appreciate the feedback. updated to 3 choices.
I am surprised to see BT dongles used with high-end IEMs. Doesn't seem like it can deliver the designed performance of high-end IEMs.
Thanks for updating the questionnaire!
About your comment:
Well, first of all, most BT dongles can also be used as a wired dongle (the BTR17, for example)- so you have the BT flexibility on the go
and wired (lossless, if you need) sound quality when you use them stationary with your computer...for me that`s a perfect solution! Sound quality
wired on a BT dongle basically is the same as any other "
only wired" dongle.
Second, from my personal experience, in our days it`s a "hifi myth" that BT dongles in BT mode cannot let high end IEMs sound really good. Sure, a lot worse sound quality might have been the case years ago, in times of SBC, weaker DAC chips and amplification....but as someone already mentioned: Have you actually tried a modern high quality BT device with LDAC in a blind test (the Aroma Air, for example)? You would be surprised
how close it gets to wired, for many ears even indistinguishable.
Of course the "limiting factor" is, that BT still is not completely lossless. But to be honest, from all factors in a hifi chain, codec is definitely one of the lesser important ones (which is scientifically proven). A good implemented DAC chip, proper amplification and well tuned tonality can - in some cases - let a BT device sound even better than
some wired devices, even though those are lossless....simply because sound quality is not just defined through the data rate (again: implementation and tonality are the key words here).
In the end, portable hifi is
always a compromise between portability and sound quality (because a portable setup will never sound as good as a desktop speaker unit). So in my opinion, it is just consequent to use IEMs with small BT dongles for
real portable use, because you still get, let`s say, at least 85% SQ out of them, compared to a DAP that sounds only sliiiiightly better but is just bulky and difficult to use on the go.
And if you want the best sound quality at home...a desktop unit with speakers (or open cans) outperform IEMs & DAP anyway.. .
