Ok, so I got my BTR5 this week, today I opened it. First impressions are good, I was expecting a lack of power in the single ended output based on my previous experience with the Q5s.
This little fella has some oomph, it can drive my HD600 to decent levels with volume set at 35/60 on high gain, excellent! The HE400i didn't fare so well, there is a sense of lack of bass. The X2HR sound pretty good, the best out of those 3 headphones.
The built quality seems pretty good, it feels like a pebble, I like the glass and metal construction, but it's a fingerprint magnet and I fear that the glass could scratch easily. The plastic clip is ok, but I think that the (p)leather case could be a good idea, kinda regret not buying it.
The display is very small, but useful, need to use it outside in the sun to see how is readability. The buttons are ok, the way the navigation works can be confusing, the "menu" and play buttons are used to cycle through the menu and you change the settings using the volume rocker, I think that cycle the menu with the volume rocker makes more sense and change the settings with the play button and the menu to exit or enter.
I didn't try to use the NFC feature as I never like it on any device.
The 3.5 mm jack fits very snugly with the headphone's plug, I like it, hopefully it won't get loose over time.
USB DAC works effortless, it even displays which sample rate playing. No drivers needed on Win 10 with USB 1.0 as expected.
The plastic clip is ok, works and keeps the BTR5 "protected" but I would like a better more elegant solution.
I haven't tried with IEMs, but once I do, I will report back, specially regarding hiss.
LDAC 990 with the S10 (exynos) keeps cutting, so I use best effort (adaptive), sounds ok, I am not very sensitive to bluetooth codecs, I think that even it sounds the same on USB or Bluetooth.
Any way, I am pretty satisfied with the BTR5, definitely has more power than expected and it can be used as USB DAC, which is very handy. For $119 USD you cannot go wrong. It kinda makes the Q5s redundant now.
This little fella has some oomph, it can drive my HD600 to decent levels with volume set at 35/60 on high gain, excellent! The HE400i didn't fare so well, there is a sense of lack of bass. The X2HR sound pretty good, the best out of those 3 headphones.
The built quality seems pretty good, it feels like a pebble, I like the glass and metal construction, but it's a fingerprint magnet and I fear that the glass could scratch easily. The plastic clip is ok, but I think that the (p)leather case could be a good idea, kinda regret not buying it.
The display is very small, but useful, need to use it outside in the sun to see how is readability. The buttons are ok, the way the navigation works can be confusing, the "menu" and play buttons are used to cycle through the menu and you change the settings using the volume rocker, I think that cycle the menu with the volume rocker makes more sense and change the settings with the play button and the menu to exit or enter.
I didn't try to use the NFC feature as I never like it on any device.
The 3.5 mm jack fits very snugly with the headphone's plug, I like it, hopefully it won't get loose over time.
USB DAC works effortless, it even displays which sample rate playing. No drivers needed on Win 10 with USB 1.0 as expected.
The plastic clip is ok, works and keeps the BTR5 "protected" but I would like a better more elegant solution.
I haven't tried with IEMs, but once I do, I will report back, specially regarding hiss.
LDAC 990 with the S10 (exynos) keeps cutting, so I use best effort (adaptive), sounds ok, I am not very sensitive to bluetooth codecs, I think that even it sounds the same on USB or Bluetooth.
Any way, I am pretty satisfied with the BTR5, definitely has more power than expected and it can be used as USB DAC, which is very handy. For $119 USD you cannot go wrong. It kinda makes the Q5s redundant now.
