šŸ”· FiiO BTR5

Itā€™s in the manual, is that not good enough?

thank you for help me

https://www.fiio.com/newsinfo/328481.html

how good is the BTR5 as a PC DACā€¦ i will probably get one of these in the future in case my phone has no 3.5 but i wonder about using it as my default dac instead of getting a topping or ifi

Scroll up for experience with it connected via USB.

sounds great though the batterry for some reason doesnt charge so it lasted max 4 hours whne I was running balanced last time I used it

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Same, I forgot about that lack of charging while running thing.

Whatā€™s the consensus regarding how the sound is better/different from the ES100. Now that Iā€™ve paired the ES100 with EL-8 Titaniums, Iā€™m finding the sound a touch thin and bright compared to my AD-18. So Iā€™m wondering if Iā€™d get better results with the BTR5. Also: Are there other advantages? The ES100 flips out when I unplug it from the laptop to move aroundā€¦does the BTR5 do that?

Searching for the ā€œnot charging as a USB DACā€ problem, and looks like Iā€™m going to answer to two people at onceā€¦

Maybe it needs a firmware update or an option to be enabled in the menus ā€“ or both.
Fiio forum mod suggested ā€œforgettingā€ bluetooth devices.

  1. Please check whether the BTR5 has been fully charged when connecting to the computer? And does the cable you use have charging function?
    2.Please try to clear the pairing record by holding the volume+&-buttons for 5s and reconnect for check?

Source: http://m.fiio.net:8000/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=45487&highlight=BTR5%2Bcharging

A lot of times, company state battery life that doesnā€™t stand the test of reality, Radsone being a good example with their ridiculous 14H statement (itā€™s more like 5-7H). With BTR5 we have a solid 9H of autonomy, but this can extend easily if you use it as USB DAC for your laptop, because it can charge while playing music.

@dcofficehack:

as good in tonality and timbre but cleaner than my Xduoo XD-05plus and yeah, better than my oh so beloved Radsone ES100 (i say it). I would not call the BTR5 as perfectly neutral but inject with extra thickness and weight in the attack in a very nuanced and revealing macro-musicality.

Source: FiiO BTR5 - Reviews | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

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Iā€™m pretty sure you can charge while playing. Thereā€™s even an option in the menu for it.

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oh shit thanks I didnt know that. I didnt think I could change that I dont use it wired enough for it to bother e so I didnt really look into it

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Iā€™m still trying to understand why Z and many others are so categorical about the BTR5ā€™s superiority to the ES100. Iā€™ve been reading review after review, and when you aggregate them all, it seems that the sound is a little (but not a lot) different, and that some might prefer the one over the other.

So, Iā€™ve been using the MK1 ES100 for a while now, mainly with my K7XX. Iā€™ve been quite happy with it. At the same time, Iā€™ve been on the look-out for a good deal on the BTR5, because of the praise that has been heaped on it.

A few weeks ago, I was able to pick up a used BTR5 on Ebay for $90, and after a long wait on the shipping, it finally got here a couple of days ago.

I havenā€™t had a lot of time to A/B them, but here are my initial impressions:

  1. The build of the BTR5 is far superior to the ES100. I much prefer having all the buttons and on one side of the device, and both of the jacks on the top of the device.

  2. There is a noticeable sound difference between the two when using the K7XX and my Grado SR80e. To me the ES100 sounds more compressed (dynamics) and narrower. I also find that it puts the mids and highs more forward than the BTR5. The BTR5 just seems like a mellower experience. The bass on the BTR5 feels more present, but it may be just that it isnā€™t putting mids and highs as forward as the ES100.

To summarize: if you are finding the ES100 a tad thin and bright, I think the BTR5 is probably worth a try.

I will say that my verdict is out on which I prefer. I think it may come down more to headphone pairing than anything. If I had to pick one right now, I think Iā€™d pick the BTR5 just because of the superior build and smarter layout.

I hope that helps a little.

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Excellent mini review and comparison!

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Excellent. Thank you.

I would accept a change to have this configurable, but would be extremely annoyed if it wasnā€™t possible to have Volume Down = Next Track, since itā€™s always been the case that when I look at my playlist the next track is b-e-l-o-w the current track and not above it. :wink:

I use mine with Grado 80ā€™s for recliner/TV listening. Movies and Amazon HD from Apple TV. Looking at the optical Bluetooth boxes Iā€™m seeing on Amazon to step up from sbc but I gotta tell ya I have zero complaints, volume at 60 on my 600ā€™s but everything sounds right/natural. Wish I could have found this sooner

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Finally got my Zonie cable from Tripowin via linsoul (only 3.5 months after ordering), and got some hart audio cables for my other headsets (Sennheiser HD598cs, HiFiMan Sundara, and Tin T2ā€™s for the IEMs), and I finally feel comfortable weighing in on the balanced output.

First, I want to express how thankful I am for the balanced output on the BTR5, I donā€™t have anything else balanced, and thereā€™s no official balanced cable for the HD598cs, so I had to make my own. because of this, I purchased a miniXLR cable, and a spare HD598 standard cable (which has four lines all the way down btw), and butchered it (realisitcally my soldering sucks by comparison to what Iā€™ve seen out there), to create a compatible cable to the Hart interfaces for my Sennheisers. I discovered I crosswired the L/R channel positives (found reversed audio when using it on an SE connection) and was able to determine that the negative leads were correct when I got very confusing mono output while using balanced and a stereo test track. one side was playing in phase and the other was out of phase - a very disturbing sound profile. After that was fixed, I can now test all my main headsets on the BTR5 without issue on balanced and SE.

To start, the SE is good, as many have stated. I wouldnā€™t say thereā€™s a HUGE difference between SE and balanced for anything you would use this for; the cables are incredibly short and it shouldnā€™t make a huge difference anyways. However, the difference is very much present. the power difference is most notable, and the signal is really clean. When something comes through over one channel, it is very cleanly on that channel. The power is excellent and drives everything I have - to be fair, nothing I have is very hard to drive, but I donā€™t want to drain my bank account buying 50 headphones to find the ones I like the most. I have had the HD598ā€™s for years, and recently picked up the T2ā€™s and Sundaraā€™s to improve my overall listening experience. I didnā€™t get the MMCX Hart cables because I needed portability. The 3.5 SE connection from my stock T2 cable is much more flexible than the Hart cables, and thatā€™s my primary use-case; so I picked up the Tripowin Zonie 2.5mm TRRS balanced cable as a direct replacement specifically for use mobile with the BTR5 and T2ā€™s. I donā€™t use my T2ā€™s at home much or at all. I am today because the isolation is better than anything else I have and thereā€™s a lot of construction noise happening outside. My issues aside, the T2ā€™s are quite good on balanced here. I have Michael Jacksonā€™s album ā€œThe Essentialā€ queued up, and it sounds really really good. Some of the songs are quite complex acoustically, with grit and pop in some of the notes that really comes through on the T2ā€™s. No notable distortion, fuzz, or issues.

I have this album in 24/96 FLAC, playing over BT using LDAC.

Honestly, balanced is a great feature, I love it and 10/10 would buy again. though itā€™s arguable that itā€™s not completely required, Itā€™s definitely a nice to have, and results in a very nice and very clean sound from the BTR5.

dunno how helpful this is considering how many others have reviewed and left feedback on the BTR5, but I thought Iā€™d put it out there for anyone who may be interested in one-more BTR5 balanced review. Iā€™m by no means a professional reviewer, so I canā€™t really get into the sound profile or characteristics in depth, but so far a very positive experience all around.

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Does anyone else has this issue? Sound stops for 0,5-1 second from time to time when using the BTR5. Sometimes it happens like once an hour but sometimes after every couple minutes, making it not listenable.

First I thought this was a Tidal issue but this also happens with regular flac files. Bluetooth speaker with Tidal and same phone was completely fine. Tried upgrading firmware but no luck.

Try changing your Wireless codec on the BTR5. LDAC consumes a LOT of wireless bandwidth, and if thereā€™s some interference in your area, you may be able to play pretty much any other format like AAC, AptX or even AptX HD (which uses a bit more than half of what LDAC does).

my theory is that the BT speaker youā€™re using is on something thatā€™s not as demanding as LDAC, so when thereā€™s interference, it just resends and it has the time and bandwidth to do that, meanwhile LDAC just ends up getting behind, so it has to rebuffer the playback, potentially causing skips.

To answer your direct question: I donā€™t have any issues with the playback on my BTR5. no skips or issues at all, unless I walk too far away from my phone.

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