[Brooko]

In Bluetooth world it is file format and codec. The biggest thing for Apple users is that there is no transcoding - whereas without it (AAC) there needs to be conversion in order to be transmitted. I’d be refer the native transmission. That being said though - for primarily portable use SBC seems to be pretty acceptable.

 

[antdroid]

Now try the same in a truly portable environment (background noise etc)

Hahah very true. I did my testing in a quiet office environment.

That said, I just inadvertently gave my BTR1 away. Fiance just came up to me and asked if I have a spare iPod Shuffle so she can use for working out. I said, yes but I left it at work. She's like oh, can you get it for me. I'm like sigh... how about you use this bluetooth adapter for now and we can pick it up monday? I hand her a cheap $10 bluetooth adapter which is still 4.2 and has Apt-X (she uses iPhone 7+ so doesnt really matter anyway). She's basically says, "meh." Then, because I dont really want to go into work even though I''m probably going to have to anyway for real work, I said, well you could try this: pulling out my BTR1 from my bag. She''s like oooh whats that? So I explain to her it's also a bluetooth adapter and it's got some fancy gizmos inside of it that makes it sound pretty good and then demonstrated to her how it works. She reaally like the size, shape and the clip for working out. So she's like, "well, I'll take that, thanks! Can you get me one too?"

Sigh, so there goes my BTR1. The good news, she found out I bought something without her knowing and didn't care. The bad news, she really liked the phantom purchase and hijacked it from me.

 

[slackerpo]

Hahah very true. I did my testing in a quiet office environment.

That said, I just inadvertently gave my BTR1 away. Fiance just came up to me and asked if I have a spare iPod Shuffle so she can use for working out. I said, yes but I left it at work. She's like oh, can you get it for me. I'm like sigh... how about you use this bluetooth adapter for now and we can pick it up monday? I hand her a cheap $10 bluetooth adapter which is still 4.2 and has Apt-X (she uses iPhone 7+ so doesnt really matter anyway). She's basically says, "meh." Then, because I dont really want to go into work even though I''m probably going to have to anyway for real work, I said, well you could try this: pulling out my BTR1 from my bag. She''s like oooh whats that? So I explain to her it's also a bluetooth adapter and it's got some fancy gizmos inside of it that makes it sound pretty good and then demonstrated to her how it works. She reaally like the size, shape and the clip for working out. So she's like, "well, I'll take that, thanks! Can you get me one too?"

Sigh, so there goes my BTR1. The good news, she found out I bought something without her knowing and didn't care. The bad news, she really liked the phantom purchase and hijacked it from me.

awesome

 

[FiiO]

Hahah very true. I did my testing in a quiet office environment.

That said, I just inadvertently gave my BTR1 away. Fiance just came up to me and asked if I have a spare iPod Shuffle so she can use for working out. I said, yes but I left it at work. She's like oh, can you get it for me. I'm like sigh... how about you use this bluetooth adapter for now and we can pick it up monday? I hand her a cheap $10 bluetooth adapter which is still 4.2 and has Apt-X (she uses iPhone 7+ so doesnt really matter anyway). She's basically says, "meh." Then, because I dont really want to go into work even though I''m probably going to have to anyway for real work, I said, well you could try this: pulling out my BTR1 from my bag. She''s like oooh whats that? So I explain to her it's also a bluetooth adapter and it's got some fancy gizmos inside of it that makes it sound pretty good and then demonstrated to her how it works. She reaally like the size, shape and the clip for working out. So she's like, "well, I'll take that, thanks! Can you get me one too?"

Sigh, so there goes my BTR1. The good news, she found out I bought something without her knowing and didn't care. The bad news, she really liked the phantom purchase and hijacked it from me.

 

[JesvsR]

Hey guys¡¡ One question

I'm planning to buy the BTR1 for my iPad Mini 4, and I'm reading that the Fiio has issues with AAC. I'm going to use the BTR1 mainly for Google Music (For FLACs I already have the Zishan Z2). Am I going to have any problem??

Thanks in advance¡¡

 

[waynes world]

Hey guys¡¡ One question

I'm planning to buy the BTR1 for my iPad Mini 4, and I'm reading that the Fiio has issues with AAC. I'm going to use the BTR1 mainly for Google Music (For FLACs I already have the Zishan Z2). Am I going to have any problem??
Thanks in advance¡¡

I assume that the Ipad Mini 4 has support for SBC and ACC. If so, then it should work, but because the BTR1 doesn't support ACC, SBC will be used instead. This may or may not be a problem for you based on various factors: your ears, bitrate of your streams, your environment, if you are watching videos (latency) etc.

If you are not familiar with the differences between SBC, ACC, APTX etc, then some potentially useful articles are here:
http://theheadphonelist.com/wireless-fidelity-making-sense-bluetooth-headphone-technology/
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/learn/sbc-aptx-which-bluetooth-codec-is-the-best

 

[JesvsR]

I assume that the Ipad Mini 4 has support for SBC and ACC. If so, then it should work, but because the BTR1 doesn't support ACC, SBC will be used instead. This may or may not be a problem for you based on various factors: your ears, bitrate of your streams, your environment, if you are watching videos (latency) etc.

If you are not familiar with the differences between SBC, ACC, APTX etc, then some potentially useful articles are here:
http://theheadphonelist.com/wireless-fidelity-making-sense-bluetooth-headphone-technology/
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/learn/sbc-aptx-which-bluetooth-codec-is-the-best

Thanks for the quick answer¡¡
If you confirm that the SQ is good enough, I think I will pick the BTR1 for Christmas... hehe

 

[waynes world]

Thanks for the quick answer¡¡
If you confirm that the SQ is good enough, I think I will pick the BTR1 for Christmas... hehe

My phone is a Samsung S7, and it supports APTX (which the BTR1 also supports). To me the SQ is great. And the connectivity (ie range and lack of dropouts) is really good as well. So I am very happy with it.

I honestly don't know if I would be able to easily tell the difference between APTX and SBC. Maybe I would notice it, or maybe it wouldn't be very material (it would also depend on whether streaming cd quality files, or 320kbps etc). Psychologically though I like knowing that I'm using APTX.

My guess is that the SQ using SBC would be good enough for you though (although latency might be a problem if watching videos?). Most apple users that I've read from seem to be pretty happy with the SQ. In fact, quite a few reviews on amazon and other places were proclaiming how great the SQ was, but that was BEFORE it was known that the BTR1 doesn't support ACC. So that tells you something.

 

[JesvsR]

My phone is a Samsung S7, and it supports APTX (which the BTR1 also supports). To me the SQ is great. And the connectivity (ie range and lack of dropouts) is really good as well. So I am very happy with it.

I honestly don't know if I would be able to easily tell the difference between APTX and SBC. Maybe I would notice it, or maybe it wouldn't be very material (it would also depend on whether streaming cd quality files, or 320kbps etc). Psychologically though I like knowing that I'm using APTX.

My guess is that the SQ using SBC would be good enough for you though (although latency might be a problem if watching videos?). Most apple users that I've read from seem to be pretty happy with the SQ. In fact, quite a few reviews on amazon and other places were proclaiming how great the SQ was, but that was BEFORE it was known that the BTR1 doesn't support ACC. So that tells you something.

You are convincing me more and more...
In Spain I can buy it at 50€, perfect prize
Anyone has tried the famous AirLink??

 

[Amitl]

Mr. Waynes World,
How does the sq compare to your galaxy S7 3.5mm jack? Is it an upgrade?
I'm talking in ear earphones.
Thnx

 

[rG-tom]

Hi all,

I've currently got a FiiO E17 that I use with my Galaxy S8 via USB with my RHA T10i IEMs (I know their sound profile isn't to everyone's taste but i find them very pleasant to listen to, way preferable to my Triple.Fi10s). I'm a little fed up of the extra wires and bulk that this DAC/Amp combo introduces but the S8 cannot remotely drive these IEMs properly, despite only being 16ohm.

Has anyone here used an E17 and a BTR1? How do they compare? Will the BTR1 be capable of driving these IEMs as well as the e17 can or will I need to look at the Astell and Kern XB10?

For reference, whilst the sound quality is much improved from my iPad air 2 compared to the Samsung, it's still a long way off the quality of the e17 so if the BTR1 is "only" as good as an iphone or S7 then it's going to fall way short of my expectations.

 

[waynes world]

Hi all,

I've currently got a FiiO E17 that I use with my Galaxy S8 via USB with my RHA T10i IEMs (I know their sound profile isn't to everyone's taste but i find them very pleasant to listen to, way preferable to my Triple.Fi10s). I'm a little fed up of the extra wires and bulk that this DAC/Amp combo introduces but the S8 cannot remotely drive these IEMs properly, despite only being 16ohm.

Has anyone here used an E17 and a BTR1? How do they compare? Will the BTR1 be capable of driving these IEMs as well as the e17 can or will I need to look at the Astell and Kern XB10?

For reference, whilst the sound quality is much improved from my iPad air 2 compared to the Samsung, it's still a long way off the quality of the e17 so if the BTR1 is "only" as good as an iphone or S7 then it's going to fall way short of my expectations.

At least with the S7, the exynos version is supposed to sound quite a bit better than the US snapdragon version. Is that the same with the S8? If so, which version do you have?

I have the S7 exynos version. Using the Samsung Music app with the "adapt sound" feature turned off, it sounds boring, and I wouldn't use it. But with the "adapt sound" feature turned on, the sound comes alive and sounds quite good to me.

I don't listen to iems very much anymore, but thought that I would drag out the 'ol Havi B3's out of the drawer. They are fairly hard to drive, but the S7 is getting them to more than sufficient volume for me. Listening to Radiohead's Decks Dark and it sounds great.

Now for the BTR1 in aptx mode... yup, sounds better. Darker background. Better instrument separation, and layering and imaging. Definitely and upgrade to my ears.

While I'm at it, I thought I'd try the same song using the S7 and UAPP app with the Zuperdac (the combo that I used before getting fed up with cables/bulk etc). The zuperdac combo sounds better, but another factor is that the song is 24/48 which the zuperdac handles, whereas the BTR1 in aptx mode is probably at something more like 16/44. I'm not sure if that would make a relevant difference, or if my ears would be able to pick it up, but I should have used a lower bitrate version of the song. Still, it's close enough for my ears, and the BTR1 sounds very good to me, so I am very happy to forego the cables to my phone and enjoy the sound coming out of the BTR1.

Ymmv!

 

[waynes world]

Hi @Amitl, see my post above.

 

[Amitl]

Thanx a lot very helpful!

 

[Amber Rain]

Hi

Thanks @WaynesWorld for the link to the articles, very interesting and informative. So if I've got this right Apple can't support lossless Bluetooth transmission?

I've pretty much discounted the Shire RMCE BT cable, due to issues with the volume of voice announcements and hissing (according to the thread on here) and price.

As I'd be using a BT Receiver with an iPhone 6 (my DAPs don't do Bluetooth!), can anyone with an apple phone / computer comment on the SQ from the Fiio BTR1, given that it is transcoded using SBC (does this make any discernible difference at all over AAC)? I would probably only be using Bluetooth whilst out walking the dog and it wouldn't get that much use anyway - or am I better just to stick with wired?

I use Shure SE535 which I use with My DAPs and either 425/215 or Soundmagic E10 when out and about / dog walking.

Thanks