Will a Bluetooth receiver drive the Shure SE215?

On power, yes — all of them. Every one of the 13 Bluetooth receivers in this database reaches 100 dB SPL on the Shure SE215, which needs 0.20 mW at its 17Ω.

Power is one of three questions and the one that goes wrong least often. The other two — whether the source’s output impedance leaves the frequency response alone, and whether you will hear its noise floor — are answered further down, separately, because a source can pass one and fail another.

Whether it gets loud enough

The cheapest one that does reach it is the FiiO BTR11 at $36, which delivers 43 mW into 17Ω — 23 dB of headroom over the 0.20 mW this headphone needs for 100 dB SPL.

100 dB SPL is a peak level, not a listening level. If you listen at 85 dB the same headphone needs 0.01 mW, which is 15 dB less, and the answer above changes for most of the category. The model page has the full ladder.

Whether it changes how they sound

Under the one-eighth rule the Shure SE215 wants a source below 2.12Ω. Of the 7 Bluetooth receivers here that publish an output impedance, 7 are under it and 0 are not.

The other 6 publish nothing at all on this, so they are not on either side of that count. This site leaves them blank rather than assuming a figure.

Whether you will hear it between tracks

Hiss depends on the source’s own noise floor and on how sensitive the headphone is. At 107.0 dB/mW and 17Ω, the Shure SE215 turns one microvolt of source noise into about 5 dB SPL — and the threshold where that stops being noticeable in a quiet room is around 20 dB SPL.

Of the 6 Bluetooth receivers here that publish a noise figure, 5 stay below that threshold with this headphone and 1 cross it.

The worst of them is the FiiO BTR11, whose published 8 µV works out to 23 dB SPL of hiss in these. The hiss calculator takes your own figures.

The remaining 7 publish no noise figure, so they cannot be placed on either side.

The 12 best matches in this category

SourcePriceInto 17ΩOutput impedanceHiss in thesePower verdict
Fosi Audio N3$5073 mWnot publishednot publishedComfortable
FiiO BTR13$59117 mW0.6 Ω5 dB SPLComfortable
EarStudio ES100 MK2$9032 mWnot publishednot publishedComfortable
FiiO BTR15$109160 mW1 Ω11 dB SPLComfortable
FiiO BTR5 2021$10988 mW1 Ω11 dB SPLComfortable
HiBy W5$10943 mWnot publishednot publishedComfortable
Qudelix 5K$10966 mWnot publishednot publishedComfortable
Shanling UP5$17960 mWnot publishednot publishedComfortable
FiiO BTR17$199322 mW1 Ω14 dB SPLComfortable
FiiO BTR7$199163 mW1.2 Ω14 dB SPLComfortable
Shanling UP6$199333 mWnot publishednot publishedComfortable
iFi GO blu$21988 mW1 Ωnot publishedComfortable

Sorted by how many of the three questions the source answers well, then by price. A blank in a column is a blank in the manufacturer’s own documentation, not a zero.

The same headphone, other kinds of source

The Shure SE215 on other categories: portable players · desktop amplifiers · desktop DAC/amps · audio interfaces.

The Shure SE215 page has every source in the database against this headphone, and the matcher takes your own numbers.