Audiophilepure

The layout of the G5 is a fairly straightforward one. There is a volume wheel on the front, which also doubles as the device’s power button. A slight turn of the wheel, as if you were turning up the volume, is enough to power the unit on. There is also a 3.5mm line output, a 3.5mm headphone output, and a 4.4mm headphone output right next to the volume wheel. Topping has designed the case to prevent the volume wheel from accidentally rotating when the device is in your pocket. There are raised edges around the front panel of the G5. These edges create a barrier so you don’t accidentally hit the volume wheel in your pocket.

I enjoyed my time listening to music with the BTR7. Its overall tonal balance and dynamics reminded me greatly of the K3 and E10K-TC desktop DAC/amplifiers I reviewed previously. The highs are astonishingly clean, the midrange smooth, and the bass is powerful. The musical dynamics are effortless. No matter what the recording, it makes the listening experience enjoyable. What’s amazing is that BTR7 does it with a Bluetooth connection.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/ifi-audio-xdsd-gryphon-headphone-ampusb-dac

However, until Qualcomm releases a chipset with lossless support – apparently in the works – Bluetooth will remain a lossy experience. At least iFi Audio seems determined to make it as high quality as possible, utilising the current top-spec QCC5100 silicon, and – crucially – the xDSD Gryphon supports an exceptional range of compression codecs. AptX HD and LDAC are the main, high-performance options, but even the HWA/LHDC codec, which supports (lossy) 96kHz/24-bit, is included. Of course, this last one is only relevant if you happen to own a Huawei smartphone, which is a rarity nowadays in Europe and the US.

There are plenty of other input options – USB caters for hi-res audio from a computer or network transport, and there’s an S/PDIF input too. If you want to use the device purely as an amp, a third-party DAC can be hooked up via single-ended or balanced 4.4mm Pentaconn rear-panel connections. This is another departure from the past, as the earlier xDSD sported only digital ins. Around the front there’s a similar dual-port arrangement of 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced outputs.