[mad001]

Anything can break. And when it happens to us it is natural to draw the conclusion it is a common problem and can happen again to us. In reality, most of the time that person was just incredibly unlucky - if something is going to break, even if only one in all of existence is going to break, that one person is going to be impacted and maybe draw a larger conclusion.

Research this. If it truly is a widespread problem - MANY failures - then hard pass on the replacement. Otherwise, if you really liked the product, take the replacement. My opinion, only.

Crappy LPT : Use this trick to get a new BTR5 near the end of your warranty to new unit with a fresh battery. If you live in a region with official support.

To be honest though, I'm too scared to use the EQ function on this DAC. There's an example even on this thread.

 

[LoryWiv]

Thanks indeed for the heads-up and sorry you had to find out about it the hard way. I've got the original BTR5 which has performed well in BT and DAC mode and I only briefly tried the FiiO Control App's EQ, but I'll certainly avoid it entirely now in either mode.

Same here. Thankfully I don't EQ but do use and enjoy the FiiO app to add some 2nd order harmonics. Certainly could be placebo / expectation bias but IMO it adds a bit of vacuum tune coloration (in a good way) to the output.

 

[jsmiller58]

Well, all this talk about this issue makes me very curious. I have the original BTR5 and may as well try to reproduce this sighting. Since I rely primarily on the 5K I don’t really use the BTR5 anymore, so if it breaks it is not a significant loss to me. Will happily report if I reproduce the issue.

 

[hmscott]

Well, all this talk about this issue makes me very curious. I have the original BTR5 and may as well try to reproduce this sighting. Since I rely primarily on the 5K I don’t really use the BTR5 anymore, so if it breaks it is not a significant loss to me. Will happily report if I reproduce the issue.

I was going to pass on the 2021 BTR5 as I have 3 of the previous version, along with a BTR3K, but now I am curious if there is a bug, someone should help FiiO replicate it and get it fixed, rather than be afraid that it's "gonna brick!", ya know, these things are bugs that need to get fixed, not create a scare about a product.

FiiO has been very attentive in these forums getting user feedback and helping owners to get their product problems fixed - I don't see the value in throwing a tantrum and storming out over a bug.

 

[jsmiller58]

I was going to pass on the 2021 BTR5 as I have 3 of the previous version, along with a BTR3K, but now I am curious if there is a bug, someone should help FiiO replicate it and get it fixed, rather than be afraid that it's "gonna brick!", ya know, these things are bugs that need to get fixed, not create a scare about a product.

FiiO has been very attentive in these forums getting user feedback and helping owners to get their product problems fixed - I don't see the value in throwing a tantrum and storming out over a bug.

Yup…! I will see if I can replicate it, but as I only have the original version it might not be conclusive. Also it may be this is a very infrequent issue or requiring specific sequence of events. But I will try what I can.

 

[Rizzoli]

Oh interesting - I assumed it was plug and play. Is https://fiio.com/Driver_Download the only source for these drivers? The DAC driver only appears to be available on Windows - sad news if true for us primary Mac users...

Hello, did you find anyway to play higher bit-rate, or did you get stuck at 44.1K. I'm also a Mac User and recently acquired the BTR5 and whilst connected via USB A >USB C I only get 44.1K and as you said, in the FiiO website there's only Windows drivers. You posted almost 2 years ago.

Did you find any solution?

Thanks,
Rizzoli

 

[Rizzoli]

Hello, did you find anyway to play higher bit-rate, or did you get stuck at 44.1K. I'm also a Mac User and recently acquired the BTR5 and whilst connected via USB A >USB C I only get 44.1K and as you said, in the FiiO website there's only Windows drivers. You posted almost 2 years ago.

Did you find any solution?

Thanks,
Rizzoli

@ActuallySparky Solved it - Went to Audio Midi Setup and from there you can change bit rate.

Cheers,
Rizzoli

 

[hmscott]

Yup…! I will see if I can replicate it, but as I only have the original version it might not be conclusive. Also it may be this is a very infrequent issue or requiring specific sequence of events. But I will try what I can.

Remember when many were freaking out over their BTR5 "bricking" when it first came out? People were disabling "Charging" while connected to the phone/DAC and completely draining their BTR5 battery, and then following up by not giving the BTR5 enough time to "charge" while connected to power - it took about 10 minutes charging after the BTR5 battery was completely depleted before the BTR5 "woke up", and showed the battery icon.

Those "bricked" BTR5s stopped showing up in the forums pretty quickly after the sequence of events as root cause was explained.

Patience is toughest in the heat of moment when you think you've killed a device - bricked it - when 99% of the time there is an easy simple way - with patience - to solve the problem.

Sometimes there isn't - that 1%, and I live to find and fix those bugs, 50 years of it in fact, electronics, software, systems / network engineering, sometimes the problem is as simple as finding the right cable, or powering it on and off again, or waiting for the firmware to complete updating before punching the reboot button over and over again, if not then I get called in to get things working again.

"PEBKAC" complications explain many problems, and FiiO is one of the nicesest when it comes to solving those situations with their customers, if you give them the chance.

If you are able to recreate it with your BTR5 I'll see if I can recreate it too, thanks.

 

[Omifi]

hmscott​

I understand the skepticism, interestingly enough i took a video just a few seconds after it happened (after that the device was unresponsive, you have the rest of the story on the PSA) : i of course sent it to FiiO directly by mail just after with the entire story (no words since btw). If this look like a charging issue to you, i would just say that you're entitled to your opinion and in the end we have to agree to disagree.

And as specified the BTR5 2021 MQA, CAN NOT be flashed after it's bricked, where the BTR5 v1/2020 can.

https://gofile.io/d/NduJUh , sorry for the fan sound behind, a Neural network was in training.

 

[hmscott]

hmscott​

I understand the skepticism, interestingly enough it took a video just a few seconds after it happened (after that the device was unresponsive, you have the rest of the story on the PSA) : i of course sent it to FiiO directly by mail just after with the entire story (no words since btw). If this look like a charging issue to you, i would just say that you're entitled to your opinion and in the end we have to agree to disagree.

And as specified the BTR5 2021 MQA, CAN NOT be flashed after it's bricked, where the BTR5 v1/2020 can.

https://gofile.io/d/NduJUh , sorry for the fan sound behind, a Neural network was in training.

Thank you @Omifi, no I wasn't suggesting this was a battery issue, just that at times there are simple solutions to recover from a problem that seem at the time to be unrecoverable.

I hope you and @FiiO can work together to find a solution that will benefit you and everyone else with BTR5 2021's. I wish I could help but not having a BTR5 2021 this time around there isn't alot I can do except suggest there might be a solution not seen yet that when found will allow everyone to move on easily past this particular sticking point in time.

Thank you for hanging in there and helping to get the problem identified, characterized, and reported to @FiiO

 

[srbungle]

Hello.
At this point is no possible to use MQA through Tidal, am I correct?
Some reply suggest use UAPP, but the problem is I have with that is I have a Pixel 6 so no UAPP for me.

is any way to make this works?

Thanks in advance.

 

[patkwok]

Hello.
At this point is no possible to use MQA through Tidal, am I correct?
Some reply suggest use UAPP, but the problem is I have with that is I have a Pixel 6 so no UAPP for me.

is any way to make this works?

Thanks in advance.

Hi srbungle,

Very sorry to hear that you are using Google Pixel 6 that did not support external USB DAC.

Fiio said that there is an issue in the XMOS firmware for the BTR5 20201 that prevent the Tidal app to recognize it as a MQA compatible device. This issue may be solved until Fiio releases an update XMOS firmware.

Fiio explanation about the MQA issue of the BTR5 2021

Therefore, Fiio suggested the current solution to have bit perfect in the Android world is to use UAPP with the relevant MQA in-app plug-in.

 

[FiiO]

hmscott​

I understand the skepticism, interestingly enough i took a video just a few seconds after it happened (after that the device was unresponsive, you have the rest of the story on the PSA) : i of course sent it to FiiO directly by mail just after with the entire story (no words since btw). If this look like a charging issue to you, i would just say that you're entitled to your opinion and in the end we have to agree to disagree.

And as specified the BTR5 2021 MQA, CAN NOT be flashed after it's bricked, where the BTR5 v1/2020 can.

https://gofile.io/d/NduJUh , sorry for the fan sound behind, a Neural network was in training.

Dear friend,

Since the issue could not be solved by yourself, you could consider contacting your seller for help first.
But if he could not help, you could contact support@fiio.com about that and send it back to us in China for replacement.

Best regards

 

[FiiO]

Hello!
All applications for Windows 10, 11.
This happens if you close the Tidal application during or after playing tracks in MQA format.
Then Fiio BTR5 2021 remains in MQA mode.

Dear friend,

Please try to switch the music files to see whther the BTR5 2021 shows MQA still when not playing MQA files? Does the issue happen everytimes? My colleague tried via the Tidal app and the foobar app in the Win11 computer but did not get the same problem. And he is choosing ASIO output mode in the foobar app.

Best regards

 

[Sabotender]

Dear friend,

Please try to switch the music files to see whther the BTR5 2021 shows MQA still when not playing MQA files? Does the issue happen everytimes? My colleague tried via the Tidal app and the foobar app in the Win11 computer but did not get the same problem. And he is choosing ASIO output mode in the foobar app.

Best regards

Hello.
Tidal (Use Exclusive mode +Force volume) > Play MQA > Tidal off (during track playback) > BTR5 remains in the mode MQA (the sound is distorted in other applications after that).
Tidal (Use Exclusive mode +Force volume) > Play MQA > Switch track no MQA > Tidal off > BTR5 in normal mode

ps^ I'll try to record a video when I have time
pss^ now I tried to repeat it at work, it didn't happen again... perhaps it's the Tidal application itself (it has been updated on the laptop), I'll check at home in the evening.