AccessoriesDACHiFi ElectronicsNewsStreaming

FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver

The new FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver has three modes of operation, making it not only an outstanding and flexible interface for Bluetooth devices, but also a useful tool for a wide range of applications, whether as a Bluetooth receiver, Bluetooth transmitter or simply as a D/A converter.

Over the last few years, Bluetooth has become a very important standard in the field of consumer electronics. The transmission of audio signals completely without cables and without complex network infrastructure and thus in a direct way is simply incredibly convenient. The latest standards ensure that there is no need to sacrifice pleasing quality, as can be found in the new FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver from the Chinese specialist for personal audio solutions, FiiO Electronics Technology Co.

The new FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver is an extremely flexible solution, as it is not only able to receive Bluetooth signals, i.e. act as a receiver, but can also transmit them. The fact that it supports all relevant new standards that are available around Bluetooth for best possible sound quality makes it predestined for more demanding users. And since the already required D/A converter is also accessible via cable to other sources, the new FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver also serves as a fine DAC.

The new FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver can be placed just about anywhere, because with dimensions of just 120mm wide, 55mm deep and 23.5mm high, it is a very compact solution that is also very light at 115g. In addition, the FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver comes in a subtle black housing that looks very elegant, so there’s no need to hide it away. The housing is made of aluminium.

The front offers a rotary encoder for volume control, a selector switch for the three operating modes, a button for coupling with Bluetooth devices and of course the main switch.

The rear panel provides all connections, first of all a USB port designed as USB C interface, which is also the power supply, optical as well as coaxial S/PDIF interfaces as digital inputs and outputs, and a pair of cinch sockets as analogue output. In view of the very compact dimensions already mentioned, the rod antenna appears almost massive for optimum signal quality in radio transmission. It is designed to offer a range of up to 30 metres, which is considerably more than the usual Bluetooth range of around ten metres.

The heart of the new FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver is a Qualcomm Bluetooth chip, namely the Qualcomm CSR8675 Bluetooth chip, which, according to the manufacturer, is ideal for the signal transmission of audio data and features an integrated 120 MHz DSP. The latter has a very important role to play, but more about that in a moment.

The FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver is based on Bluetooth 5.0 and is able to support the codecs SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD and LDAC. As Bluetooth transmitter the codecs SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX LL, aptX HD and also LDAC are supported. This means that the FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver is able to transmit signals with up to 24 bits and 96 kHz “wirelessly”, without lossy compression. The new FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver not only carries the Hi-Res Audio Certificate of the Japan Audio Society, but is also certified as Hi-Res Audio Wireless. Which signals are present, which codec is used, is indicated by a status LED, which shines either blue, turquoise, violet, green, yellow or white.

The conversion of the signals is done by a high quality DAC, namely an AKM AK4490, which can process audio data in Linear PCM with up to 24 bits and 192 kHz, as well as DSD natively. 24 bit at 192 kHz as well as DSD is of course only relevant if the FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver is used as a D/A converter directly on a PC or Mac via USB C, or if the optical or coaxial S/PDIF interfaces are used as inputs, this should be mentioned for the sake of completeness.

However, this is not quite true, as the new FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver is able to upsample all digital signals to 24-bit 192 kHz via the aforementioned DSP, a method that the manufacturer uses primarily to control volume without quality degradation and to reduce noise.

For the output stage, the new FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver relies on a Texas Instruments OPA1662.

The applications possible with the new FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver are truly diverse. In the simplest case, it can be used as a Bluetooth receiver, for example on a hi-fi system, but also on a pair of active speaker systems, with smartphones and tablets being the main sources.

It is also possible to use the FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver to send Bluetooth signals, for example when you connect a TV via the digital inputs, and thus transmit audio signals via Bluetooth to Bluetooth headphones.

The last option is to use a PC or Mac as the source and use the FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver simply as a D/A converter.

The control is of course directly on the device, but FiiO Electronics Technology Co. Ltd. also offers a matching app, the FiiO Music App and the FiiO Control App, both available for Apple iOS and Google Android. With the help of these apps you can not only control the volume, optionally switch to fixed level for the analogue output, you can also define which codec is prioritised and select four different filters for the D/A converter. If desired, the app can also be used to switch off the status LED, for the sake of completeness.

The new FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver is expected to be available in specialist shops these days. The price will be € 89,90.

Getting to the point

The new FiiO BTA30 High Fidelity Bluetooth Transceiver has three modes of operation, making it not only an outstanding and flexible interface for Bluetooth devices, but also a useful tool for a wide range of applications, whether as a Bluetooth receiver, Bluetooth transmitter or simply as a D/A converter.

Manufacturer:FiiO Electronics Technology Co. Ltd.
Distribution:NT-Global Distribution GmbH
Price:€ 89,90
Show More

Michael Holzinger

Michael Holzinger, founder and editor-in-chief of HiFi BLOG and sempre-audio.at, has been working for years as a journalist in the fields of IT, photography, telecommunications and consumer electronics.

Related Articles

3 Comments

  1. Hi,
    Can this be used as an USB to Spdif converter? Can it output 24 bit 96Khz through USB to spdif out?

      1. Sorry, just to be clear on this… It can’t output at 96kz USB to Spdif, that Is clear, but will it convert regular CD quality PCM from USB and output that trough SPDif or Toslink? .. Doing that Is essencial for me, I need to convert from USB to digital out, as well as the other feafures.

Leave a Reply

Back to top button