I was looking at an older video on the review for Fiio q3 and wondered if that is better for a dac than the fiio btr5. I am just getting into dacs and trying to learn as much as I can to get the best learning experience. Just got the latest WH-1000XM4 too that I love and would love to use a good dac. Like for Apple music since they just implemented better sound quality features and lossless or dolby atoms audio. Still confused with reviews though if even these certain headphones can pick up the spatial dolby or lossless but from reading it seems so. Then, would like to see if sony's 360 reality audio worked with bettering with dacs? Would be cool since rumors that Sony may be getting better sound quality and 360 reality audio to compete with Apple music. Also, heard you had a discord. Do you guys take questions or help people out on setting up dacs and to get to know them better? Sorry if these alot of questions but you seem like a pretty smart person on these stuff and people in the comments too. Thanks and any one having the time to read and answer any of this.

@@sarahgomez9727 btr5 is a nice little usb DAC esp as can turn charge off so dosent drain power, can’t use its EQ via USB though so if use EQ would have to be on source

CD is higher bitrate/quality than Spotify 320kbps, not that anyone can really tell

@@iKaGe01 True, but bitrate isn't everything. The DAC probably adds a little bit of flavor that makes it sound "more energetic". Perhaps it's just a really poor inbuilt cd-player+dac.

i'm thinking of buying the 5k soon, i didn't know about this bypass feature! how does it work? is it automatic or does it need activating?

Battery Bypass??? Holy Shit. I was originally gonna buy it anyway since it had the charging limit setting and parametric equalizer thing, but shit keeps getting better.

Mine died after 2 years and 11 months, the battery expanded till the covers popped out from both ends.

Do you need the app to pair it to your device or is there a button on the btr5 you can use to pair it to your device?

What does 5.2 bring?

@@SuperReview minimal latency

Wow.

Thanks Mauro.

Do you have similar range limitations on your BTR5?

@@SuperReview No, I don't. I'm able to use it across my house (~25 feet) including in my kitchen with a refrigerator and multiple walls between the BTR5 and the BT source (my Pixel 4XL).

How do you find the iFi GO Blu compared to the BTR5?

Hi, I've owned the ES100 since 2019. Same as you, I've been eyeing these devices for months. Question: If I have the ES100 already, is the Qudelix worth a buy? Or should I save my money? What are the differences between the two? Been looking for an upgrade in portable dac/amps

@@TF2ReplayMaker I guess it depends on what what's important to you. Both the ES100 and Qudelix have great sounding dual dac chips inside each of them. The AKM chips in the ES100 are a bit warmer and fuller sounding than the ESS Sabre chips in the Qudelix, but since both have a GEQ in them, it's possible to get them to sound to your preferences. Both have balanced outputs, will do LDAC, have really decent power to drive most iems (and even some lower impedance headphones)and have excellent apps. I may be forgetting to mention something here; but I'd say that that's where the similarities end. The Qudelix is, imho, the more mature and improved device. Firmware updates are more frequently available (the ES100 hasn't had any in quite some time) and are much easier to install because they download through the app, much like a Firmware update works on a phone. You can't do that with the ES100. The Bluetooth range of the Qudelix is much better. If EQ is something that you often use, the Qudelix also has a parametric EQ that offers more adjustability and more precisely dial in your preferred sound. Tbth, I don't use the PEQ myself. It's just way over my head. I'm a music lover and audiophile; I'm NOT a sound engineer, mixer, or studio recording master. I stick with the basic GEQ...and even then, with the Qudelix, I rarely need to adjust much, other than the preamp gain. If you do EQ your earphones and have several in your collection, the Qudelix has the ability to store up to 100 different EQ settings; whereas the ES100 only let's you store 4. Is the Qudelix an upgrade to the ES100? That is a question only you can answer. If you think that the ability to receive firmware updates through the app, better Bluetooth connectivity and range, more EQ options and the ability to save more presets is important; then yes, I'd consider it to be an upgrade. SQ wise, they are both great and utilize their different dac chips to their utmost potential. Both have a similar form factor, which is why I own them both. If you have higher impedance earphones or headphones that need more power, then maybe you need to look elsewhere. Personally, based on what I've stated above; I consider the Qudelix an upgrade. Not about sound quality; but about features and ease of use. Just my take...your milage may vary. Hope my comments help with your next purchase decision.

One is on the way.

🤙

It can't, it won't, and it don't stop.

Oof. Gotta get them snacks from the kitchen.

How do you use two of them?

Do have two so you can get through a full day without recharging, or do you have one per machine you use them with with? I have though about one for work and one for personal, since I can't seem to pair one with both.

As someone who has one plugged into a computer as a makeshift soundcard/amp, and takes it with me to work, I can see the utility in having one for on the go and one that's dedicated to home use.

@@SuperReview One for my phone and one for my 2 tablets, so I don't have to switch between them, and this way I only need to charge them every 2 or 3 days.

@@JohnClarkW yes for me it is one for work (phone) and one for personal (tablets), and I put them in different cases so I don't mix them up.

I don't know how to test that.

Specified max charging current is what the device will accept in any case. You can safely connect a charger that exceeds this, the safety circuits won't let more current flow through the battery. In short, using a higher specced charger won't affect battery lifespan.

Hi ,there is no version of btr5 which has AKM DAC.

@@numefals234 My apology, ES Sabre

Hey sorry if it's pretty obvious but when you plug in through usb does it still power on with its battery or is the laptop powering it

@@samurottman6832 Powered by laptop or smartphone, if you connect it to your phone. I must warn you, it drains phine battery fast. I use BTR5 via USB to my phone, I drained 40% of my phone battery in 20-30 of listening, I think. But the sound is so good using USB.

@@nightringer9815 Ah thanks for the reply, I'm planning on getting the btr5 for laptop and phone use. Laptop through usb and phone with Bluetooth

For future buyers to get the best out of it set the DAC clock divider to 1 in the app ,i think that is the multisampling ,I'm not sure ,but it sounds better in my opinion.

Thanks for the clarification. There are a bunch of other DACs with 2021 updates switching to ESS DACs, I assumed that was what's going on here but should have looked into it before assuming.

Yeah, maybe those minute differences matter to some people, but I do find it pretty hard to care. I feel like there's more fluctuation in my ears throughout the day than there are differences between DACs.

Nice!

Sorry I haven't tested the microphones so not sure. I believe they all do have microphones at least.

@@SuperReview Thanks for the reply. Yeah, for some reason no one seems to test the microphones. II've scoured the KZfaq and forums and come up with barely a mention of their performance. I'm not sure why since it's a feature that the companies themselves list as a selling point. I appreciate your reviews. It's clear you put a lot of time and effort into them. Thanks!

The Xbass is pretty good.

TBH not that interested.

Does it ever go on sale? I feel like it never ever goes on sale or I probably would have pounced on it already.

Meh, 5k is ~170$ in my area, which I feel is a bit too much for it, but BTR5 for 100$? Instant buy.

Yes, both the BTR5 and Qudelix are very good with noise floor, especially if you leave the BTR5 on low gain mode. I used my most sensitive IEMs, Magaosi K5, and didn't pick up a noise floor at normal listening volumes.

@@SuperReview oh sweet, might have to upgrade!

Sounds good to me.

No, not really. www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/124ymal/debate_this/

On Amazon now the price differential isn't that Stark. In fact the new one is 130 and the old one is out of stock and only being sold by resellers for like $180 or more

Agreed, a bit annoying you have to choose. Though other companies make such adapters.

Ignoring EQ capabilities, which would you go for? Up5/Btr

It very much depends on what you like in audio, the music you listen to, and your frame of reference. I haven't heard those Soundpeats so not sure how they sound, but I suspect I would greatly prefer some of my IEMs. I think to really answer this question, you need to know what it is you're optimizing for -- midrange transparency, forward vocals, thicker, richer bass, etc... and you can't say "all of the above," 'cause it's all a balance. Y no problema la lengua, mi español es peor :P

Thanks so much for taking your time to answer... Best Regards

There's not enough info here for me to give you an answer. Upgrade in sound versus what? Over Bluetooth or wire? I've also never used the Momentums so I'm probably not the best to ask.

@@SuperReview Thank you for your feedback! I appreciate it! My Momentum headphones are wired. I would love to use them with a Bluetooth dac amp like this to make them more versatile and upgrade the sound quality from simply plugging them in my phone's (Android) and my laptop's (ASUS) headphone jacks. But I cannot find any information about the usefulness of using external dac amps with low-impedence headphones or even if it's an important aspect to consider (I'm not familiar with the technical stuff, yet I want to get the most detail from my music)

Every phone and laptop is different. Probably there is some improvement with an external DAC/amp, but don't expect to be blown away.

What are your main use case?

I use the BTR5 with a small set of AKG buds (came with an old phone) for listening when sleeping. And I use them with Headphones or IEMs to listen to television or music (via Bluetooth through NVIDIA Shield) at home when the wife is working from home or in early mornings when no one else is up yet.

Bought the BTR3 for my wife. Because it was smaller and even more convenient.

BTW the Bluetooth is very weak. I have to clip it on my left sleeve temporarily when I go to get something from the kitchen.

I compared with UTWS3 in this video @ 29:30

Don't need the app to pair.

@@SuperReview Thanks for the reply

Will you notice, I dunno. I would. Think of it more as having variety to find the sound you like best rather than a linear scale of good - better - best.

Sure, why not?

No different.

I'm not confident it will increase your battery life, depends on a lot of variables.

It'll do that, yeah.

@@SuperReview Thx, planning on using the BTR5 with a DPA lavalier mic. Crossing fingers that is adequately paired.

There is also now the iFi Blu Go as a Bluetooth transceiver w/ a knob. But it just got released.

When I've tried in measuring FR differences between sources, I've not gotten much, no. The differences are so slight that it could just be variations in the measurement method.

@@SuperReview so can the differences we hear between sources, more on the placebo side ?

Some differences are real, they're just minor and hard to notice outside of careful A-B testing.

Same with the price. Got it from Ali for 100$ - probably the best purchase I made there, it's awesome. The build quality alone is astonishing.

Interesting idea for sure, though as someone who doesn't use EQ a lot, I'm not exactly an expert there.

What I understood when you talked about BTR5… and there was the EQ you were saying I am not an EQ guy but with the Qudelix you said it’s so much cooler you can (That’s what I understood) you can play with the wave and make it Your own and you seemed to be excited about that kind of EQing… maybe😄😎✌️🔱

No idea what that means.

Damn, I'm jealous. TBH I thought it might be an issue with my unit, so I did some Googling and saw a number of reports of people with similar issues. I wonder what's the variable.

@@SuperReview Diagnosing BT problems is a massive pain because there are so many variables. One possible explanation I just tested is that if I tell my phone to _only_ use LDAC with it, the reception at long distance is poor, but that's true of all bluetooth connections - LDAC requires basically full connection strength. Anything less and it'll have to use a different codec.

What BT codec are you using with it? I only have the connection stability and range issues with LDAC set on the highest quality option.

@@juanblanco7898 With my Pixel 4 XL it'll use the highest quality codec it can based on the connection strength. From what I can tell, 99% of the time it's LDAC since I tend to just keep both the BTR5 and my phone on me.

I tested primarily with LDAC, but when I ran into the range issues I switched to Aptx to see if it would improve. Still could not get a snack and drink of water from the kitchen. I tried with Qudelix on LDAC and it reaches across the house.

Does this help? squig.link/list/

Yes.

Do you mean that the microphone on the headset doesn't work over USB?

@@SuperReview yess, exactly

Yes, with the Qudelix app you can save a bunch of presets (at least 10 I think) and switch between them.

Via USB *

I haven't tried, can't think of why it would be any different.

Buttons are def better. If the range isn't an issue for you, and you don't plan to EQ, not a bad choice.

Interesting, thanks for the data point. The phone / source device can matter, definitely. For example, my M1 MacBook Air seems to make my Bluetooth devices perform better than anything else I use. Though FWIW, I tested all of the devices in this video on the same Xperia 10, which is my typical source for Bluetooth music listening.

@@SuperReview I'm wondering if yours is defective or something is out of spec. I can walk across my house with mine, with multiple walls, and it works. I can go upstairs and it starts to break up a little. I am also using AAC which may be more robust than AptX or LDAC (I honestly don't know). Too many variables to tell for sure, but I guess my point is I wouldn't remove the BTR5 from consideration based on range concerns, based on my experience. I love mine, it does 90% of what I want a DAP to do for $110. Thanks for replying!

Well which phone are you using? I did some searching online, and it seems like poor range is pretty common.

@@SuperReview iPhone 12 Pro Max

I tried LDAC and Aptx, but never tried AAC. It may do better with that.

I dunno, phones are mostly glass and don't have the limitation.

@@SuperReview not necessarily. They are mostly only metals, such as aluminium and titanium.

Yep, maybe today.

@@SuperReview holy cow lol, you actually did! what a madlad

I think you're asking if this will do Bluetooth transmission (in addition to receiving). To be honest, I'm not sure -- their website doesn't say anything about transmission. www.fiio.com/btr52021

I have both, they sound very different if you quickly switch from one to the other. I didn't have a sense of the es100 sound until comparing.

@@mrfrosty3 do you mean the es100 is better or worse and in which area ?

I own the MPOW BH390, it does have Aptx and does improve the volume. But there's a slight buzzing in the background which annoys me

"if Qudelix has audibly inferior sound quality, then it's automatically BTR5" I predict almost no one (myself included) would hear a difference between them.

@@SuperReview thanks. i thought i heard u mention qudelix being less good in sound quality, or maybe i misunderstood.

I don't follow.

I have no idea, that's probably a better question for Fiio.

@@SuperReview well I figured it out by reading the user manual… unbelievable that you don’t even know what usb 1.0 and usb 2.0 mode are. No thanks to you I figured it out about 2 min later. But god damn man you actually don’t know jack shit…your just shilling audio gear with high praise on every single thing you “review”

I knew you could do it 👍

Who drops it?

@@SuperReview I drop my things all the time. I am just worried that it will be my btr5 next

@@KayvonJavid youre very young bro, if you started dropping things at this age I would be worried :)))))

I managed to compare them.

Review? Not planning one.

@@SuperReview oh no, thats not what i meant. Misunderstanding was understandable, that was my fault. I ment whens new qudelix release...

ooooooooh. I dream for a 5K with better buttons.

@@SuperReviewi need one with a Boba 4ut or Lavender Mechanical switches :D ☺️

I haven't heard the Opus. "Clean and bassy" around that price, Tanchjim Hana21 probably the best.

@@SuperReview those are a good option, my ears are quite picky. Any Bluetooth recommendations?

Galaxy Buds Plus or AirPods Pro

Qudelix does it great already.

Oof.

It's soooo good.

Yes, I know that feeling….❤️😎

4.4 just getting more common, both on DAPs and as included cables.

Nothing against crack.

Have you compared it with something like a Fiio M11 Plus or Hiby R6 2020?

@@SuperReview ...bum crack.