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FiiO BTR7 Review (Portable DAC & HP Amp)

Rate this portable DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 2 1.0%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 14 6.8%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 83 40.1%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 108 52.2%

  • Total voters
    207

ZolaIII

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@Keened picked DragonFly purposely as even for BSD it's out of the main regarding code and not very popular and besides it has Hammer file system (which costed Mat Dylan a lot of his hair so far).
I didn't get to what DAP you alluded I did to R3Pro which runs their costume embedded OS (probably minimalistic Linux fork).
Good implementation of LDAC including strong antennas is perfectly fine with me but you will have hard time convincing other's around here about that. And you will have no chance at all convincing mammoths like Samsung paying for decoder IP so why bother? I got tiered of waiting for it to happen is my excuse, besides nothing wrong with wireless WiFi streaming regarding me neither is good enough for latency sensitive things anyway.
Best regards.
 

confucius_zero

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can you share the bal multitone plz?
 

PeteL

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Fiios always have independent volume which is a good thing for such devices. But it still adds inconvenience
Why is it a good thing? Finer steps? Is it all digital or hybrid? I know these Qualcomm chips have ressources for a volume control that have a few analog gain level with digital steps in between. Is this it? In all case I don't find it that unconvenient. You just leave your phone at max. It may be a bit large tough but more generally speaking I find these small BT amps very convenient, I hate having cables and dongles in my pocket, You just clip it to your collar and the cable become a non factor when moving around, browsing the net with your phone or just leave it out close to whatever you are doing. Plus I did not find a convenient EQ on IOS yet that works with streaming services. I really dont see the convenience that you find in the Apple dongle but OK, your use cases must be radically different than mines.
 
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Garrincha

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They are marketed on current availability, the DAC chip, and yes... bling. But they are better than the "what's available" cobbled together price point DAPs. Try one. I use the DAPs as portable streamers more than headphone amps because no portable device, as of 2022, can compare to dedicated amplifiers. The other functions, voltage amplifiers and processors, are handled as well or better than most other devices. The only thing that appears to be out of reach for all DAPs is processing via an R2R ladder DAC.
I have no need for a DAP, I use my Macbook, my iPhone or an Android phone (USB Audio Player Pro) as sources and a dongle or a headphone amp. I think DAPs are a waste of money, especially those from A&K. And R2R I am not missing at all, this is outdated technique which has no justification to exists today.
 

lhimelfarb

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I have no need for a DAP, I use my Macbook, my iPhone or an Android phone (USB Audio Player Pro) as sources and a dongle or a headphone amp. I think DAPs are a waste of money, especially those from A&K. And R2R I am not missing at all, this is outdated technique which has no justification to exists today.
You are correct on all counts. bless you and good luck.
 

Roland301

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Why is it a good thing? Finer steps? Is it all digital or hybrid? I know these Qualcomm chips have ressources for a volume control that have a few analog gain level with digital steps in between. Is this it? In all case I don't find it that unconvenient. You just leave your phone at max. It may be a bit large tough but more generally speaking I find these small BT amps very convenient, I hate having cables and dongles in my pocket, You just clip it to your collar and the cable become a non factor when moving around, browsing the net with your phone or just leave it out close to whatever you are doing. Plus I did not find a convenient EQ on IOS yet that works with streaming services. I really dont see the convenience that you find in the Apple dongle but OK, your use cases must be radically different than mines.
Finer control, since Bluetooth volume spec only has 16 steps and that is not enough for a device like this where you will be plugging in a variety of different sensitivity headphones. Also prevents the phone or other paired device from maxing out the volume unexpectedly, which is especially useful for multi device pairing.
 

Orfik

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Not at all imo. It has more power but not that much more. What the Qudelix can’t power can probably not be powered by the BTR7 either. Both are audibly transparent and the Qudelix has the much better PEQ
Do you really own the BTR7? I have both, the BTR7 is a much better amplifier, more transparent, not just more power but the power is delivered more authoritatively. I love the Qudelix and the EQ is a lot better on the Qudelix though I don't use it so that doesn't matter. The BTR7 is overwhelmingly superior as far as sound quality goes, though.
 

Roland301

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I think these Bluetooth receivers compete not on DAC/amp, but rather the app functionality. Fiio is still very behind in this regard. It took them forever to add EQ to their BTR3, an even longer time to add PEQ to the BTR5. And it's a half-assed implementation with only one saved preset, and I'm not sure if it works over USB and LDAC either. Fiio also doesn't let you select the sample rate for LDAC, among other things.

I think the sound quality of all of em is gonna be held back by the Bluetooth encoding anyway (and if not that then Android's crappy audio stack will do the same), so better to get more features and flexibility than beefier audio hardware. A Qudelix already outputs 2.7Vrms at 32 ohms over balanced, which is enough for just about any headphone you'd care to use with it IMO. If you really don't need the features, then the ifi go blu honestly seems more appealing than btr7 with its physical volume wheel instead of buttons.
 
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PeteL

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Do you really own the BTR7? I have both, the BTR7 is a much better amplifier, more transparent, not just more power but the power is delivered more authoritatively. I love the Qudelix and the EQ is a lot better on the Qudelix though I don't use it so that doesn't matter. The BTR7 is overwhelmingly superior as far as sound quality goes, though.
It is Indeed a very desirable device that I could be in the market for. I think your description is a little colorful though I doubt the power is delivered more authoritatively, what you describe is just more power, that will make it sound more dynamic and with better bass. That said, am I correct from their site to notice it doesn't come with a clip? to me collar clipping these type of devices is a must. Would it be that the device is too heavy for this? their others seem to have.
 

PeteL

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I think these Bluetooth receivers compete not on DAC/amp, but rather the app functionality. Fiio is still very behind in this regard. It took them forever to add EQ to their BTR3, an even longer time to add PEQ to the BTR5, and they still haven't added it to the BTR7 to my knowledge. And it's a half-assed implementation with only one saved preset, and I'm not sure if it works over USB and LDAC either. Fiio also doesn't let you select the sample rate for LDAC, among other things.

I think the sound quality of all of em is gonna be held back by the Bluetooth encoding anyway (and if not that then Android's crappy audio stack will do the same), so better to get more features and flexibility than beefier audio hardware. A Qudelix already outputs 2.7Vrms at 32 ohms over balanced, which is enough for just about any headphone you'd care to use with it IMO.
LDAC is transparent to my ears, and generally speaking I have to really concentrate to hear the degradation of AAC. If I just listen to music without really analysing the music sounds just the same, I hear the same details, maybe some cymbals decay but really you have to be looking for it. Really the payback in sound quality of BT vs convenience is really really tiny. Output power, EQ, and low noise is way more important for SQ, like tons more important.
 
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staticV3

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Would it be that the device is too heavy for this?
Definitely a bit chonky for collar clipping:
10_o.jpgimages.jpegpw-09426.jpg

Weight is also up considerably compared to its competitors:
BTR7: 68g
BTR5: 44g
5K: 25g
ES100: 20g
 

abm0

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Too bad we don't have the measurements to compare it to the BTR5. Just on specs initially stated by FiiO I found it strange that the 7 supposedly has a higher noise floor than the 5, so from that + the size, weight and price it's not clear that there are many scenarios where it should be preferred over the BTR5.
 

Orfik

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It is Indeed a very desirable device that I could be in the market for. I think your description is a little colorful though I doubt the power is delivered more authoritatively, what you describe is just more power, that will make it sound more dynamic and with better bass. That said, am I correct from their site to notice it doesn't come with a clip? to me collar clipping these type of devices is a must. Would it be that the device is too heavy for this? their others seem to have.
You can *think* my description is overblown. You should actually buy the device so you can *know*.

You're not helping anyone in this forum talking as if you have first hand knowledge of something you haven't even used.

And no, it doesn't come with a clip. I just throw it in my pocket like I did the BTR5. I can see some people thinking it's too heavy for a clip but it'd be fine clipped to a waistband or something. Clipped to a shirt, probably not.
 

PeteL

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You can *think* my description is overblown. You should actually buy the device so you can *know*.

You're not helping anyone in this forum talking as if you have first hand knowledge of something you haven't even used.

And no, it doesn't come with a clip. I just throw it in my pocket like I did the BTR5. I can see some people thinking it's too heavy for a clip but it'd be fine clipped to a waistband or something. Clipped to a shirt, probably not.
I think it's not overblown, but what you are describing, more power may do it for you. Note that more power don't only mean more levels. The Qudelix may bring your headphones loud but will struggle with the big peaks and the big bass and may sound more dull, less dynamic. What are the headphones? What I was dissagreeing where the line about quality of power. There are measurable differences of course on the linear zone, but bottom line Power is key for sound quality if your headphone can take it. I don't doubt your experience with both at all.
 
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