FIIO BTR17 Bluetooth DAC Headphone Amplifier Review – The Sooner All the Animals Are Extinct, the Sooner We’ll Be Able to Find Where They’re Hiding Their Money
Audio purists insist that multi-function devices are inherently inferior and that more boxes are better—i.e a separate preamp with power amp (or, ideally, monoblocks) always trumps an integrated amp (not to mention any stereo receiver) and a separate CD transport and DAC trumps a CDP.
They would shudder at the very thought of FIIO’s new, $199 BTR17, which combines a Bluetooth streamer, a portable or desktop DAC and a headphone amp in one small (1” x 2” x 5”) package. It’s the Shohei Ohtani of portable audio. You find its extensive specifications here.
Aluminum body looks nice and is solidly built; sturdy multi-function knob includes a 60 position volume control. Physical buttons and sliders for power, operating mode, etc. are small but responsive; UI is intuitive and I was mostly able to navigate the device without referring to the manual.
The multi-color display screen is a bit garish but helpful. Advertised battery life of around 8hrs seems about right. The FIIO Control app enables a ten-band PEQ , some well-tuned presets and the new trend of enabling sharing of other owners’ custom EQs.
A key feature of the BTR17 is that when using it as a portable dongle, the BTR17 is powered by its own internal battery, rather than by your phone; you can also use it in PC mode (which enables a USB-connected computer to charge the device while playing) or in Desktop mode (which requires plugging into a separate power supply and obviates any concern about running out of juice). I didn’t notice any change in sound between the various modes.
OOTB, without EQ adjustment, the BTR17 presents a warmish timbre and a U-shaped signature, with elevated, deep subbass and midbass, pushed-back midrange and a forward treble. Note texture is leanish—bass in particular sounds sculpted, taut and free from bloom. It’s a revealing, but not overly analytical presentation—there’s some rounding off at the highest frequencies and the tiny micro-details are hinted at but not fully presented.
Tonality is, to my ears, somewhat light and airy—the BTR17 lacks the rich plumminess of SMSL’s great new RAW DAC 1 (review to follow) and also sounds less energetic and more polite than the SMSL SU-9 (review here). The Fiio is not a neutral piece—there’s a slight digital coloration, in the sense of smoothing over drum hits and plucked strings—but overall the presentation is clean, free from glare and perfectly coherent.
Now, purely as a mobile DAC/dongle, I might still opt for Hidizs’ S9 Pro Plus (review here), which is more pocketable and a harder rocking piece, albeit a less accurate one. However, the S9 has nowhere near the versatility (or EQ adjustability) of the BTR17, nor is it as powerful. Both play on a higher sonic plane that the cheaper, ubiquitous Tempotec/Shanling dongles.
Fiio heavily hypes the BTR17’s BT prowess (it does all the LDAC/aptx hirez codecs), and the BT SQ here really is very impressive, at least by BT standards—the same material through my Samsung phone or my Wiim Pro streamer (in BT mode) sounded more compressed and flatter, while even the aforesaid SMSL SU-9, which as a BT streamer has a lot of body and range, trailed the BTR17 in overall detail and snap.
Come to think of it, the BTR17 is as capable a BT streamer as I’ve heard at the price. Yet however well-presented BT is still BT, and there was a small but noticeable loss of high-level nuance and dynamics when compared to a wired source like my PC. This was mostly evident on acoustic and jazz sessions, where everything sounded punchier and louder when wired. Again, this is an intrinsic limitation of BT and not a slam on the BRT17 itself.
I do think, however that future iterations should include some onboard storage so that users can listen to lossless and higher rez files, as with a DAP.
For all that, the most notable aspect of the BTR17 is its driving power as a headphone amp—through its balanced out the damn thing puts out 300mw@32oHm in its unpowered (Phone) mode and much more in its powered (Desktop) mode. By way of comparison, the $220, much praised (by others) SMSL RAW HA-1 DAC/Amp does a mere 30mw (balanced out).
Challenging loads like the 300 ohm Senn 650 are driven effortlessly by the Fiio and achieve a physicality and fullness they miss with wimpier engines. Correspondingly, very sensitive IEMs like, say, the Moondrop Starfield II don’t match as well and can sound edgy at higher volumes. Fiio’s own cheap-and-cheerful over-ear JT-1 (review here) sounded really good with its labelmate—its typically boomy bass being pretty well tamed by the BTR17, and highend taking on some previously-absent crispness and sizzle.
My DAC-less head amps like Pro-ject or JDS sound less processed (also less detailed) and perhaps truer to source but not as powerful and exhibit much less bass control esp. with lower-impedance cans. Your preference will likely depend on the headphone pairing, with the Fiio being far better for demanding loads.
Like most jacks-of-all-trades the BTR17 isn’t necessarily the best at any one thing (although, cost considered, its prowess as a headphone amp is right up there), and it’s not a reference, studio-monitor tuning. It is however, worth the price of admission solely for its design and engineering merits; that it sounds very good is an added bonus. Bargain.
Disclaimer: This was sent to us unsolicited by Fiio for review purposes. You find more information on the BTR17’s product page. Buy one from amazon.com (we dont’ do affiliate links).
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