[Arghavan]

no it's dead silent, the more and more i use it the more and more I'm impressed with it! The only niggle is battery life which balanced ldac is around 5 hours I think (thanks to @SteveOliver for the battery info) apart from that it's truly brilliant and my go to on the go.

That's good to hear since I plan to use it with Solaris.
Since you mentioned balanced output which has the higher 2 ohms output impedance, do you notice any change in sound compared to single ended? In theory SE should have more bass with Andromeda because of lower output impedance.

 

[majo123]

That's good to hear since I plan to use it with Solaris.
Since you mentioned balanced output which has the higher 2 ohms output impedance, do you notice any change in sound compared to single ended? In theory SE should have more bass with Andromeda because of lower output impedance.

To be honest I haven't even tried the 3.5mm, all of my gear is set up for balanced either 4.4 or 2.5 and dont really use the 3.5mm on anything...its part of the reason I chose the btr5 in the first place and also was intrigued after reading and watching some of the reviews and opinions across the internet. I have never ever thought bluetooth anything came close to wired and admittedly avoided it for quite a while, but the btr5 using ldac balanced Is as good as the hype and we all know where that train stops some times.

 

[zikarus]

Maybe a stupid question, but anyways:

Is the BTR5 also capable to send BT data? In other words could it be used when connected to my smartphone via cable and a BT headphone device connected to the BTR5 wirelessly?

 

[FinBenton]

I made a balanced cable from the original Sundara cable, man soldering those balanced 2.5mm is no fun at all lol. Sounds very very good with btr5 and aptx hd, theres now ton of power to drive these.

 

[tmb821]

Maybe a stupid question, but anyways:

Is the BTR5 also capable to send BT data? In other words could it be used when connected to my smartphone via cable and a BT headphone device connected to the BTR5 wirelessly?

No, the btr5 can not transmit bt.

 

[majo123]

I made a balanced cable from the original Sundara cable, man soldering those balanced 2.5mm is no fun at all lol. Sounds very very good with btr5 and aptx hd, theres now ton of power to drive these.

I make cables now and again and indeed the 2.5mm are a bit fiddly especially when you want to put 8 cores of reasonable size wire in....some times I think that that's the reason that most went to 4.4 lol

 

[LordZero]

Can anyone compare this to the e10k or Fiio k3?

 

[alexwise]

Can anyone compare this to the e10k or Fiio k3?

Just like e10k and k3, it’s transparent

 

[zolom]

BTR5 should arrive today.
Plan to compare it with my ES100, Mojo and Dragonfly Red - source: Samsung 10; iems: FH7 balance, SE846 se.
Will try share my (non-professional) impression.

 

[zolom]

Initial impression BTR5 vs. ES100.
Balance FH7 IEMs, source UAPP Tidal HiFi. LDAC 660 from Samsung S10.
Hard to pin-point SQ and stage differnces. BTR5 slightly clearer more emphsised on treble especialy with wonen's vocals. No harsh sibilace. Both BTR5 and ES100 sound great.

USB audio sounds much better. Streaming via S10, UAPP Tidal hifi set to bit-perfect and the FH7 balance.
SQ here, not as clear and defined as with the Chord MOJO, but still not so far.
These are very initial observations.

 

[rafaelo]

Your thoughts on xdsd vs btr5. I have both ND like both. Feel xdsd is a little more warm, perhaps musical, but also love the btr5.

After a week of using it and based on your question I decided to do my first and last direct comparison with xDSD and I actually I forgot how much I like my xDSD.

My comparison is based only on the usb input from my iPhone and a balanced connection to my 58X (s-balanced from my xDSD.)

To answer my question this is not a giant killer as far as difficult to drive headphones that scale considerably is conserned. Contrary to the mainstream belief I find that 58x like the rest of the 6 series scale considerably and that the ifi devices are scaling quite uniquely the senns. For example, I find them quite muddy with my es100 which makes me some times not to like them at all.

In solo instruments music passages like acoustic guitar music there is not a lot of difference, the treble and the highs are quite good in the btr5.
It is the low registers and the more convoluted loaded music passages where the xDSD is clearly superior to me. Especially, the dynamics are better and the bass more controlled with better separation of instruments. Is one category above as its size and the more than 4x price suggest.

However, what difference exist in critical listening is only attributed to the physical limitations of this device as clearly there must be some limitations given this small size and not in the actual quality of the dac implementation and only for special and difficult to drive headphones. Not sure if it is worth to spend more with easy to drive headphones that do not scale much as my Meze 99.

I consider the btr5 in the same size category with the es100 and dragonfly and as such some limitations are inevitable, nothing to criticize.

Acctually, for this price the btr5 is almost perfect and has the best value for money proposition to me currently in the market.

If I had to buy one device and considering the cost btr5 is what I would buy. I find it more user friendly even than es100. It reconnects immediately with my iPhone, has small qute screen that can make the phone app redundant at times and the sound quality is great given the price and the size of this device.

From now on, for the vast majority of my time and for convenience reasons, I will listen in Bluetooth mode (which sounds great even in AAC mode) with this device and with the vast majority of my headphones and budget iems, even with movies before I sleep. And if it breaks I can buy another one without sweat.

5 stars from me, no hesitation. I hope it will prove durable and stand the use of time. My only request for the new model after two years is if fiio can manage to make it more energy efficient from the usb input like the dragonfly so to be able to use it without its internal battery.

Congratulations, well done fiio!!!

 

[MarkF786]

Has anyone else had problems with the volume buttons on the BTR5? I got mine in early December and only used it a couple times, and found the volume difficult to adjust. Last night I went to use it again and found the down volume button barely works; I have it press it repeatedly until it randomly responds.

Luckily I was still in the window of time to return it to Amazon, but I’m hesitant to buy another if this issue is common.

 

[Chris Kaoss]

Has anyone else had problems with the volume buttons on the BTR5? I got mine in early December and only used it a couple times, and found the volume difficult to adjust. Last night I went to use it again and found the down volume button barely works; I have it press it repeatedly until it randomly responds.

Luckily I was still in the window of time to return it to Amazon, but I’m hesitant to buy another if this issue is common.

All is fine on my btr5 and works flawless.
Never heard of such a problem before.

 

[psikey]

While nice on build qualify, I have found the lack of a back clip on FiiO official BTR5 leather case making it less than useful. To remedy the problem without any major modding, I order an add-on back clip from Taobao that is meant for walkie talkie to see if it will work or not. The result is pretty good.







I would have wished for it to be 20% smaller, though otherwise it works quite well. The doubLe sided tape on the clip is super strong so it should be quite secure. The clip itself can be removed when not in use.

I went off my loop/lanyard mod and now use a Sony cable clip I had with some M3 tape. Not a fan of the included clip/case.

No volume key issues ref. question above.

 

[Devodonaldson]

After a week of using it and based on your question I decided to do my first and last direct comparison with xDSD and I actually I forgot how much I like my xDSD.

My comparison is based only on the usb input from my iPhone and a balanced connection to my 58X (s-balanced from my xDSD.)

To answer my question this is not a giant killer as far as difficult to drive headphones that scale considerably is conserned. Contrary to the mainstream belief I find that 58x like the rest of the 6 series scale considerably and that the ifi devices are scaling quite uniquely the senns. For example, I find them quite muddy with my es100 which makes me some times not to like them at all.

In solo instruments music passages like acoustic guitar music there is not a lot of difference, the treble and the highs are quite good in the btr5.
It is the low registers and the more convoluted loaded music passages where the xDSD is clearly superior to me. Especially, the dynamics are better and the bass more controlled with better separation of instruments. Is one category above as its size and the more than 4x price suggest.

However, what difference exist in critical listening is only attributed to the physical limitations of this device as clearly there must be some limitations given this small size and not in the actual quality of the dac implementation and only for special and difficult to drive headphones. Not sure if it is worth to spend more with easy to drive headphones that do not scale much as my Meze 99.

I consider the btr5 in the same size category with the es100 and dragonfly and as such some limitations are inevitable, nothing to criticize.

Acctually, for this price the btr5 is almost perfect and has the best value for money proposition to me currently in the market.

If I had to buy one device and considering the cost btr5 is what I would buy. I find it more user friendly even than es100. It reconnects immediately with my iPhone, has small qute screen that can make the phone app redundant at times and the sound quality is great given the price and the size of this device.

From now on, for the vast majority of my time and for convenience reasons, I will listen in Bluetooth mode (which sounds great even in AAC mode) with this device and with the vast majority of my headphones and budget iems, even with movies before I sleep. And if it breaks I can buy another one without sweat.

5 stars from me, no hesitation. I hope it will prove durable and stand the use of time. My only request for the new model after two years is if fiio can manage to make it more energy efficient from the usb input like the dragonfly so to be able to use it without its internal battery.

Congratulations, well done fiio!!!

If you want to take your Bluetooth listening up a notch with little weight to consider, the reiyin APTX hd USB C transmitter. Uses a small USB c to USB a adapter, and that can be connected to Apple OTG kit, the white dongle you use for USB audio on iOS. It's only like $40, and it definitely sounds better than AAC, and not a huge drain on the battery.