FiiO BTR5-2021 Headphone Amps Bluetooth 5.0 Receiver High Resolution 384K/32Bit Native DSD256 USB DAC Supports LDAC/aptX HD/MQA for Smartphones/PC/Laptop/Car/Home Audio (Regular)

In general, I've been a fan of FiiO audio gear ever since I first got into higher end headphones, and prior to getting the BTR5, I had been daily swapping between a FiiO BTR3, and a much cheaper "Konecta Soundwhiz" bluetooth receiver. I am not a fan of being tethered to my desk, so I would just kinda use one of them until it died, and then I'd swap it out for the other. I was using these to drive my pair of Sennheiser/Massdrop HD 58X most of the time, and occasionally my Monoprice M1060's, and while there was a subtle improvement in terms of clarity on the BTR3 compared to the Konecta, the difference was very slight, and it ended up not really being a meaningful improvement. On top of that, the cheaper Konecta receiver also clearly was able to output at a higher max volume, which furthered my very lukewarm general opinion of the BTR3. It's a fine product, but battery life was pretty dismal on big cans, and in general, I have found that there are cheaper products out there that perform nearly identically.So when I saw Z Reviews' video on the BTR5, I was immediately interested. FiiO really seemed to understand all of the small things about the BTR3 that were holding it back from being truly excellent. And now, after over a month of use, I can say without any reservations that the BTR5 is the best execution of this type of product I have ever used, by a wide margin as well. The BTR5 has a very noticeable larger battery, giving me what feels like nearly double the battery life of the BTR3, and all the while, it is doing it while being able to output at significantly higher levels of power and clarity. I also have an xDuoo XP-2 BT receiver/dac/amp, which is a significantly larger device than any of the FiiO's, and yet the BTR5 in my opinion sounds cleaner and also somehow can push up to virtually the same high output levels as the xDuoo, all without sounding muddy or underpowered.Seriously, if you're looking at other options that are bigger and heavier than you think you would actually like, don't sleep on the BTR5, the hype is real, this thing sounds so good, and has so much power, I find myself using none of my other BT receivers anymore. The balance of size, features, and performance in this thing is about as ideal as I could imagine it ever being. Do I still find myself wishing it had more battery life? Sure, but that's an unavoidable aspect of something like a BT receiver. I use this thing literally all day long sometimes, and when it is getting low, I can just plug it in to any USB-C charger, whether that's a phone charger plugged into a wall socket, or a battery bank, and it seamlessly will continue to crank out the audio without any downtime whatsoever. Thankfully, as with the BTR3's, the BTR5 doesn't have to reboot itself or anything when you plug it into power, so you really can use it for any arbitrary stretch of hours or days, as long as you're able to plug it into power for something like 30-60 mins, 2-3 times per day.All of this is great, but to me, the most impressive thing about the BTR5 really is the massive output power and truly excellent and clear audio you get out of it. As I mentioned above, with the BTR3, I typically wasn't using it with my M1060's, as it just kinda felt underpowered and not ideal.This is not the case with the BTR5, for multiple hours each day I have been driving my M1060's with this little BT receiver, and it really is shockingly close to the wired experience in terms of the audio. My desktop setup is a DAART Canary ESS9018K2M XMOS DSD DAC fed via S/PDIF, line out feeding a Syba Sonic SD-DAC63106, pre amp out of that ultimately feeding a Micca Bluetooth transmitter, which is what my BTR5 connects to.All that being said, let me just say, being able to adjust the audio levels of my M1060's via the analog knobs on my Syba amp without being tethered to my desk is just one of those things you'll probably only find satisfying if you're really really into your audio gear, but for me, as a pragmatic and obsessive audio indulger, it's one of those experiences that never truly felt complete until I got the BTR5 as the final link in my audio chain.TLDR:I love this thing, and will instantly buy another one if I ever lose it, highly recommended!

I am absolutely blown away by this little device. First off this device is deceivingly small, about the size of your finger to be exact. That does not mean that this little guy does not pack a punch. At first the product is a bit difficult to understand as the manual is really not that helpful, especially if this is your first portable DAC. That said I highly recommend downloading the app along side it as it opens up a variety setting and tools and you don't need to use the thumb nail size screen. If you decide to plug this in to a PC, do update the firmware before you mess with the settings on the device as it can freeze your device and think you bricked it, but it's a bug in the older firmware.So I am far from audiophile here. I like my music to sound good but lossy music usually doesn't bother me as long it isn't compressed to hell. This little device while right off the bat may not seem like it does a whole lot, there will be a point where your listening and you hear parts of instruments you never heard before in a song you know and a overall wider range of sound really giving you a new appreciation of music you already love.This device really shines when you are playing your own ripped music or streaming from a service Tidal where you get unfiltered raw lossless sound. The more you just fiddle with the device and the app itself and just mess around with setting you really get a full appreciation of what this device can really do that you just will not get out of just some basic EQ settings on a basic music player.I don't have a ton of space and specifically in my room is where I listen to most of my music. I have a decent sound bar hooked up to my TV, and as we all know TV sound is pretty terrible, and I don't have the money or space to set up a full on sound system. That all said, it has a AUX jack, and when I hook up this DAC to it via a AUX cable and connect the DAC to my sound bar and connect this device through Bluetooth to my phone it really opens up this rather dumb sound bar that I have. Now is it nearly as good as listening to a good pair of headphone. No, not at all, but if I want to jam out and not have to blast my music this opens up a far more dynamic range to this rather decent sound bar. Also with the low pass filter, I can watch videos on my phone and there not be much if any delay in audio and video from what I can tell.There is one weird very specific quirk that I honestly do not understand how or why this is happening but for some reason when I am on Youtube on my Roku TV and have my phone connected via casting feature in Youtube from my phone and my TV and when my DAC is connected via bluetooth to my phone the play/pause button will pause Youtube videos on my Roku TV. I do not know how or even why this is happening, but that said, I just found it very strange and a bit funny.All that said, this device is absolutely wonderful. I never though a device little bigger than a thumb drive would pack such a punch and for a rather reasonable price as well. The more I listen to the more I am impressed in just how full and more dynamic everything is. I feel like I opened up a whole new world here. I don't have to blast my music to feel I am getting everything out of my music, and in a sense saving my hearing from whatever damage I have already done listening to music to loud as a teen. It does take some time to get used to at least with the app itself, as there is a lot there, but if you mess around and fiddle with thing you get a better understand of what may or may not sound better IMO.