FiiO - BTR7

This was my first audiophile DAC/AMP and extremely disappointed. A defective piece was delivered to me. The device does not hold charge at all. Once it is fully charged, at most it lasts for 3-4 songs on a wired headphone. Haven't even tried paring a single BT device. I do all my shopping online and for products worth lakh(s) of rupees but never had such a disappointing experience. Hope HPZ can bail me out of this issue by providing a NEW replacement

So no doubt this is a solid product, however this is not a perfect one.

The tiny screen doesn't make any sense at all, they could have added some additional info in the front glass panel.
Second, it is a Bluetooth receiver, so you won't be able to connect Bluetooth earphones.
Third, the battery sucks .. it is not even giving a proper 5-6 hr on MQA USB connection.
The cables provides are small and of poor quality.
You can never turn off the Bluetooth. It will always try to pair as soon as you turn it, we could have saved a lot of battery consumption by disabling it.

You can connect maximum two bluetooth device again as it is just a receiver you can only use one device at a time.

The design is a finger magent and that cover is dust magnet.

Pros - wireless charging , very good MQA , PCM unfolding at 32 bits. Sound is vivid and not sharp. It doesn't add additional layer instead enhance the sound amazingly.

In short waste of money.

Ive always been a fan of Fiio, and what they were doing with DAPs as well as smartphone audio accessories like the KA series and BTR is truly commendable. Let me get this out of the way. The BTR5 is probably the best at what it does at this price point. Heres my definition of "what it does": 1. Good dac, 2. Powerful amp with a low noise floor 3. Works seamlessly both wired and wireless 4. Great bluetooth connectivity and range 5. Quick UI (although it takes a noticable second more while increasing volume) & pairing

Based on the above, i am fairly confident that nothing does all or most of the above as well as the btr7.

How does it sound: wireless, just excellent (we are on the heels of wired here, but there is a difference in quality). Wired, i think its a matter of preference, i somewhat still like the musicality of cayin RU8, just a personal preference, but the btr7 is no slouch. It sounds pretty clean with earphones and headphones alike. I felt it was slightly bassy in certain tracks which i never felt on other flattish sources, even when EQ seemed off, not that it wasnt enjoyable, i loved it, but i am talking about technical performance.

A DAP without a screen: Calling the BTR7 a bluetooth transmitter is an insult, and it has so much juice on offer, and the THX amp pair definitely shows. When wired, It adequetely powers my 7Hz timeless at vol 20 odd (33% of max vol), and Sundara gets louder than one should hear at about 40 (66% of max volume), which is insane, so i am assuming it'll power more demanding cans with sufficient headroom to spare. In Wireless mode, its about the same with phone vol at about 75%. Not sure if it was just my phone, but it doesnt volume match when connected over bluetooth.

Overall, a pretty satisfying purchase. The India price compared to the global pricing is on point, infact slightly lesser considering it costs more to import it, so kudos to Fiio and Headphone Zone. With noticable improvements from its predecessor, the price is moderately justifiable, but for more price conscious folks the BTR5 2021 is still a great pick, unless one needs 4.4mm balanced, just like I did.

PS: I listened to tracks on high gain, using 4.4mm balanced. BT streaming thru LDAC

Have bought a week ago. Haven’t tried yet. Waiting for getting reward points so that I can avail discount to buy an in ear earphones and then use it and review the DAC

I got the BTR7 unboxed condition at 15K and Kudos to the team that I received the original box with it. I know that I got lucky. The unit was obviously used and I had to factory reset it but everything else was in perfect condition, no scratch or visible damage. Again the type C to C cable was a dud and that seems standard with FiiO at this point.

The sibling in question is the BTR5 2021 edition at half the price. It boasts the same dual DAC configuration, the chipset used is also the same, had almost the same bluetooth audio codec support except the aptx adaptive which is crap anyways, it lacks wireless charging and the THX amps and packs a smaller battery of something around 500 mamps and also has lower output power compared to the BTR7, Oh, and it also lacks the colourful screen, If you care about that stuff. But the BTR5 is significantly smaller.

I own both the products and I heard many good things about the BTR7 so decided to buy it. Listening side by side I couldn't decide which one is which. They have identical output. Some say the bass in the BTR7 is more dynamic, I call BS on that. They are absolutely identical.

So why should you buy the BTR7:
1. You have cash to burn, like me, now I am lamenting the purchase though.
2. You have to power more demanding headphones (the only legitimate case for its existence)

If you only care about IEMs then buy the BTR5, it has sufficient power to drive any IEM on this planet right now and even in the future.

If you care about headphones and plan to buy either the Sundaras or the HD 6 series then get yourself the BTR7

They just transformed the sound. Being an amateur, I'm still in no position to comment on technicalities, but the music feels more live and clear.

This is an amazing DAC which might be small in size but packs a very powerful performance and does its job very perfectly in delivering high quality audio. The device is easy to use & setup with a simple user interface. Performs beautifully when paired with hi-res headphones/IEMs. I use Fiio FD5 which gives me a wonderful high quality audio experience. The in-built battery is helpful for driving power for amplification when required. The ESS Sabre chip & dual THX amplifiers make the audio significantly impactful when using any speakers/headphones. The input connectivities are good enough for the size of this DAC.
The delivery time was beyond expectation and the packaging of the product was safe & perfect. The accessories from Fiio are also very good and convenient.
Will definitely recommend this DAC for its performance & portability.
Thank You, Headphone Zone for this product.

Don't judge its SQ and ability to drive looking at its price and size.

I have used it with Monarch MK2, IE900, Ananda, Arya V2, Arya SE and Final E5000. It paired so well with everything and had enough juice even for Arya V2 and E5000(which is very hard to drive).

Fiio surprisingly engineered it to sound the best out of AAC compared to wired. It can definitely go against a $1000 DAP(I have owned a Shanling M7 earlier) and compared BTR7 against Shanling H7(it was coming close to H7 for IEMs and it was better than H7 with Arya SE).

Best pairing with Monarch MK2(to my ears) so far. It surprisingly sounds the best out of AAC compared to the wired option.

Other pairings that I have tried: Shanling M7, Shanling H7, AK SP2000T, iBasso Dx320(stock amp), Sony 707, iDSD Signature and Fiio M17.

The best part is its size, transparent sound while being musical, dark background, good synergy with almost everything(I was surprised that I liked IE900), excellent refinement for the price and also technical performance.

I am still surprised to see such performance at this price, one can easily use this as their main source for IEMs and as a portable source for HPs(at least planars till Arya segment).

Great job Fiio with the pricing.