FiiO BTR17 vs FiiO BTR7

Both are Bluetooth receivers, both at $199.

The FiiO BTR17 reaches 100 dB on 566 of the 567 models here, the FiiO BTR7 on 565.

Through the balanced sockets the FiiO BTR17 reaches 100 dB on 566 of the 567 models here and the FiiO BTR7 on 565.

Copied from the makers’ own pages: fiio.com/BTR17_parameters, fiio.com/BTR7_parameters. Battery life is the maker’s own test figure.

Both makers publish a power rating. FiiO BTR17 publishes at 32 Ω and at 300 Ω; FiiO BTR7 at 32 Ω and at 300 Ω. The other rows are worked out from those.

The two publish at the same loads, which is the one case where the rows of this table can be read straight across.

What the labels mean.

1 headphone reaches 100 dB on the FiiO BTR17 but not on the FiiO BTR7 — Moondrop PARA.

23 headphones are left alone by the FiiO BTR17 under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the FiiO BTR7 (64 Audio Ocean, 64 Audio U18s, 64 Audio U6t, 20 more).

565 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both.

Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The widest gap on the list is the Shure SE846: FiiO BTR17 has +37 dB of headroom there against +34 dB. 3 dB is twice the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

Hiss below about 20 dB SPL is inaudible in a quiet room.

These two cost the same, $199, so price settles nothing. Out of the 567 models here, the FiiO BTR17 drives one model to 100 dB and leaves 23 alone under the one-eighth rule — and on the other side there is no such advantage at all.

Only published figures count here; blank axes are counted separately.

Each in full: FiiO BTR17 and FiiO BTR7.