Lotoo PAW 6000 vs Shanling M7

Short answer

More power: the Shanling M7, with 406 mW into 32 Ω; the Lotoo PAW 6000 has 300 mW (balanced: 920 mW against 300 mW). The Shanling M7 drives 1 headphone to 100 dB that the Lotoo PAW 6000 cannot (Moondrop PARA).
Quieter with sensitive IEMs: the Lotoo PAW 6000. 1 headphone stays below audible hiss on it but not on the Shanling M7 (Tanchjim EA FORCE).
Price: the Shanling M7 costs $49 more; what that buys on these numbers is set out further down, under What the price difference buys.

Both are portable players, $1200 against $1249.

The Shanling M7 reaches 100 dB on 566 of the 567 models here, the Lotoo PAW 6000 on 565.

Side by side

Every published figure, next to each other

Specification	Lotoo PAW 6000	Shanling M7
Power into 32Ω	300 mW	406 mW
Power into 150Ω	64 mW	87 mW
Power into 300Ω	32 mW	43 mW
Power into 600Ω	16 mW	22 mW
Output impedance	not published	1.0 Ω
Output noise	0.975 µV	1.6 µV
Price	$1200	$1249
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	565	566

Not published means the maker leaves it out, so that axis cannot be compared.

Balanced output

The 4.4 mm or XLR socket, rated on its own

Balanced	Lotoo PAW 6000	Shanling M7
Socket	4.4mm	4.4mm
Power into 32Ω	300 mW	920 mW
Power into 300Ω	32 mW derived	98 mW derived
Output impedance	not published	1.0 Ω
Output noise	0.775 µV	2.2 µV
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	565	566

Through the balanced sockets the Shanling M7 reaches 100 dB on 566 of the 567 models here and the Lotoo PAW 6000 on 565. Derived figures are worked out from the loads the maker did publish.

How solid these numbers are

Where each power figure comes from

Load	Lotoo PAW 6000	Shanling M7
32 Ω	Published	Published
150 Ω	Derived	Derived
300 Ω	Derived	Derived
600 Ω	Derived	Derived

Both makers publish a power rating. Lotoo PAW 6000 publishes at 32 Ω; Shanling M7 at 32 Ω. The other rows are worked out from those.

The two publish at the same loads, which is the one case where the rows of this table can be read straight across.

What the labels mean.

What separates them

The headphones that tell them apart

1 headphone reaches 100 dB on the Shanling M7 but not on the Lotoo PAW 6000 — Moondrop PARA.

1 headphone stays below the audible-hiss threshold on the Lotoo PAW 6000 but crosses it on the Shanling M7 (Tanchjim EA FORCE).

565 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both.

On real headphones

Headroom and hiss on 8 models, both sources

Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The widest gap on the list is the Audio-Technica ATH-R70X: Shanling M7 has +12 dB of headroom there against +11 dB. 1 dB is about 1.4 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

Hiss below about 20 dB SPL is inaudible in a quiet room.

Headphone	Impedance	Needs	Lotoo PAW 6000 headroom	Shanling M7 headroom	Lotoo PAW 6000 hiss	Shanling M7 hiss
Shure SE846	9 Ω	0.04 mW	+33 dB	+35 dB	14 dB	19 dB
Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020	9 Ω	4.0 mW	+13 dB	+15 dB	-6 dB	-1 dB
Audeze LCD-2 Classic	70 Ω	0.79 mW	+22 dB	+24 dB	-8 dB	-3 dB
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)	250 Ω	0.63 mW	+18 dB	+19 dB	-12 dB	-8 dB
HiFiMAN HE400se	25 Ω	7.9 mW	+15 dB	+16 dB	-13 dB	-9 dB
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X	470 Ω	1.6 mW	+11 dB	+12 dB	-19 dB	-15 dB
Sennheiser HD 600	300 Ω	6.6 mW	+7 dB	+8 dB	-23 dB	-19 dB
HiFiMAN Susvara	60 Ω	50 mW	+5 dB	+6 dB	-25 dB	-21 dB

What the price difference buys

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The Shanling M7 costs $49 more than the Lotoo PAW 6000. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 1 more model driven to 100 dB.

It does not run one way only: the cheaper Lotoo PAW 6000 keeps one model below the audible-hiss threshold that the Shanling M7 does not, which is the part worth checking against your own headphones before paying the difference.

Only published figures count here; blank axes are counted separately.

Both pages in full

Each in full: Lotoo PAW 6000 and Shanling M7.

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