[RyuzakiL26]

Been contemplating to purchase this or the K3. Does the BTR5 have usb passthrough so that if the battery is already full it will no longer charge it and instead will rely on the USB-C as its power?

I don't care too much with the Bluetooth thing though it will be a nice to have in case of emergency setup.

Also do FiiO products have a reliable audio jack as my now ancient E11 had a faulty one the first time I bought it - and I always had to push slightly the cable attached to the input jack for it to work.

 

[hmscott]

You can disable the charging function from the onboard menu

If you forget to re-enable charging and drain the battery to the bottom, you'll want to plug in the BTR5 for a couple of minutes before trying to boot it back up - it can appear "dead", but it's just got an empty battery and not enough "umph" in it to power on -- then change that option to charge the battery.

The option to disable charging only applies when the BTR5 is running. When the BTR5 power runs out the OS exits - stops running - and the USB cable if still connected will charge it back up. Don't forget to re-enable charging when you power it back on.

We've seen people panicking because their precious new BTR5 was "bricked", it's not, it's out of power.

You can also set the BTR5 to prefer USB or BT, so that when you unplug the USB the BTR5 will immediately connect to BT for a "seemless" transition from plugged in via USB to unplugged and paired with a BT headphone / TWS. That's how I set up my BTR5's, very handy.

I've got a few BTR5's and a BTR3k, so I'm distributing my unplugging across all of them, so it will take "3x longer" to wear them out. One BTR5 - the "Blue Sky" special edition still NIB, I should really unwrap that one and make sure it works. So far no port failures. I also use a variety of headphones / IEM's with 3.5mm/2.5mm so I'm further splitting up the unpluggings across those 2 ports.

The BTR3k is also a nice choice. I use it when I don't want to mess with the BTR5 screen - when I can't look away to use the buttons and screen to make changes. The BTR5 is fine - I can find the volume up and down easily, until I accidentally push the mode button and the volume controls are now working as menu scrolling pointers,

I like the simplicity of operation of the BTR3k - and although it doesn't put out as much power I have used the BTR3k to drive 600 ohm headphones out it's 3.5mm port, the BTR5 sounds better for that though.

I also use a Hidizs S9, that has no controls on it and I control the volume via the phone / Windows, it also has good drive and is a good alternative when the FiiO BTR5 / BTR3k are out of stock, when making recommendations to others on what to try. Hifigo always seems to have them available (they are in Chia) and expedited shipping usually gets here in 3-7 days. S9 Review

On Amazon when they are in stock I try to purchase from FiiO as a direct seller through Amazon - if listed - so I can get direct warranty, from Hifigo they handle the warranty.

So far no warranty claims for any FiiO hardware.

 

[RyuzakiL26]

You can disable the charging function from the onboard menu

If you forget to re-enable charging and drain the battery to the bottom, you'll want to plug in the BTR5 for a couple of minutes before trying to boot it back up - it can appear "dead", but it's just got an empty battery and not enough "umph" in it to power on -- then change that option to charge the battery

The option to disable charging only applies when the BTR5 is running. When the BTR5 power runs out the OS exits - stops running - and the USB cable if still connected will charge it back up. Don't forget to re-enable charging when you power it back on.

We've seen people panicking because their precious new BTR5 was "bricked", it's not, it's out of power

You can also set the BTR5 to prefer USB or BT, so that when you unplug the USB the BTR5 will immediately connect to BT for a "seemless" transition from plugged in to BT connected. That's how I set up my BTR5's, very handy.

I've got a few BTR5's and a BTR3k, so I'm distributing my unplugging across all of them, so it will take "3x longer" to wear them out. One BTR5 - the "Blue Sky" special edition still NIB, I should really unwrap that one and make sure it works. So far no port failures. I also use a variety of headphones / IEM's with 3.5mm/2.5mm so I'm further splitting up the unpluggings across those 2 ports.

The BTR3k is also a nice choice. I use it when I don't want to mess with the BTR5 screen - when I can't look away to use the buttons and screen to make changes. The BTR5 is fine - I can find the volume up and down easily, until I accidentally push the mode button and the volume controls are now working as menu scrolling pointers,

I like the simplicity of operation of the BTR3k - and although it doesn't put out as much power I have used the BTR3k to drive 600 ohm headphones out it's 3.5mm port, the BTR5 sounds better for that though.

I also use a Hidizs S9, that has no controls on it and I control the volume via the phone / Windows, it also has good drive and is a good alternative when the FiiO BTR5 / BTR3k are out of stock, when making recommendations to others on what to try. Hifigo always seems to have them available (they are in Chia) and expedited shipping usually gets here in 3-7 days.

On Amazon when they are in stock I try to purchase from FiiO as a direct seller through Amazon - if listed - so I can get direct warranty, from Hifigo they handle the warranty.

So far no warranty claims for FiiO hardware

Thanks for this, then to clarify the moment I've attached the BTR5 to my PC via USB-C port, I can disable charging and it will not rely on the USB-C as its power or it will use the battery all through-out? If it's the latter, I think I will purchase the FiiO K3 instead as it can be attached to the phone (K30 Pro Zoom) and PC as well - minus the headache of micro-managing the battery unlike the BTR5. What worries me is the audio ports, as it seems FiiO has a history of forgetting to put some quality on those XD. I already have the Deoxit ready though I think no amount of cleaning will fix a broken jack from the get go

 

[hmscott]

Thanks for this, then to clarify the moment I've attached the BTR5 to my PC via USB-C port, I can disable charging and it will not rely on the USB-C as its power or it will use the battery all through-out? If it's the latter, I think I will purchase the FiiO K3 instead as it can be attached to the phone (K30 Pro Zoom) and PC as well - minus the headache of micro-managing the battery unlike the BTR5. What worries me is the audio ports, as it seems FiiO has a history of forgetting to put some quality on those XD. I already have the Deoxit ready though I think no amount of cleaning will fix a broken jack from the get go

Have you seen anyone report a BTR5 headphone jack as faulty? I haven't had a problem myself, and I don't recall anyone posting that as a problem. I think it would take some heavy abuse to damage one of those internal ports. More likely abusive force would break the headphone connector first.

I have heard of people complaining about sitting on their devices (not FiiO) and breaking 2.5mm headphone plugs and insisting that everyone move to 4.4mm plugs - or the new 3.5mm balanced plugs. I've never had any headphone plug break. But, then I don't abuse my equipment either by putting it in my pocket and sitting on it.

Well, it's not that burdensome to disable the battery charging and leave it that way, then turn off the BTR5 and plug in the charging cable - same difference.

The battery will wear out if kept fully charged too, it's not just discharging and recharging that wears out a battery, simply holding a charge, especially at 100% for long periods is also detrimental to the life of the battery.

The new Apple M1 Macbook Pro has an aggressive battery conditioning as I've never seen before, it actually cuts out charging and coasts on battery the whole time down to what I am guessing must be 10%-15% as I chickened out at 17% and disabled "Optimized Charging" and the Macbook Pro M1 immediately started charging. I don't want the battery that low and then need to take it out.

That FiiO K3 looks cool too.

I've got a FiiO M15, heavy and although I love the sound I will take the BTR5 out more often than the M15, especially for walks and short car trips. For long trip's I'd carry both.

Maybe try both? The BTR5 / BTR3k are pretty inexpensive and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy them for some uses.

 

[hmscott]

@RyuzakiL26 - btw, does your new phone allow charging a connected device - like the BTR5? Or is it like Apple that warns of high current draw detected kind of thing and then not work if your DAC needs too much power? The phone operational characteristics usually are what limits options.

For example with the iPhone you'll want to disable the charging of any device you connect to it over it's power draw "trigger" limit.

Good luck, and please let us know how whatever you choose works out for you

 

[RyuzakiL26]

Have you seen anyone report a BTR5 headphone jack as faulty? I haven't had a problem myself, and I don't recall anyone posting that as a problem. I think it would take some heavy abuse to damage one of those internal ports. More likely abusive force would break the headphone connector first.

I have heard of people complaining about sitting on their devices (not FiiO) and breaking 2.5mm headphone plugs and insisting that everyone move to 4.4mm plugs - or the new 3.5mm balanced plugs. I've never had any headphone plug break. But, then I don't abuse my equipment either by putting it in my pocket and sitting on it.

Well, it's not that burdensome to disable the battery charging and leave it that way, then turn off the BTR5 and plug in the charging cable - same difference.

The battery will wear out if kept fully charged too, it's not just discharging and recharging that wears out a battery, simply holding a charge, especially at 100% for long periods is also detrimental to the life of the battery.

The new Apple M1 Macbook Pro has an aggressive battery conditioning as I've never seen before, it actually cuts out charging and coasts on battery the whole time down to what I am guessing must be 10%-15% as I chickened out at 17% and disabled "Optimized Charging" and the Macbook Pro M1 immediately started charging. I don't want the battery that low and then need to take it out.

That FiiO K3 looks cool too.

I've got a FiiO M15, heavy and although I love the sound I will take the BTR5 out more often than the M15, especially for walks and short car trips. For long trip's I'd carry both.

Maybe try both? The BTR5 / BTR3k are pretty inexpensive and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy them for some uses.

From this thread no, I've yet to come across some users complaining about the jack, but from reddit threads - lots of complaints about those. Maybe some improvement have been made since the E11. Maybe I'll ask the local retailers here about the warranty in case such things happen as my definition of "cheap" is around 50$ and I hate to have a jack that fails on a $133 equipment

Since the battery charging can be disabled and will still continue to work as long as it's connected to USB-C, then I think this is safe to be used as permanent desktop dac/amp and for emergency mobile use

 

[RyuzakiL26]

@RyuzakiL26 - btw, does your new phone allow charging a connected device - like the BTR5? Or is it like Apple that warns of high current draw detected kind of thing and then not work if your DAC needs too much power? The phone operational characteristics usually are what limits options.

For example with the iPhone you'll want to disable the charging of any device you connect to it over it's power draw "trigger" limit.

Good luck, and please let us know how whatever you choose works out for you

I've yet to find that out once I have the BTR5 XD (just ordered it), it's not my main use of it as it will be connected to PC 24/7. Will test just in case, as the Bluetooth feature might come in handy on some situation.

 

[hmscott]

I've yet to find that out once I have the BTR5 XD (just ordered it), it's not my main use of it as it will be connected to PC 24/7. Will test just in case, as the Bluetooth feature might come in handy on some situation.

Congratulations on getting the BTR5!!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and as much as so many do here on this thread.

Bluetooth is great. When using an IEM plugged into the BTR5 connected on USB I can simply disconnect from USB and the audio keeps playing with BT paired to the source.

 

[LoryWiv]

The battery will wear out if kept fully charged too, it's not just discharging and recharging that wears out a battery, simply holding a charge, especially at 100% for long periods is also detrimental to the life of the battery.

I'm sure you are right but I just leave mine plugged in when not in use as I suspect battery lifespan will still be several years and unclear to me how much longevity gain results from less convenient approaches. Is my assumption about battery lifespan incorrect?

 

[hmscott]

I'm sure you are right but I just leave mine plugged in when not in use as I suspect battery lifespan will still be several years and unclear to me how much longevity gain results from less convenient approaches. Is my assumption about battery lifespan incorrect?

Lifespan is going to be long enough even if a modern device is plugged in all the time, the charging circuits are smart enough now to reduce the charge - discharge - and recharge over time. Usually it's a small amount just enough to keep the battery healthy.

Apple's M1 Macbook Pro is the first I've seen in a long time that lets the battery discharge so low - it's not convenient to the user who needs to take the laptop and go without worrying about having a low charge. I've gotta do some research as to what's up with that.

Within MacOS Battery control panel there is only one option enable/disable so I can't tune it's behavior which is also a poor design. Usually there is an option to charge to 80% instead of 100%, or a range of discharge you can set, or even nicer would be a schedule where you need 100% charge - like before work or school - and the rest of the time the battery optimizer can have free reign. it's my first Macbook in a long long time, so maybe this is normal behavior?

For example LiPo batteries are more sensitive to being left 100% charged and stored - they degrade if you keep doing that, so they have a storage charge that is recommended to be discharged to before storing long term. 4.35v HV charge for use, 3.5v-3.8v for long term use.

If all users of audio devices or laptops had to pay attention to the battery voltage that would be a pain, so the charger takes care of that for your BTR5, laptop, etc.

 

[FiiO]

Oh and one last thing, this is a question, a curiosity of mine, and I would be VERY interested to hear your audio engineers opinon on this.

I've noticed 0 differences in sound quality when using identical cables - one with in-line mic/remote, one without.

So I'm wondering, based on your research, is there any kind of sound differences, even if it's just in measurements and cannot be heard?

And if the differences are almost 0, why is it that you and basically all other manufactureres don't make high-end headphone cables (thicker wire, silver, etc) WITH in-line mics, and all of the high end cables are without?

thank you!

Dear friend,

I checked with the product manager and the cabe with microphone could reduce the sound quality. But due to individual preferences, some people may not feel the difference.

Best regards

 

[lucasd]

Not in line with what the conversation is on about at the moment, but I'd like to throw in my 2 cents about the device:

It's an excellent bt dac/amp, best on the market, there's no surprise there. Besides excellent sound quality for its category, the fact that it also accepts cables with in-line mics is fantastic especially since if the in line remote has volume control, it will also work for volume/track skipping.

Now about the bad parts, which aren't really bad parts, but features which make little sense and/or are not that great:

a) balanced output. Now, unless you are using a very power hungry IEM/headphone, there's no point in using it. And I'm saying it after thuroughly using both outputs. Yeah, the power increase is massive, 240mw vs 80mw i believe, but it comes with some disadvantages: battery life goes down from 8-9 hours to about 6:30 ; balanced outputs for headphones by nature introduce a higher noise floor, and also a bit more distortion (before jumping on this claim as untrue, please read this blog article by one of the best and most legendary dac/amp manufacturer on the market: https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/audio-myth-balanced-headphone-outputs-are-better ) ; there no 2.5mm cable with in-line mic for convenience ; extra cost to buy balanced cable ; if you're left with 0 battery on the btr5, you can't plug the 2.5mm jack in your smartphone.

It is very strange to me that you hear any noise level. Also given 80mv vs 240mw you would more likely hear distortion on SE on high volume.

I agree that balanced is potentially worse, but it allows more power. So it is a design solution.
Hence if you design powerful enough SE going balanced gives you nothing only degradation. But in case of BTR5 it is different story, as power is limited.
From article: "In fairness to balanced designs, I should point out that a balanced output can deliver 4 times the power for a given power supply voltage. However, this would only be necessary if the product was battery operated. The balanced output would offer no real advantage in an AC powered amplifier."

And finally if you go for science route I can tell you no proof whatsoever that cables makes difference (like silver or copper)

P.S> Balanced feed is solution to limit noise in cable. Of course given short length of those cable sit does not matter, but it is another design choice...

 

[anli]

Can anybody share information how many hours BTR5 is able to feed Tin HiFi P1?

 

[sebek]

Can anybody share information how many hours BTR5 is able to feed Tin HiFi P1?

Just connect BTR5 to your smartphone in USB DAC mode and CHARGE ON and the battery problem is no longer a problem. And you gain a lot in sound quality compared to the BT.

 

[anli]

Just connect BTR5 to your smartphone in USB DAC mode and CHARGE ON and the battery problem is no longer a problem. And you gain a lot in sound quality compared to the BT.

Sorry, I'm interested in BT use case.