes the HEDD perform at a very high technical level while always staying musical. Once you’ve heard what the HEDD is capable of you won’t settle for anything less than a good amp and source. Impressive how the LP6 pulls this off.

The Meze Audio Empyrean isn’t the hardest headphone to drive and so it will get loud fast, even on low gain. We al know the Empyrean is rather bass heavy for a flagship headphone and this is very noticeable with the LP6. Bass is very full and the impact is big. For some it might even be too big but if you like the Empyrean bass, then you’ll love it with the LP6 as the depth, layering, speed and precision are all there. The sub-bass simply is very impressive. The mids are smooth and on the warmer side, but they’re rich in detail and musical with great layering and depth. The spaciousness and separation is great and voices are natural. A good test track here is Billie Eilish “Bury a friend” or “Ilomilo”. The treble section is soft but musical and easygoing on the ears. This Empyrean treble is soft by nature but the LP6 brings the best out of it.

Luxury & Precision LP6

Luxury & Precision LP6

I still owe you the full review of Rosson Audio’s RAD-0, but it’s an incredible headphone when properly driven. Rosson Audio suggests to use it in balanced mode with a good amp so I wasn’t sure what to expect in combination with the LP6, but boy was I wrong. Bass in the LP6 and RAD-0 combo sounds full, tight and detailed. Bass is fast and has great layering but it doesn’t reach the sub bass like the Empyrean does. This bass is more clear, lighter, cleaner and more neutral but also faster and technically stronger. It’s very different from the Empyrean, it’s the typical energetic RAD-0 bass and the LP6 makes it sound as good as it can. The mids are very clean and precise with slightly more forward sounding vocals. The treble section is lively, energetic and detailed and straight from the DAP I don’t have the feeling I’m missing something.

The L&P LP6 headphone synergy continues on the next page, just CLICK HERE.

4.3/5 - (73 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.

7 Comments

  • Reply February 18, 2020

    Varun

    Its quite expensive.

    • Reply February 18, 2020

      Lieven

      It is but there’s always a market for high end products

  • Reply March 8, 2020

    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

    • Reply March 9, 2020

      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. 🙂

  • Reply June 17, 2020

    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

  • Reply June 19, 2020

    Suraj

    Hey Lieven, Thanks for the entire review of Precision LP 6. As it is so expensive, hope one I will acquired it.

  • Reply September 10, 2020

    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.

Leave a Reply

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