Review of the new Fiio BTR5 2021. Still one of my favorites! 

Mine fell out of my pocket and landed on a pebble and the glass is in 4 pieces

@@kalxi1724 i got mine the other day for my akg k712s hoping that the little plastic clip protects it.🙏🤣

@@nigelkelly2286 I've been dropping mine lately as I just got mine too. I origianlly thought the clip was a joke but it's taken all the abuse and drops on the asphalt and concrete at my work. Leaving the actual btr5 as new

@@reyzephlyn105 yeah i drop the thing a hundred times a day lol, only just got my firt little scratch on the screen today, not even a crack just lil scratch😅

i have mine for 15 minutes, i looked at it wrong and it shatered into atoms.

Does it sound as good as balanced from single ended

@@15junio97 I can’t vouch that the 2021 is the exact same as far as this goes but at least with the OG BTR5 I have, both outputs seem to my ears be v comparable with one another!

I have the same phone and a pair of xm4's from Sony Would you think I would see an audio improvement buying this? I just need a good reason to justify the purchase because if it ends up sounding the same I'd rather buy a dedicated dab

@@15junio97 I can't tell the difference between single ended and balanced in terms of audio quality, honestly. I went with balanced more so for the boost in wattage (80 mW SE versus 250 mW balanced), to drive the Sennheiser HD 58X a little easier. It worked fine on 3.5 mm SE, but it's louder and consumes more power at the same volume level through 2.5 mm balanced.

@@Trinket_Master It depends on what you plug into it, as well as what you intend to play. I have the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, and those sound really good. It's what got me back into the hobby. The best thing about them is the convenience: just pop them in your ear, no need to worry about wires or anything. However, if I had just even a minute or two to set things up, I found myself reaching for the BTR5 2021 more often because I could just use my wired IEMs or even a pair of decently easy to drive headphones if I wanted. I never got bored because I have my BLON BL-03, CCA CRA, and now my TRIPOWIN × HBB Olina. Bluetooth has its limitations for audio quality, of course. LDAC is great, and I don't find myself wanting for streaming RU-vid or Spotify. But if I wanted high fidelity, I'd go wired, and that's where the advantage of the BTR5 lies. It will do up to 32 bit @ 384 KHz, DSD256, and MQA via USB 2.0. I haven't played with that yet, but I'll most likely get a QOBUZ subscription for FLAC/lossless audio sometime.

Wouldn't really consider the BTR5 as an upgrade as I think the way the original ES100 implemented its AKM chip was spectacular, not to mention the functionality of the EarStudio app far surpasses that of the BTR5. I'd think the BTR5 is more of an optional sidegrade, but to each his own I suppose

I’m almost certain that you’re not hearing any fine details with these over a cheap dongle in a car. The wind/road noise alone is probably approaching 80 db. Not to mention the less than ideal car speakers and not ideal acoustic setting. But if it makes you happy go for it!

@@tanachip none of what you mention is why I bought it. Believe me it sounds 100X better than the crappy DAC in my phone and the analog output section of that phone. I had zero dynamics, just godawful sound from the phone. This sounds as good as a CD playing. Yeah, yeah, it is in a car, but I wanted to play music I download from Tidal with just as much goodness as I get from playing a CD. This device gives it to me. If I want "audiophile" sound I'll listen at home on my Carver system and Acoustic Research AR-9 speakers (all refurshed and upgraded).

@@rosswarren436 I have to agree. I use one in my car and it's so night and day compared to my built in BT stereo from my factory unit. It's amazing. I use it from my phone (tidal) BT to fiio, 3.5mm to car. I love the car (auto) mode.

@@straubulous9511 yes the car (auto) mode makes is so easy to use. Compared to the old FM transmitter crappy thing I was using it is a huge improvement to the point it sounds as good as playing a CD in my head unit. I am careful here in the Southeast in the summer to not leave it in my car on most days. Don't want it to get too hot and melt.

@@rosswarren436 Does it come with the wire that you need to plug it into the aux?

I haven't heard the ru6 but have heard good things about it. Thanks for watching!

I’m pretty new this this myself but from what I understand over-ears work with them. I found that the headphones I have only play through one ear but that’s likely because my headphone cable isn’t the proper size for the amp, as well as them only having a cable in one ear cup, But I imagine it would work fine with any headphones that have proper cables. I’m currently waiting on my 58x to arrive so I can use it with the amp

Well so far I'm disappointed, the bass at Flat settings is 1/2 of what the cheap $30 Hibi FC1 has, as a matter of fact the entire range sounds better on the FC1. It does seem that on wireless the built in Equalizer of Amazon music has never worked better. So those that use Amazon music should be very pleased with the BTR5. The range for wireless is only about 12-17 feet. Placing the phone upright instead of laying flat gave a extra 2 ft of range. If your PC has wireless capability that was nice having the BTR5 just clipped on my shirt collar. Latency was almost nill on World of Warships, so that was actually impressive. Otherwise I'm still testing, none of the EQ setting make anything sound better. The rock setting for example is one of the worst. Coming directly off the phone with a USBc to Coaxial adapter through a 30 year old Adcom GCD really shows how cheap and tiny sounding this thing is. I'm surprised but still playing with it. Thanks again for doing things the way you do.

Thank you! If I'm only using it as a USB DAC I would choose the K3 mainly because of its versatility (coaxial, optical out, line out ) . The BTR5 has a little more power output out of the 2.5 output (2.4 watts vs. 2 watts) but the K3 has more power out of the 3.5 (1.2 watts vs 80 mW). Both have very quiet backgrounds and to be honest as far as sound quality its a toss-up. Both sound great. Both use newer DAC chips and have similar capabilities.

@@Gizaudio Okay Thank you. I've asked many people and they said the same, that sound is almost the same, so I think I'll buy the BTR5, since it's portable and has Bluetooth too.

The BTR5 is excellent for the price. If you already own the BTR5 I don't really see a reason to get the go blu.

What app? And do you have the btr5 or new btr5 2021? Lookin to buy my first dac

@@wadec6799 Dacs are so hard to research. I have the 2021 btr5. Fiios has an app, but I haven't used it with the btr5 yet. I also got a khadas tone 2 pro, but I like the btr as a dac better. Macbook airs also have good dacs, but same thing, prefer the btr5. I would be in the super minority I think, though.

What kind of phone is it? The BTR5 2021 works as a Bluetooth and a USB DAC however, it can only decode DSD through USB. It really depends on whether or not your phone can output DSD through USB

The dac is receiver only. In bluetooth, it works with the codec from source. iPhones only work in SMB and AAC. The headphone should be plugged through cable to dac. To get higher quality audio on iPhone, it must be plugged through cable over lightning.

@@peudroid my post is a year old, i already invested to ifi go link and better headphones 😉

You need an OTG cable. Normal cable will not work.

@@tihm.huver1219 Thank you. I'll have to seek one out.

Looks like spinfit to me.

@@MostlyLost I ended up buying the FiiO btr5 and some Audio Technica ath-m50x. They are so much clearer than the beats.

Probably not the 250 ohm. 32 ohm would be easiest to drive but should be enough to power 80 ohm out of the 2.5

@@Gizaudio When I want to listen to the master recording over tidal, is there a situation that I need to activate in fiio btr5? Or does mqa support automatically adjust itself?

Both use the same DAC. UP5 is more expensive however, UP5's BT chip is supposedly more power efficient. It also adds a 4.4 balanced output, bigger battery, bigger screen and slightly more power output via 3.5. Balanced power output is the same. I haven't heard the UP5 so I can't a/b for sound comparison but I'm sure it sounds great. Thanks for watching!

I've tested mine using Ldac and aptx. Around 8 hrs on aptx and 4hrs on Ldac. Seems Ldac kills battery life.

Wow, Cayin RU6 is kind of expensive. Looks Impressive on features and built quality.

@@josephtremblant2173 i was planning on gettting a qudelix-5k but they were sold out so i went with this after some research. I don't have much audio equipment to compare and I'm not too technical with reviews but its been really enjoyable.

the ability to go bluetooth and more power

I was originally thinking of getting one of these to use with wired IEM's and also wireless buds that support LDAC but all I have to do is connect the buds to my phone as it can stream LDAC. I'm probably better off investing in a USB DAC yeah?

I owned btr3, I think one benefit is that it doesn't use phone's battery. If you are outside using the phone a lot, this may help. unfortunately my btr3 died after 2 years, I guess the battery died and I dont know where to change it. I own another Fiio connected to my laptop that I use almost daily, it still works fine after 7 years. I just bought fiio ka3 that connects to my phone through USB and it drains my phone battery quiet quickly and you can't charge the phone at the same time if you don't have wireless charge.

@jbl3792 super helpful! Thanks for this

You just helped me to decide between whether to get the BTR5 or the BTR3k. Decided to pay that little bit extra to get the BTR5s. Thank you! How are the 5s for you now, still using them?

@@haarismemon Still works great haven't been using it as much just because I've been on my phone less but it's held up great don't think I'll have to worry about replacing it for years. Still easily prefer the 5 over the 3 just for the feel peronally.

@@xclonecommander thanks for getting back, that’s good to hear. Just got my 5s today and have been using it with my TV via Bluetooth (mainly why I got it) and also with my phone. So far I’m impressed with how it makes my headphones sound.

@@haarismemon Yeah no problem happy you're enjoying them too. They're really nice to use also highly recommend setting the phone/tv volume high and adjusting the volume more with the btr. I might be wrong but I think playing at a lower volume on the btr makes the battery last longer.

more power, so if you have high-impedance and/or low-sensitivity headphones - balanced will be better in general (better bass + more details in highs + more space)

CCA PLA13, TRN ST5, Truthear HEXA

​@@joseavilasgHexa come around 80 USD and if you are importing then it could go upto 90-100 USD due to import tax and delivery charges in some countries.

@@ayushj6216Yeah, you're right. Maybe I did not check the price correctly.

i had that question but the answer depends on what HEADPHONES you are using + subjective ear (personal like of sound qualities) - the best way is to go to your local shop and TEST !! listen to it yourself. OR if no local shop has them, ORDER online both amplifiers and TEST and send back the one you do not like

I used to own the OG and I loved it. If you don't care about MQA then there's no real reason to upgrade. The newer DAC chip has a better s/n ratio and is more power efficient but is the same in almost every other regard. I think you're okay sticking with the OG for now.

@@Gizaudio cheers Sir my girlfriend is very pleased to hear that!

WhT would you grab for under 200 I'm eying this and the ifi hip dac 2 or the ifi go blu

I have the btr5 with some etymotic er2xr's fed by a balanced cable, and it is a match made in heaven. I don't find that I need any eq, and I feel like it is the best audiophile experience for ~$200 on the market

BTR3K was my 1st and I'm wondering if BTR5 is that much better .

certain elements are not subjective such as detail.

Everyone complains that its hard to detach from the device, i dont see whats hard or finnicky about it. I wish it was something more durable than just clear plastic.

@@maoristereo I wish one had the option of the clip being integrated into the back of the FiiO BTR5 2021, just like the Qudilex-5k is designed.

@@markallen6317 For someone like me who just keeps it in a jacket pocket and doesnt wear the clip at all that doesnt make much sense. Id settle for it being made of some glass fiber reinforced plastic, with a lock to keep it from being unclipped by someone simply pulling on it.

Agree! Unwind by Dream Cave.

Not great but adequate. Thanks for watching!

NFC

Does this sounds better than the FiiO BTR5-384K/32Bit Native DSD256 Hi-Res CSR8675 Bluetooth5.0 Receiver/USB DAC/DSD Headphone Amp with LDAC, aptX HD, aptX, AAC (3.5mm Unbalanced&2.5mm Balanced Output, Black)?

Nah. Wait for another refresh/product

@@krayozmines new Moondrop DAC gonna come out soon

@@kkasavu3149 for dac i only have btr3k as dac

@@krayozmines yea might get a refresh

@@kyoroshidest1865 yeah my name was on their wall who answered their giveaway question right. But i wasn't the one who got it. So its price ll be $99

Up4. BTR5 2021 too overpriced

This is the type of user reports i expect to find. So many people are saying they dropped theirs and the btr5 didnt shatter. It is possible theirs didn't but I've seen so many of them say the same thing that it's hard to believe none of theirs broke.

@@krayozmines sorry to hear that btw Samuel, that sucks buddy 😕 I happen to be one of the majority of the consumers who got superbly built units. I’ve been fortunate that out of the small handful of times I’ve dropped mine, it still hasn’t developed any signs of cosmetic wear and tear whatsoever (not even micro-scratches on the surface of the glass). I always have the included clip case on the FiiO, which performs pretty admirably overall. I admittedly am quite careful and gentle with all of my equipment tho to a degree that’s really pretty excessive and unnecessary by most people’s standards. I’m sorry you guys haven’t had positive experiences with the BTR5 as far as durability/longevity goes. I have an es100 I also use for portable and I have a Shanling UP5 set to be delivered in the next few days. I have been up (no pun intended 🤷🏼‍♂️😂) on whether or not to try the iFi Go Blu as well. My BTR5 has always had very subpar battery life so I’ve been wanting to purchase another portable DAC/amp to use supplementally. I’ve seen mixed reviews on the iFi however both in regards to BT signal/connection strength, and also regarding a pretty high noise floor on the unit when used with (espesh more sensitive) IEMs which are a good portion of my mobile listening goes. I’m still tempted by the iFi tho and may honestly pick one up down the line just out of curiosity. I have the Zen DAC V2 and the Zen Can and I really enjoy the analog stage XBass and XSpace quite a bit and thought it might be a nice feature to have on the go but for now I’m gonna be stoked to check out the UP5!

It doesn't have a dedicated line out but you should still be able to use the 3.5 output to the aux in

@@Gizaudio does it by pass the phone DAC

If you're sending the audio signal to the BTR5 via Bluetooth then the signal bypasses the phones internal DAC.

@@Gizaudio have you tried bt in the car

second gizaudio host besides timmy

Same, they must be collaborating?