Overview of the Lotoo Paw 5000 MK2 is a leader in its segment?

Sometimes the difference between the two generations of devices is large enough that you can say that they have nothing to do. And sometimes it so happens that when fully back the appearance only changes the sound, but so much that to compare with the previous variant is just silly. Exactly what happened with the Lotoo PAW 5000, recently updated to «mark II».

If you remember, from the creators of «» with a good appearance and usability has a rather mediocre sound. It was not bad, but the player was clearly not among the leaders in the sound that, in General, no wonder, because it used some kind of codec. In Lotoo perfectly understood his mistakes, and the second version received in the role of the DAC AK4490, while retaining the compact dimensions of the predecessor and its processor, allowing to implement very high quality digital signal processing. The price remained at the same level recommended by the cost of the new 5000 is the same $ 350 (plus or minus adjustment for taxes and exchange rates).

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specifications

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• Processor: ADI Blackfin 514 DSP
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• DAC: AK4490EN
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• OU: OPA1622
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• frequency Range: 20 Hz – 20 kHz (±0.2 dB)
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• Total harmonic distortion+noise: <about 0.0006%
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• output power (per channel): 150MW @ 32Ω
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• the Ratio signal/noise: >114 dB
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• Division: >118 dB
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• Max resolution: up to 384 kHz/32 bit, DSD up to DSD256
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• Supported formats:, DFF, DSF, ISO, WAV, MP3, FLAC, APE, OGG, M4A, AAC, ALAC, CUE
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• Screen: 2″ TFT
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• Battery: 1700 mAh
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• hours on a single charge: ~6 h
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• Wireless connectivity: Bluetooth with A2DP
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• Entrance: USB 3.0
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• Outputs: line/SPDIF, 3.5 mm, 2.5 mm balanced
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• Dimensions: 98 mm × 55 mm × 17.5 mm
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• Weight: 110 g

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Packing and delivery

Package player almost traditional, this time for PAW 5000 chose strict black color, everything else was as we are used to seeing. You, of course, not a box of Gold and...

Inside, besides the player, you will find instructions, USB 3.0 cable and a strap with clip for attaching 5000 on hand. Lotoo somehow stubbornly believe that all of their players less Gold is designed for running. Although I personally think that Gold is also quite possible to use as weighting agent in training... of Course, I would like to see included more common case, but it will have to be purchased separately.

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Design and control

The appearance of the first generation 5000 did not change simply because it was not. Design «medium legs» was coined so well that is like «out of fashion», allowing the device to always look good. Case with slightly rounded edges are made mostly of metal, with a small plastic strip in the middle. Thanks to its compact size, the 5000 Mk II is excellent in the hand and conveniently operated. Build quality — everything fit perfectly, not loose and not rattling around.

The Developers decided to go a little against the current trends in pleurotaenia and maximum spread different functions to separate buttons that, perhaps, the added convenience in control.

On the left side is the volume rocker and two switches — one is responsible for the gain, the second for dumping, the existence of such a dual configuration allows more flexibility in configuring the player for different models of headphones. The upper end contains a socket headphone outputs: a regular 3.5 mm and 2.5 mm «balanced», and a combined line in/SPDIF-out. The right side contains a MicroUSB 3.0, backward compatible with regular MicroUSB. On the lower side is a slot for MicroSD cards. His memory of the player is not, so without a card in the slot does not work.

On the front side there is a navigation wheel with a button in the menu (it is used for play/pause), placed in the middle. Over the wheel there are two navigation buttons on the tracks, the right — three buttons, about which I will tell below. The top half of the front panel covers the screen, it is not the greatest, and the resolution closer to the middle, but he has a good stock of brightness that is good readability in bright sunlight. In the lower right corner of the front panel is a power button, is inscribed in the annular indicator, which when the player «breathes», smoothly illuminating and gone out. This chip looks funny, but quickly tired, fortunately, it can easily be turned off in the settings menu.

Perhaps the main drawback of the new 5000 is the working time, the use of full DAC and good power output has led to the fact that the built-in battery lasts only 5 hours and 50 minutes (my standard test MEEAudio P1 low gain, FLAC 44.1/16). Of course, miracles do not happen, and in a compact body notably more capacious battery is not placed, but on the other hand, almost 6 hours of quality sound is still a lot, and hardly anyone listens to music 6 hours straight without the ability to recharge. However, given the success in the development of powerbanks, the device is nowadays relegated to the background.

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Firmware

The player uses all the same Blackfin, so firmware Lotoo create their own, and, perhaps, it is their products are good. «feet» fast, very stable and, in my opinion, comfortable. Main menu as such in the player is missing after download (very quick) you get to the playback screen, and if you were listening to before turning off, the file will automatically be selected, you just press «Play».

The playback screen can operate in one of three modes (toggled by long-pressing the Play button): VU-meter, spectrum analyzer and album art. The first two modes look very impressive, making reference to the technique of the 90 and causing the portion of regret that other developers have not adopted the VU-meters (except the FiiO).

As the menu in the player there, all the controls are rendered on three buttons, each of which has two functions for short and long press. Will tell about them from top to bottom.

The First button with a short press displays a list of tracks. PAW 5000 Mk II is not particularly spoils the media library, there is a view files in folders on your card, a few playlists you can add tracks and a list of all of the media crowd for fans to listen to all mixed up. Long press this button can perform one of the functions selected in the menu (mute, mode switching screen, and much more).

The Next button with a short press is to return back to the menu and the file list, long press opens the player settings, separated by a few points. the Play Settings contains the playback settings: order, time display, channel balance, gain compensation and the like DSD option. the System Settings allows you to configure the timers screen and off, the brightness of the screen unlock mode (any button or just Power), etc. posted exotic options type of information about the battery and test the speed of SD card. the Bluetooth Settings everything is obvious: enable/disable wireless module, as well as searching and connecting to devices. Of course, Bluetooth here made more «surrender», without aptX it is not particularly useful, but, on the other hand, eat this function is also not ask, but with a simple Bluetooth speakers may come in handy. the Sport Mode Settings — turn on/off the sport mode. the FN Key Definition — select the function for the first button.

By the Way, about the Russian language in the firmware: in my version of player he's gone, and with Cyrillic titles 5000 Mark II is not always friendly (although the Latin alphabet with diacritics are displayed properly, even without diacritics), but Lotoo love to release different localized devices with different firmware, so you may receive the Russian version.

In the comments to the reviews of the players Lotoo sometimes raises the question, what is this «sport mode»? It is actually very simple, in this mode, you can use the wheel to change the tempo of the current song in the range of ±20%, adjusting the music to your running speed/jumping/Pliva.

The Last button with the signature ATE/PMEQ hides one of the main «chips» this device. No wonder the Blackfin is a processor «imprisoned» digital signal processing, programmers Lotoo managed to squeeze out of him a lot and have equipped their players next to digital «uluchshayzerov» (ATE) and a very high quality parametric EQ (PMEQ). ATE allow you to select one of the handlers («brighter», «softer», etc.) that will be applied to the sound, these handlers banal equalization more difficult and sometimes gives interesting results. Although a much more useful thing — it's still a parametric EQ. Implemented it here at a good «software» solutions for computer and works well, without spoiling the sound. Naturally, the settings will have to dig into the Internet to understand the General working principle and the value of the parameters, but I'm not going to deprive readers of the joy of knowledge.

Generally speaking, the firmware of the player fast, stable and comfortable. In the future, it probably will work, but common code base with the previous device makes it possible now to demonstrate reliable performance.

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Sound

To listen To the device used the following headphones: , , , , Campfire Audio Andromeda , and ...