1 DAY FIIO BTR7 IMPRESSIONS:
As a respected source hater I decided that it was long gone since I bought my latest source to the collection.
Since the original announcement of the Fiio BTR7 I was eyeing that as it was one of the few BT dongles with 4,4mm connection (Shanling UP5 being the only other I know in <250$ category), later on PEQ functionality was promised so it was clearly showing as a replacement to well deserved Qudelix 5k. The only 2 things I don’t like about that device is 2,5mm balanced socket and the physical controls being shitty as hell for lack of better wording (it tends to turn on/off randomly on my pocket, it is really not intuitive to control songs, volume etc).
So it seemed like BTR7 would be a perfect choice, correcting everything that was wrong with already good device.
Boy, I was wrong. Fiio’s dongle is huuuuge.
It has terrible UI both in app and in the dongle itself. It turns on very long. It turns off very long. It is huuuuge. It is more in small DAP category than it is in BT dongle category. It is like a DAP without all the functionalities of dedicated audio player. It is like a dongle, but without the usability of a dongle. Qudelix has so much more developed app it should be a shame to Fiio to release something that shitty… PEQ doesn’t seem to work - only 10 band EQ as of now.
The sound is good and clean though (as all the rest of my sources to be fair).
It is definitely more powerful than Sony ZX300. It can chew 500Ohms Tantalus driver Bell Serratus with ease. So what, Qudelix5k can also drive them well in my opinion (our of single ended even?).
But if it can drive that it probably can drive everything else in the world - someone shoot me for that statement. But it is good to know there are BT sources capable of desktop like power delivery (5,6VRMS into 600Ohms in boost mode, 300mW into 32 ohm, come on - what else would you need).
I would be letting go of this device unless some miraculous enlightenment happens and I start to hear the difference. I am afraid though that it may only get worse if BT connection would turn out to be shitty - as if now I haven’t got a chance to test it properly.
Is anyone interested in buying this little gem? 
But let the pictures tell the 1000 words:
