[SpiderNhan]

Electronically they should be a fine match with your Sennheiser in ears.The remote may or may not work but otherwise a good match that should sound really fine. One key benefit of the BTR3 over other receivers is its 30 step independent volume control, which enables you far more precise volume control in concert with your source than most other BT receivers and that is important on IEMs.

The BTR3 should work very well with the vast majority of in ear headphones...and work poorly mostly with inefficient on and over ears like the Fostex T50rp and Sennheiser 650.

My advice would be if you like the Senns to try them first. You know how they sound on your current source, so you will be the best judge of what they lose...VERY little I would bet.

Your IEMs will determine 90% of the sound and 100% of the fit / comfort quality. The amp/Bluetooth adapter which will impact maybe 10% (barring any gross mismatch).... so I would not choose your earphones on the basis of matching your Bluetooth adapter....just be sure when you buy new ones that you choose from the vast majority of IEMs that will work great and that are not weird/unusual in their amp requirements.

Actually, I just unboxed my BTR3 and the first headphone I fed it was the Fostex T50rp mk3. I must say... Not bad at all. Full volume on both my phone (OnePlus 5T>LDAC) and the BTR3, but this is definitely listenable.

 

[eckndu]

hi, can it be recharged while maintaining a bt connection?

 

[miztahsparklez]

The 80 Ohm DT770 Pro have a sensitivity of 96dB... PeterMac's 50 Ohm HD599 have a much higher sensitivity of 106dB. So the HD599 should get a lot louder....be a better match. The BTR3 is so new that I think it is unlikely anyone with the HD599 has tried the combo but the reviews say the Senns can be driven well with most smart phones.

So...if Peter wants to play at very high volumes and expects 25 hours of battery life...that will not happen. I see no reason why it would not be a good combination with good fidelity if expectations are realistic. The HD599 are very easy to drive and 50 Ohms is not that high...but like you said with the DT770s....it may not get VERY loud.

Oh I know.. the dt770 is not friendly . It puts most amps to the test even. They consume gobs and gobs of power, the more you throw, the more they take.

I'm assuming "normal" listeners who don't turn up their music will get optimal sound out of most headphones and decent battery life. What will wow most people is the level of detail that the BTR3 can provide. I've gone back and listened to old cans that have sounded "muddy" to me in the past, but now can hear all the fine details. I'm amazed how much I have been missing out on using my phone's DAC.

 

[hotdog108]

hi, can it be recharged while maintaining a bt connection?

Yep, although it's not recommended. As is the case with all battery based devices.

 

[rkw]

Yep, although it's not recommended. As is the case with all battery based devices.

Why? Lots of people charge their phone or laptop while using it. Does FiiO discourage it? Doesn't it charge while using it as a USB DAC?

 

[hotdog108]

Why? Lots of people charge their phone or laptop while using it. Does FiiO discourage it? Doesn't it charge while using it as a USB DAC?

it's not a good idea to drain a battery while adding more juice, it reduces the life of said battery, because physics and chemistry

 

[miztahsparklez]

it's not a good idea to drain a battery while adding more juice, it reduces the life of said battery, because physics and chemistry

Honestly, for something thats $70 and no removable battery is designed to wear out so you buy another one. Maybe in 3 years you will buy the next one anyway.

I would just say use and charge how you want!

 

[SubMash]

This is just not true. When you charge and use battery it is effectively same as if you charge it slower. And charging slower is good for battery.

it's not a good idea to drain a battery while adding more juice, it reduces the life of said battery, because physics and chemistry

 

[hotdog108]

This is just not true. When you charge and use battery it is effectively same as if you charge it slower. And charging slower is good for battery.

You can believe whatever you want, or rationalize whatever way you like, but science is science. Personal belief has never altered how physics works, and nor will it this time.

 

[hotdog108]

Honestly, for something thats $70 and no removable battery is designed to wear out so you buy another one. Maybe in 3 years you will buy the next one anyway.

I would just say use and charge how you want!

I agree, things like this are considered consumables, use it for a few years and get a new one. I'm just speaking in terms of pure battery physics, consuming while charging reduces the capacity.

 

[rkw]

it's not a good idea to drain a battery while adding more juice, it reduces the life of said battery, because physics and chemistry

This is just not true. When you charge and use battery it is effectively same as if you charge it slower. And charging slower is good for battery.

The information I see is that it is not possible to charge and use a battery at the same time. The external power will drive the device and excess power will charge the battery. If the external source can't provide enough power for the device, the battery provides supplemental power and isn't charged at that same time. So @SubMash is partially correct depending on the amount of power.
https://www.google.com/search?q=charge+discharge+battery+simultaneously

 

[mhoopes]

The information I see is that it is not possible to charge and use a battery at the same time. The external power will drive the device and excess power will charge the battery. If the external source can't provide enough power for the device, the battery provides supplemental power and isn't charged at that same time. So @SubMash is partially correct depending on the amount of power.
https://www.google.com/search?q=charge+discharge+battery+simultaneously

In order for a battery to charge, the charging voltage applied to it must be higher than the battery potential. An extra load could draw power from both, but current division would favor the source with the higher potential by some %.
[edit] Unless the current-limiting of the source->battery is sufficiently higher than the battery output impedance.

 

[alphak]

It seems to me that the µBTR would be a good match for that earphone, both in impedance and cost. If you have extra money for the BTR3, I'd upgrade my earphones, first.

At 103 dB/mW, I don't think hiss should be much of an issue. I have 112 dB/mW earphones that don't exhibit hiss with the µBTR, though my hearing may be less sensitive to it than yours. Also, I use an iPhone, so my experience is with AAC, which isn't too different in quality from aptX HD.

Thank you for this, however the problem is the kind of headphones I want, which are light weight clip-on on ear type and not in-ear, are few and far in between. The only popular one I keep seeing is the Koss KSC75 but it seems a bit too heavy, the ATH EQ500 is too perfect at 20 grams, and the audio quality is not horrendous at the spec. I should probably post a separate thread for clip-on headphone recommendations but I've looked through some of the existing ones and couldn't find anything much superior.

I have an Avantree Cara II bluetooth transmitter and i get an ever so slight hiss when using it with the ATH EQ500, mainly because I listen 90% to audiobooks and podcasts at low volumes.

I've decided to go for the FiiO BTR3 even though it is overkill for these headphones, got it delivered yesterday.

First surprising thing about this little gadget is the weight, it is super tiny but also substantially heavy, I'd wager with the metal clip it's easly 30 grams or more, about the weight of a 9v battery maybe slightly less (the site says 25g but they might be saying that without the clip). On a thin t-shirt it can definitely be felt when clipping onto a shoulder. The clip is made of really solid metal, and feels VERY premium. in fact, the whole build is absolutely top notch, feels like it's an expensive product and has a lot of tech packed into its tiny dense frame.

NFC; this feature is slightly different from how I expected it to work, basically you need to hold the power button to power on the device first, and then use NFC to tap your phone and connect. On another NFC bluetooth headset I had, NFC would also power on/power off the bluetooth device itself, but that's not the case here. Would have loved to seen the NFC being the same but its not a horrendous issue.

Audio quality; now my headphones are by no means super power hungry at 103 dB/mW and i'm no audio expert either, but I have not heard even the slightest bit of noise or disturbance when listening at low volumes, mainly podcasts and audio books. It is excellent, definitely indistinguishable from a 3.5mm analog connection to my pc. The convenience of wireless at the quality of wired is what this device aims to deliver and at least in my case, delivers perfectly. Definitely recommended!

 

[SubMash]

I agree, things like this are considered consumables, use it for a few years and get a new one. I'm just speaking in terms of pure battery physics, consuming while charging reduces the capacity.

Well, explain how? Battery charged in cc-cv mode. Means limit of current and voltage whatever comes first. Charge is application of higher voltage than existing on the battery. If you use battery during charge (which would be almost all of the battery powered devices in existence) you make a load on electrical source - charger. If your load is too high to maintain same voltage - charger will drop voltage (or when internal resistance of charger will decrease it under load).

Such event effectively identical to decrease of charging speed. Which is known to prolong life of battery.

If load will push charger voltage below battery voltage - battery won't be charging and will be releasing energy. There are no physical event of charging and discharging at the same time. Battery is either driven to get charge or to release it.

And it doesn't care if you going to have tiny currents changing directions very often, because almost all circuitry would effectively push tiny currents back to battery at high frequency on voltage regulators.

There are few things known to decrease capacity:
1. High (or extremely low) Temperature
2. High Input or Output Current
3. High or Low Charge
4. Oxidation of electrolyte and electrodes over time

None of those increasing during charge and use at the same time.

So there are no evidence of what you say (or give a link on a study that shows it) and no physical effects describing potential for such result. Moreover - almost all devices using battery while charging, because charging logic is powered by battery itself. So, you can't even avoid it and therefore whole comment is useless.

P.S. When we talk about devices like this one regular USB charger is 2.5W, while whole device consumption at most 0.2W, so if charger is connected - it never uses a battery at all. USB-C of btr3 is not increasing charging speed at all, batteries are too tiny to be charged even at regular USB currents.

 

[hotdog108]

Well, explain how? Battery charged in cc-cv mode. Means limit of current and voltage whatever comes first. Charge is application of higher voltage than existing on the battery. If you use battery during charge (which would be almost all of the battery powered devices in existence) you make a load on electrical source - charger. If your load is too high to maintain same voltage - charger will drop voltage (or when internal resistance of charger will decrease it under load).

Such event effectively identical to decrease of charging speed. Which is known to prolong life of battery.

If load will push charger voltage below battery voltage - battery won't be charging and will be releasing energy. There are no physical event of charging and discharging at the same time. Battery is either driven to get charge or to release it.

And it doesn't care if you going to have tiny currents changing directions very often, because almost all circuitry would effectively push tiny currents back to battery at high frequency on voltage regulators.

There are few things known to decrease capacity:
1. High (or extremely low) Temperature
2. High Input or Output Current
3. High or Low Charge
4. Oxidation of electrolyte and electrodes over time

None of those increasing during charge and use at the same time.

So there are no evidence of what you say (or give a link on a study that shows it) and no physical effects describing potential for such result. Moreover - almost all devices using battery while charging, because charging logic is powered by battery itself. So, you can't even avoid it and therefore whole comment is useless.

P.S. When we talk about devices like this one regular USB charger is 2.5W, while whole device consumption at most 0.2W, so if charger is connected - it never uses a battery at all. USB-C of btr3 is not increasing charging speed at all, batteries are too tiny to be charged even at regular USB currents.

Every battery has an upper limit of charge cycles, this is an irrefutable fact. Every time you charge it, you're reducing the battery life and charge cycles. This is common sense at this point. Having it charging during use puts a constant bidirectional load on the battery, reducing the life of the battery faster than normal use and charging cycles. It's physics and common sense, this whole idea of a device not using the battery while plugged in because of a difference in output and input isn't scientifically sound. I'm not saying charging while using isn't possible, it certainly is, but so is driving with one hand out the window, it's just not recommended.