[Hanesu]

hey, i already read your reviews when i started my headphone journey almost 20 yrs ago, you were kind of an influencer to me in the days of iriver ipod and what not devices

i am searching for the bt dac/amp with the deepest and tallest soundstage with excellent layering atm.
Already owning these which i put in order of soundstage depth (better to worse): Shanling UP4, BTR15, Topping G5, .... Qudelix 5k. The Shanling and Fiio have almost the same depth but overall soundstage on the Shanling is less "3 blobs" than the Fiio. Sadly the Topping has the overall best soundquality to me but sounds somewhat boxy/closed in.

I read many posts and reviews that claim the go blue would be the best in layering and depth regarding bt-dac/amps.
Would you agree with that or which bt device comes to your mind when a deep, well layered and tall soundstage is the only requirement? Price up to 800 EUR/$ would be ok. it shouldnt be as large and heavy as the Xduoo XD05 pro tho.
Sorry for the wall of text!

Using the X-space function , the GoBlu can sound quite wide, but I would not recommend it due to quality control issues and excessive hiss with some earphones (I have owned two units). Maybe the Aroma Air is something you should have an eye on?

 

[sofastreamer]

Using the X-space function , the GoBlu can sound quite wide, but I would not recommend it due to quality control issues and excessive hiss with some earphones (I have owned two units). Maybe the Aroma Air is something you should have an eye on?

Thank you for the aroma tipp, much appreciated!
@ClieOS thank you also for your fast reply and the informations!

 

[Hanesu]

Sad product/company. Instead of working on phantom upgrade package, should've made sure 2.5mm output on M4 is not wired in reverse.

Have heard those rumors, too, but just purchased a unit and the 2,5 sounds fine (same as 4,4)!

 

[ClieOS]

BTE-8 is here. Really a no-brainer consider the cost.

 

[sofastreamer]

BTE-8 is here. Really a no-brainer consider the cost.

nice collection! will you have the time to write some impressions?

 

[ClieOS]

nice collection! will you have the time to write some impressions?

I'll see what I can do.

 

[waynes world]

BTE-8 is here. Really a no-brainer consider the cost.

You recommended the Fiio BTR3K a while back (great recommendation, sad to lose it). Also have the 5K, which has been serving me very well for a long time now (surprised by it's longevity to be honest!). Anyway, looking forward to hearing more about the BTE-8 (and figuring out where it can be purchased, apart from taobao).

hey, i already read your reviews when i started my headphone journey almost 20 yrs ago, you were kind of an influencer to me in the days of iriver ipod and what not devices

Wow - 20 years! Only 12 years of ClieOS brain washing, er, influencing for me lol!

 

[wipeyourbuttocks]

TimeEar BTE-8
QCC5125 + Dual CS43131 + 3.5mm SE + 4.4mm BL + LDAC + LHDC

Priced at only $50, kinda a steal if actual performance meets its spec.

They are amazing. Not my kind of sound but for the price I can't really complain.

Spoiler: My impressions

First of all, this has to be the nicest feeling dongle in the hand, regardless of price point. It has a smooth anodised aluminium casing WITH rounded edges. Its finishing is buttery smooth and nice to the touch but it's more susceptible to scratches. It makes the DC04pro feel cheaper in hand cuz of its rough anodised surface and jagged edges. I'm pretty sure you could tell just by looking at the pic that it's well built.

Sound wise, it is more resolving than DC04pro but it looses out big time in tone and timbre: lower mids is lean and the treble is not the most natural. Soundstage is also noticeably wider than DC04pro but vocals and instruments at the center sound further away - kinda like RU7. I disliked how the RU7 sound so it's the same with this.

The only problem I have with this bluetooth dongle has is how it handles incoming source from multiple devices. It doesn't know what to do when there's audio coming from more one device so it'll just jump between both devices, making a weird jitter noise until either one stops playing. This could be fixed with a software update but I don't think it will ever be.

 

[sofastreamer]

Thanks for your answer, I wasn't expecting feedback from Fiio staff
Sorry but this is not a good enough reason, I used Radsone ES100, it had dedicated buttons (plus optional functions on long press) for all these basic functions.
I know Fiio always choose to mitigate navigation buttons with vol buttons, but this is not convenient.

In fact this and the battery life of the BTR series always put me off, even if it seems that BTR5 is one of the best selling BT adapters, l agree...
Two more buttons can fit in such small device, no problem, of course it raises the manufacturing costs a bit, but not that much.

It is not that I don't like Fiio products in general.
I have FH3 and FH7 IEMs and for the price, in terms of sound they are a marvel to my ears. I recently bought the UTWS5 because of extremely good reviews, and I accepted the fact that you cannot put too many buttons on TWS units, but the connection is unstable; connecting/disconnecting is somtimes a hassle, and the battery life is way off the official figures; the adapters go off only after 3-4 hours...

When they work, the SQ and audio sync L+R, stereo imaging (which is quite challenge...) is great, I recognize the strong points of such a product.
I still criticize Qudelix for their wierd button implementation; lots of hit and miss...

But For the BTR15, if you would have just added these two buttons, plus a battery life of 10-15hrs, I would have give it a try, for sure...
But as I said before, maybe I am the only one, or one of the few that consider this as important.

not to forget the ES100 mk2 came out years before the btr15, weighs almost half as much as the btr15 and it has a very good clip already built in, while you have to add the mediocre clip case to the weight of the fiio.
all in all you get much longer battery runtime, a smaller and lighter device, almost as much power, similar eq functionality, the same dac configuration and all that much cheaper than fiios offering.
i still remember the days, when fiio positioned itself in the outstanding value segment, instead of their nowadays focus on fancy marketing and design, while delivering products with alpha software at best, using the consumers as guinea pigs. its a real shame what happens to companys once they achieve a critical scale.

 

[alex5908]

Has anybody compared btr15 with Qudelix 5K A/B?
I am not talking about the firmware and app support (as it's unreachable for any other one in the given form factor on the market, of course, meaning the Qudelix 5K support) but the stability of the signal.

 

[sofastreamer]

Has anybody compared btr15 with Qudelix 5K A/B?
I am not talking about the firmware and app support (as it's unreachable for any other one in the given form factor on the market, of course, meaning the Qudelix 5K support) but the stability of the signal.

i own both. stability on both is similarly good. didnt test the range tho. but within 5-10 meters i didnt have any problems. using ldac forced to soundquality