[FIIO BT11] Portable High-Res Bluetooth Transmitter Is Officially Released!

[Chieffred]

Hello everyone. Could someone please tell me if a BT 11 Qualcomm chip is also a DAC? Or if the music runs through the smartphone's DAC? Many thanks in advance. Kind regards, Bernd

It's not working like that the signal from the application is transmitted as digital to the USB C / Lightning port (depending of the phone used) (with a software intervention in the case of Android to downsample or upsample to 16/48 if signal higher or lower then that but this functioning should change with Android 14 if streaming apps integrate a specific API to support bit perfect). The conversion is made from the digital signal through the port where the dongle is connected to Bluetooth (conversion to the better codec available) and on the reception side (AKA the headphones or earphones) from bluetooth (codec) to analogic signal then sent directly to the driver(s) if the bluetooth chip as enough output or to an amplification and then to the driver(s). In some cases you can also have a dac on the reception side between the bluetooth chip and the driver(s) (example FiiO FW5). So in a way we should call the BT chips DBC on sender side and BAC or BDC (depending on the configuration) on receiver side.

 

[WDitters]

Hello everyone. Could someone please tell me if a BT 11 Qualcomm chip is also a DAC? Or if the music runs through the smartphone's DAC? Many thanks in advance. Kind regards, Bernd

I don't think there's a DAC in there, all the BT11 does is wirelessly transmit digital data to the bluetooth receiver inside a pair of headphones, where the actual digital to analogue conversion takes place.

It would not be logical for the BT11 to incorporate a DAC. It would mean that the signal would have to re-converted into digital information before being transmitted to a pair of heapdhones .... After all the BT11 has no analogue headphone port either

 

[helmutcheese]

@ Bernd The full info/spec is on their website.

 

[XTF1]

Hello everyone. Could someone please tell me if a BT 11 Qualcomm chip is also a DAC? Or if the music runs through the smartphone's DAC? Many thanks in advance. Kind regards, Bernd

DAC stands for Digital to Analog Converter.
There is nothing analog in BT11: it picks a digital audio signal from your phone, convert it to another digital BT audio codecs format, and send it wirelessly, but digitally, to your receiver—which can be a TWS, BT headphones, etc.
It’s only at this receiver stage that a DAC is involved (to get actual sound…). But it has nothing to do with your phone or BT11.

Side note: most modern smart phone only have a (low quality?) DAC for the integrated speaker. So unless you listen to your phone speaker, the phone’s DAC plays no role in audio.

EDIT: to be exact, the Qualcomm chip used in BT11 does have a DAC (and an ADC, and a DSP), but it is not used in the case of BT11.

 

[bernd]

Hello everyone. Thank you very much for the many answers. So the conversion to analogue only takes place in my bluetooth earphones. Then it is not worth using an additional external DAC. Best regards, Bernd
And if anyone is interested. I have heard slight differences in the USB music players. I have compared the very good Hiby and Neutron and Poweramp with BT11. And Neutron has the best sound. Best regards, Bernd

 

[Rancha]

I bought a Creative BT-W6 and using it with my B&W Px8 and Samsung S24 Ultra. I get Tidal Max from the adapter, but max volume is very low from me. Did anyone have the same experience? And would the Fiio BT11 improve upon this with a louder volume? I have no clue if its the S24 or the BT-W6. But im considering trying out the Fiio BT11 if it's louder.

 

[bernd]

I can set the internal volume on my Galaxy A55 to really loud and the bt 11 gets louder. Then I can also set the volume on my melodimania m100 louder and quieter. It's loud enough for me with ANC.

 

[Rancha]

Ok interesting. I mean at max volume on my s24, the volume is decently loud, but i would like a bit extra oomf, just a tad bit louder. Maybe i should try out the BT11 then, unless its my phone. Hmm...

 

[bernd]

I think it's a matter of your earphones how loud they can get.

 

[MikeyFresh]

Hello everyone. Could someone please tell me if a BT 11 Qualcomm chip is also a DAC? Or if the music runs through the smartphone's DAC? Many thanks in advance. Kind regards, Bernd

Neither is the case, the BT11 is a Bluetooth transmitter.

The DAC is required on the receiving end device, either Bluetooth headphones, speaker, or Bluetooth enabled HiFi DAC, etc...

 

[rookieaudioenthusiast]

I bought a Creative BT-W6 and using it with my B&W Px8 and Samsung S24 Ultra. I get Tidal Max from the adapter, but max volume is very low from me. Did anyone have the same experience? And would the Fiio BT11 improve upon this with a louder volume? I have no clue if it’s the S24 or the BT-W6. But im considering trying out the Fiio BT11 if it's louder.

In my experience, the Creative BT-W6 can get extremely loud. I use it with my MacBook Pro and pair it with my Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 headphones. To get the best sound, I turn the volume of the headphones up to the maximum level, and then I adjust the volume on my laptop to my preference.

 

[helmutcheese]

You are supposed to set the volume to max on devices in a chain and control on the last in the chain i.e. the ear/headphones but in this case as the BT-W6 has full AD2P controls so it will control the ear/headphone volume but on FiiO earbuds etc it will not as they control volume via hardware not software..

 

[magicguy]

@FiiO are you planning to active microphone in future firmwares ? Thx

 

[helmutcheese]

The App updated (it does not list anything added for the BT11 but may have been Ninja added) and TBH I cannot even remember what was there and what was missing settings wise for the BT11 as I do not even use it.

 

[Silent84]

What do you think, guys? Should I purchase the BT11? I aim to use it with my Bose headphones that support aptX Adaptive.