[hifi80sman]

Question,

When I'm in wired USB DAC, does everything I play set to 44.1 ? I have a music file that is 24 Bit 192 when playing it I notice the BTR5 shows 44.1

I also notice I can only choose between 16 / 32. Am I missing something? Just Curious.

You should be able to go 384 kHz / 32-bit. If you have the FiiO driver installed, try uninstalling it and rolling with the default windows driver (I had no issues running it at 384 kHz / 32-bit with the default Windows driver).

 

[HipHopScribe]

Honor 8 Pro

I think Honor phones got LDAC with the Oreo update, not 100% sure

 

[ClieOS]

Question,

When I'm in wired USB DAC, does everything I play set to 44.1 ? I have a music file that is 24 Bit 192 when playing it I notice the BTR5 shows 44.1

I also notice I can only choose between 16 / 32. Am I missing something? Just Curious.

Remember to set BTR5 to USB Audio Class 2.

 

[Forsaked]

Question,

When I'm in wired USB DAC, does everything I play set to 44.1 ? I have a music file that is 24 Bit 192 when playing it I notice the BTR5 shows 44.1

I also notice I can only choose between 16 / 32. Am I missing something? Just Curious.

I had the same issue, installing the Fiio USB-Driver while the BTR5 is not connected, resolved it.
After that i was able to choose from 16/44.1 up to 384/32.

Don't set your system to 384/32, leave it at 16/44.1 or 24/48, else some games and apps won't have any sound.
When you install the Fiio USB-Driver you also get the ASIO-Driver with it.
Just use the ASIO or WASAPI-Driver as your Output-Device in your Music-Player to get the nativ resolution for Music playback.

 

[ActuallySparky]

When I'm in wired USB DAC, does everything I play set to 44.1 ? I have a music file that is 24 Bit 192 when playing it I notice the BTR5 shows 44.1

I had a similar problem. When I connect to my Mac by either a USB-C>USB-C cable or USB-A>USB-C cable the BTR5 always reports 44.1 even when I'm playing a higher resolution file. I also tried putting the BTR5 into USB1.0 mode just to see if that would help, but no matter what I do, the max it will report on the screen is that it's 44.1khz.

That being said, I suspect it is handling higher bitrate PCM streams from the computer. When I play higher res 16bit depth files, I do hear the expanded dynamic range that I expect from those files.

If anyone knows of a Mac or PC utility that can help me poke around on the OS side to see exactly what's being sent to an external USB DAC I'd be happy to experiment and report back on actual data re: bit depth.

 

[ActuallySparky]

I had the same issue, installing the Fiio USB-Driver while the BTR5 is not connected, resolved it.

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...

 

[hmscott]

yes, that's what I found too (I just mentioned the site name in my previous post). I have no idea if the site is reliable. I will find out next week when I receive the Btr5 ...

Yup, I had read your comments, and I was in the middle of adding more details to that post but I got distracted, so I am back now adding more details.

Is there a way to know if it is supported by your smartphone (without owning the BTR5!)?

In Developer Options you can view "Bluetooth Audio Codec" supported options without a BT device connected, at least I am able to view it with BT off on my Note 10+ running

So, IDK if this is encouraging, but here's a participation Q&A for you, does that "Bluetooth Audio Codec dialog on your Honor 8 Pro look like this?:

That view is from an Honor 8 Pro in 08/2018, so perhaps an update added LDAC by now?

If not, try clicking "Enable Optional Codecs" - IDK if it will show additional Codec's, or take another action - like loading additional Codecs you've installed - I haven't dug into that, but it would help if you can Answer back as to what you see now before I start looking around for more details.

That image is from:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/honor-8-pro/help/ldac-honor-8-pro-t3833087

 

[hmscott]

I've noticed something interesting, it turns out that if the BTR5 gets *really* hot I can hear distortion in the audio where there was none while at normal operating temperatures.

I was watching "Midway" (on DVD) while enjoying the sweet BTR5 sound and after about an hour and a half I heard distortion in the explosions and gunfire sound effects I hadn't earlier in the movie, I looked around for my BTR5 and my IEM cable was running between my pillows, I pulled out the BTR5 and it was red hot - like "ouch" hot to the touch.

BTW, the BTR5 was running in DAC mode with Charge On, and the BTR5 was in the plastic clip which I've noticed also makes the BT5 run a bit hotter.

So I pulled off the plastic clip, and used the PC air intake to draw cool air over the BTR5 until the outside felt at room temperature, and the audio sounded much better but the BTR5 must have still been toasty inside as I could hear a little distortion - I thought I might have cooked the BTR5.

Thank goodness the audio distortion went away after a few minutes of additional cooling. I am now running the BTR5 with Charge Off and the clip removed. The BTR5 is running at close to room temperature and the sound stage seems wider in addition to the audio being crisp and clear with no distortion.

When I was first checking out the BTR5 I'd noticed the BTR5 runs cooler outside the clip, but I have been using the BTR5 with the clip attached for all of my listening since then. So there wasn't a chance or reason for me to A/B the audio quality with / without the clip. The BTR5 really is much smaller without the clip.

I was looking forward to the DD leather case arriving - it finally shipped yesterday - but now I am a bit concerned that the BTR5 in a leather case might hold in a lot of heat. I'll have to listen for distortion after the BTR5 heats up while in the leather case.

I had previously wondered if running the BTR5 in DAC mode on battery only all the time - with Charge Off - might be better for the BTR5's longevity as the BTR5 runs much cooler that way - even with the clip on.

I'm pretty sure the BTR5 will sound fine with / without clip / case and with / without Charge On as long as I don't bury the BTR5 between my pillows again. I hadn't noticed any audio quality differences before this - even after running for hours with clip on and Charge On. But, for now I will continue to run Charge off / clipless while in DAC mode - until I have time for A/B thermal testing in different configurations.

 

[hmscott]

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...

I would like to add that I used the BTR5 in DAC mode on a Windows 10 3700x PC without the drivers when I first received the BTR5, and I still am using the BTR5 that way today.

At one point I did try installing the FiiO drivers / rebooting for them to take effect, and the BTR5 sound got much worse. As I didn't have a lot of time to debug it at the time I uninstalled the Fiio drivers, rebooted and the BTR5 sound returned to normal. I usually disconnect a device before installing drivers for it, but I might have already had the BTR5 connected. I did see 44.1 in the BTR5 display, and it sounded terrible as compared to what I was used to with no drivers and 384 showing in the BTR5 display.

I may play around with the FiiO Windows drivers again some day, but at this point I am running 32/384 and the BTR5 sounds amazing already with no FiiO drivers in DAC mode on a Windows 10 PC and a Note 10+ Android 10, so I haven't really been motivated to go back and try reinstalling the Fiio Windows drivers again.

 

[Yukicore]

...

So I pulled off the plastic clip, and used the PC air intake to draw cool air over the BTR5 until the outside felt at room temperature, and the audio sounded much better but the BTR5 must have still been toasty inside as I could hear a little distortion - I thought I might have cooked the BTR5.

Thank goodness the distortion went away after a few minutes additional cooling, and I am now running the BTR5 without the clip too - the sound stage seems wider in addition to the audio being crisp and clear with no distortion. I also set Charge to Off to assist in cooling.

....

I was looking forward to the DD leather case arriving - it finally shipped yesterday - but now I am a bit concerned that the BTR5 in a leather case might hold in a lot of heat. I'll have to listen for distortion after the BTR5 heats up while in the leather case.

I had previously wondered if running the BTR5 in DAC mode on battery only all the time - with Charge Off - might be better for the BTR5's longevity as the BTR5 runs much cooler that way - even with the clip on.

First of all, thanks for the heads up, second of all, what volume level and for how long, and if 2.5mm (with dual AMP) or 3.5mm (with single AMP) output was used, and finally, third of all, what have You've been smoking, "... BTR5 without the clip too - the sound stage seems wider in addition to the audio being crisp and clear with no distortion. ... ", am I misinterpreting something, but You made it sound like You believe removing the clip opens up sound stage and makes the device sound more crisp and clear, lmao.

Not sure if the BTR5 cases are Leather or Leatherette, but most definitely it's going to be a thermal insulator, and would be from 4 to 7 times worse at conducting heat and getting it away from the device, so in Your case (no pun intended) it would have cooked up even faster. In normal conditions, I'm not sure if the heat would or wouldn't evaporate away if the conditions were normal, probably would. (source: https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html)

And, generally with lithium batteries, it's best to use them in ranges from 40-80%, so, yeah, it would be bad for longevity to leave it charging all the time, but it would be quite difficult and cumbersome to manage otherwise.

 

[grandros]

I've noticed something interesting, it turns out that if the BTR5 gets *really* hot I can hear distortion in the audio where there was none while at normal operating temperatures.

I was watching "Midway" (on DVD) and enjoying the sweet BTR5 sound and after about an hour and a half I heard distortion in the explosions and gunfire sound effects I hadn't earlier in the movie, I looked around for my BTR5 and my IEM cable was running between my pillows, I pulled out the BTR5 and it was red hot - like ouch hot.

BTW, the BTR5 was running in DAC mode with Charge On, while the BTR5 was in the plastic clip.

So I pulled off the plastic clip, and used the PC air intake to draw cool air over the BTR5 until the outside felt at room temperature, and the audio sounded much better but the BTR5 must have still been toasty inside as I could hear a little distortion - I thought I might have cooked the BTR5.

Thank goodness the distortion went away after a few minutes additional cooling, and I am now running the BTR5 without the clip too - the sound stage seems wider in addition to the audio being crisp and clear with no distortion. I also set Charge to Off to assist in cooling.

When I was first checking out the BTR5 I'd noticed the BTR5 runs cooler outside the clip, but I have been using the BTR5 with the clip attached for all of my listening since then. So there wasn't a chance or reason for me to A/B the audio quality with / without the clip. The BTR5 really is much smaller without the clip.

I was looking forward to the DD leather case arriving - it finally shipped yesterday - but now I am a bit concerned that the BTR5 in a leather case might hold in a lot of heat. I'll have to listen for distortion after the BTR5 heats up while in the leather case.

I had previously wondered if running the BTR5 in DAC mode on battery only all the time - with Charge Off - might be better for the BTR5's longevity as the BTR5 runs much cooler that way - even with the clip on.

I'm pretty sure the BTR5 will sound fine with / without clip / case and with / without Charge On as long as I don't bury the BTR5 between my pillows again. I hadn't noticed any audio quality differences before this - even after running for hours with clip on and Charge On. But, for now I will continue to run Charge off / clipless while in DAC mode - until I have time for A/B thermal testing in different configurations.

I had the exact same issue three times with mine and I believe that the problem was a static electricity discharge due to poor grounding of the PC that was connected. Never happend during bluetooth connection or while connected in my laptop that has DC supply. I can not explain the this problem but maybe your pillows created static charge and because of the small size of PCB something shorts the circuit. At list, if you shut it down for 5 minutes until cools down, everything works perfectly again. I also have the leather case and the temperature is not an issue.

 

[hmscott]

First of all, thanks for the heads up, second of all, what volume level and for how long, and if 2.5mm (with dual AMP) or 3.5mm (with single AMP) output was used

2.5mm, on L Gain, volume about 22-26 into a pair of KZ ZSX IEM's, delivering a loud action movie volume. Even when running in open air (clip attached) - not buried in between two pillows - the BTR runs hot at that volume level while also Charging the battery.

"... BTR5 without the clip too - the sound stage seems wider in addition to the audio being crisp and clear with no distortion. ... ", am I misinterpreting something, but You made it sound like You believe removing the clip opens up sound stage and makes the device sound more crisp and clear, lmao.

I've updated the text for a more clear delivery:
"Thank goodness the audio distortion went away after a few minutes of additional cooling. I am now running the BTR5 with Charge Off and the clip removed. The BTR5 is running at close to room temperature and the sound stage seems wider in addition to the audio being crisp and clear with no distortion."

Not sure if the BTR5 cases are Leather or Leatherette, but most definitely it's going to be a thermal insulator, and would be from 4 to 7 times worse at conducting heat and getting it away from the device, so in Your case (no pun intended) it would have cooked up even faster. In normal conditions, I'm not sure if the heat would or wouldn't evaporate away if the conditions were normal, probably would. And, generally with lithium batteries, it's best to use them in ranges from 40-80%, so, yeah, it would be bad for longevity to leave it charging all the time, but it would be quite difficult and cumbersome to manage otherwise.

That's what I meant about running the BTR5 with Charge Off to increase longevity - the battery longevity - reducing the operating temperature into the safe range for charging.

Questions and answers related to lithium-ion rechargeable battery care
"The use of a lithium-ion battery is possible in a temperature range of 10°C to +55°C. However, the charging should take place only at a battery temperature of +5°C to +45°C. The ideal temperature range of the batteries is room temperature."

The more I think about it, the more I like running with Charge Off...except there's a funny gotcha when you do that. More about that in another post.

 

[hmscott]

I had the exact same issue three times with mine and I believe that the problem was a static electricity discharge due to poor grounding of the PC that was connected. Never happend during bluetooth connection or while connected in my laptop that has DC supply. I can not explain the this problem but maybe your pillows created static charge and because of the small size of PCB something shorts the circuit. At list, if you shut it down for 5 minutes until cools down, everything works perfectly again. I also have the leather case and the temperature is not an issue.

You had audio distortion 3 times? Due to running hot?, or you think maybe static electricity? How so?

I'm pretty sure the distortion I heard was due to the BTR5 running *hot*, like really really **hot**, due to being trapped between the pillows. I didn't specifically mention that I was laying on the pillows with my weight crushing the pillows together with the BTR5 between them. So no heat could escape and no air was flowing over the BTR5 to cool it... for about 100 minutes. That BTR5 was "steaming" hot.

I'm thinking that I will only run the BTR5 on battery - no charging while delivering sound - to keep the temperature as low as possible while using the BTR5 and also while charging the BTR5.

 

[hmscott]

You are all gonna love this one - it explains the BTR5 "crashes" and "lock-ups" and "gibberish" on the screen of the BTR5 some have reported, and it is due to a design omission akin to painting yourself into a corner.

The BTR5 firmware doesn't reserve a few percent of battery life to allow you to maintain control over the BTR5, it lets the battery discharge down to Zero and dies while running on battery with Charge set to Off.

When you try to turn the BTR5 back on the voltage isn't stable enough to successfully boot the BTR5, the display might show gibberish - mine did - and then the display goes dark, and the BTR5 appears to be "locked up"... just like so many have reported.

Of course the BTR5 does all of those things, because the battery is dead.

And then the realization occurs... OMG! how am I going to get out of this conundrum? The BTR5 has Charge set to Off, it's out of power and it won't turn back on, so how can I reset the BTR5 Charge to On?

Simple, when powered off the BTR5 "OS" isn't running, the BTR5 will charge the battery while off. In fact it only took about 30 seconds on the charger (25w Samsung charger) then I could power on the BTR5 and *quickly* change Charge to On.

Even if you have Charge set to On, if the BTR5 runs it's battery completely down to Zero charge while in BT mode the BTR5 might not be able to power on right away after you plug in a charging cable - it may take at least a few minutes until the BTR5 battery has enough charge to Power On and boot stably.

Mystery solved, maybe FiiO can fix this BTR5 behavior by programming in a low battery power off that overrides usage until you start charging it again. Maybe even display "Time to Charge Me, Please"

 

[TooPoorForHiFi]

Dumb Question here. What happens if I connect / use the BTR5 as USB DAC when its connected to my Phone / BT?

If I'm using the BTR5 as USB DAC for my Computer, Does it Auto Disconnect / Shuts Off the BT?
Does the BT connect still remains when using as a wired USB DAC?