[Veyska]

I had this whole long post written up and then decided I was rambling too much and deleted it.

TLDR - If my library isn't lossless (high res mp3s yes, but I can't get some of the songs lossless so I'm not worrying about the rest) and I'm only ever going to use it in outdoors/noisy environments with easy-to-drive IEMs/whatnots is there any real reason I shouldn't save a bit of $ and get something like the FiiO μBTR instead of their BTR3 or the EarStudio ES100? (Yes, future-proofing is a thing, but so is battery life decay.)


(PS - If there are other good Bluetooth receivers in the same general price range I'm open to recommendations - I tried poking Amazon but that mostly just spits out generic dongles that don't even mention codecs and larger units designed for at-home usage. My phone supports AptX/AptX HD but not AptX LL and I *think* it supports LDAC as well, for ref.)

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Seems to me the BTR1k would be totally suitable. Its a fantastic little device...

 

[Veyska]

Seems to me the BTR1k would be totally suitable. Its a fantastic little device...

Are the Bluetooth/amp chip upgrades (my on-the-road DAC/amp needs are already satisfied by my Audioengine D3 so the addition of DAC capability is largely irrelevant) that big an improvement? Near's I can tell those and the addition of AptX LL (which I can't benefit from) are the main differences between the BTR1k and the μBTR. 42$ to upgrade from the μBTR to the BTR3's a bit of a stretch but 20$ from the BTR1k to the BTR3 is rather less so which brings us back around to my question as to whether said 42$ really does make that much of a difference.

(I'm not averse to spending said 70$ if it really is that much better than FiiO's 28$ offering, I'm just wondering about the level of diminishing returns mostly.)

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

well, for me the output power is important and the ubtr is a little light in that dept.