FiiO UTWS5 TWS BT Amplifier Review

Introduction:

The UTWS3 was a decent BT Amplifier Module that was available with both MMCX and 2Pin (0.78mm) connector interfaces, which I highly enjoyed with IEM’s like the FH7, FH5 and FH3.

The brand new UTWS5 is the successor of the UTWS3, which comes with some interesting features like the new Qualcomm QCC5141 Bluetooth 5.2 SoC with SBC/AAC/aptX and aptX Adaptive codec support, an independent AK4332 DAC for each channel, IPX4 water resistance, up to 8 hours of playback time with a single charge and many more.

Disclaimer:

I would like to thank FiiO that provided me the UTWS5 TWS BT Amplifier for review purposes. I am not affiliated with FiiO beyond this review and these words reflect my true and unaltered opinions about the product.

Price & Availability:

The actual price for the FiiO UTWS5 True Wireless Amplifier is 129,99 US$. More information’s can be found under the link below;

• FiiO UTWS5 True Wireless BT Amplifier

Package and Accessories:

The UTWS5 came inside a pretty fancy box in black color with a shimmering illustration of the product and some product related brandings on the top.

This box contains the following items/accessories;

• 1x pair of FiiO UTWS5 True Wireless BT Amplifier
• 1x Charging Case
• 1x USB Type-C Charging Cable
• 1x Print Material (User Manual, Quick Start Guide, Warranty Card)

Design, Build Quality, Comfort:

The FiiO UTWS5 shows a very similar design to its predecessor the UTWS3. It’s a True Wireless BT Amplifier for In-Ear Monitors in form of an Ear-hook that is available in the MMCX (Micro Miniature Coaxial) and 2-Pin connector variant that will coming soon. The compact design makes the UTWS5 to an ideal TWS solution On the Go and for longer listening periods.

The adapters that do have a plastic housing do have a pretty robust look and feel same like any FiiO product that I have reviewed before.

On the front of each device is the multifunctional control button that has a form of a circle. Behind the button is a waterproof membrane than gives the UTWS5 a water resistant level of IPX4.

Here is also the FiiO brand logo, but this time in gold color instead of grey that we have seen on the UTWS3.

The rear side of the main body are has L (left device) and R (right device) markings and features a magnetic surface with 3 small connectors in forms of metal dots, which are dedicated to charge the internal battery of the each UTWS5 unit.

The FiiO UTWS5 features two built-in microphones, which are the primary and secondary microphones. The primary microphone that is located at the bottom of the adaptor right under a plastic mesh is responsible to pick up your voice. Here is also a LED status indicator.

The secondary microphone is located at the rear side of the adaptor that is also protected by a plastic mesh. This microphone picks up the ambient noise and features Qualcomm’s cVc noise cancellation technology.

The microphones to have a special type of water resistant sound-permeable cotton isolation that is part of the IPX4 water resistance structure of the UTWS5.

The UTWS5 has a flexible ear hook design with a special type of memory wire inside that is surrounded with soft rubber isolations. Inside the ear hooks are is a high quality cabling which is made of High Purity Monocrystalline Silver Plated Copper wire material.

The UTWS5 is available with an MMCX connector interface, while a 2-Pin variant will be released soon.

The MMCX male connectors on the device do offer a pretty tight and secure connection with almost all IEM’s I have tested with it. Both adaptors do have left and right color indicators near the male connectors in form of a metal that do look very esthetical.

Charging Case & Battery Life:

The FiiO UTWS5 comes with a charging case same like TWS earphones, which is made of plastic material in black color with a smooth surface. The corners are nicely rounded and do give a nice sense of grip. The top of the case has a plane surface with a small FiiO brand logo in gold color.

On the front of the case are 3 LED indicators, the one in the middle shows the charging status of the build in battery that is integrated in to the internal case body. The smaller LED’s do give information about the charging process of the Left and Right adaptors, which is a nice feature.

At the bottom of the case are some technical specifications and industrial certification about the UTWS5.

On the rear surface is the USB Type-C charging port and hinge in dark grey color.

When you open the case you will see the seats for the adaptors. These seats have a magnetic surface to ensure a tight/save connection for the charging process and to avoid any drop out of the monitors. Here are also left and right marking and a small circular pairing button that resets the pairing status when you put both adaptors in to their seats.

The charging case has an 800mAh built-in battery and offers up to 30 hours of additional battery when fully charged. Each UTWS5 adaptor comes with a 60mAh build in battery that offers a continues playback time of about 7-8 hours on a single charge when you use it with the AAC codec. The battery case on the other hand gives you another 30 hours, which is quite decent.

The charging case of the UTWS5 supports wireless charging, which is a nice addition.

Specifications:

• DAC                                        : AK4332
• BT SoC                                   : Qualcomm QCC5141
• Bluetooth Version                   : BT 5.2
• Transmission distance           : approx. 10mt
• BT Codec’s                            : AAC/SBC/aptX/atpX adaptive
• Sampling Rate Supported      : up to 96kHz-24bit
• Frequency response              : 10Hz~41kHz (-3dB)
• THD+N                                   : ＜0.002% (1 kHz/32Ω/dbA)
• SNR                                        : ≥109dB (dbA)
• Noise Floor                             : ＜2μV（dbA）
• Channel Separation               : ≥86dB (1 kHz/32Ω)
• Output power 1                      : ≥54mW（16Ω / THD+N＜1%)
• Output power 2                      : ≥33mW（32Ω /THD+N＜1%)
• Output Impedance                 : ＜0.4Ω（32Ω）
• Drivability                                : 16~100Ω
• Battery Life                             : about 7-8 Hours (with AAC Codec)
• Charging Time                       : approx 1.5 hours (Adapters), 2 Hours (Charging Case)
• Waterproof Level                   : IPX4
• Charging Connector Type      : USB Type-C
• Total Weight                           : approx 122grams (Includes Adapters)

Pairing, Navigation, Signal Strength & Call Quality:

The pairing of the FiiO UTWS5 with your source like a Smartphone, Tablet, DAP, etc is pretty easy. You only need to turn on the left and right monitors when you first use them and do some easy steps to pair it with your source that is detailed described in the user manual.

Once you have pair the left and right monitors by the first use the pairing action will be done automatically. You only need to take it out from the charging box/case at the same time. A female voice is announcing the status of your FiiO UTW5 like power on/off or pairing.

You can easily control the UTWS5 with the multifunctional buttons to answer, hang up, play, pause and many more.

Here are some basic button controls;

• Vol+ :tap left unit
• Vol- :tap right unit
• Play : tap 2 times
• Pause :tap once when paused
• Next :Long press right unit
• Prev : Long press left unit

The FiiO UTWS5 offers also a pretty good performance in terms of latency while watching YouTube and movies on Netflix thanks to the atpX adaptive codec that is supported by the new Qualcomm QCC5141 Bluetooth SoC.

The operating distance of the UTWS5 is approx. 10 meters which is also quite stable, while the call quality is on an average level. The call quality is pretty decent when paired with my Samsung Galaxy Note10 Plus. The voice transmissions sounded fairly clear.

Amplification:

The UTWS5 shows an audible improvement compared to the UTWS3 in the amplification department. The output power has been increased from 38mW @ 16 ohm (UTWS3) to 53mW and from 23mW @ 32 ohm (UTWS3) to 33mW, which is quite impressive. It can drive the FH9, FD5 and FH3 to pretty loud volume level.

Some Key Features:

AK4332 DAC Chip:

UTWS5 is the first True Wireless Set to feature an independent DAC chip. It is equipped with AKM’s high-performance AK4332 DAC chip that provides better signal decoding with lower distortion and a clean noise-free background. It is supported by a powerful amplifier chip that effectively provides better output thrust than the previous model.

Qualcomm QCC 5141 BT SoC:

FiiO UTWS5 adopts Qualcomm’s latest QCC5141 Bluetooth signal receiver chip. It brings major performance upgrades over the previous generation QCC3020, with better, stable Bluetooth connectivity and support for AptX Voice high-definition voice transmission. It also helps in better high-resolution wireless transmission support.

FiiO Control App:

UTWS5 can be connected using FiiO Control and FiiO Music Application that allows for managing different functions on the units. They also have precise volume adjustment with 32 levels of volume compared to 26 levels on the UTWS3. Moreover, you can adjust the EQ settings, Channel Balance and other Audio options of the device. Even a OTA (Over The Air) FW update is possible that is only supported with Android devices.

Qualcomm TWS+ Dual Transmission Technology:

The TWS+ technology allows your Smartphone to directly connect to each 2 wireless earbuds / IEM’s separately. This is a useful feature for a lower level of latency and more stable connection.

Equipment’s used for this review:

• TWS Adaptors          : FiiO UTWS5, FiiO UTWS3
• Paired IEM’s              : FiiO FH9, FiiO FD5, FiiO FH3
• Paired Sources         : FiiO M11 Pro, Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus, Apple iPad Air2

 Albums & tracks used for this review:

• Adele – My Little Love (Spotify)
• Randy Crawford – On Day I Will Fly Away (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Mariah Carrey – Without You (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Sarah McLachlan – Angel (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Sertap Erener – Aşk (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Edith Piaf – Non Je Ne Regrette Rien (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Diana Krall – So Wonderful (DSF)
• Aretha Franklin – I Say A Little Payer (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Elton John – Rocket Man ((Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Barry White – Just The Way You Are (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Sting – Englishman in New York – (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• B.B. King – Riding With The King (Tidal Hi-Fi)
• Bro Safari, UFO! – Drama (Deezer HiFi)
• Armin Van Buuren – Vini Vici (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Lorde – Royal (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Toutant – Rebirth (Deezer HiFi)
• Gogo Penguin – Raven (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• GoGo Penguin – Fanfares (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Charly Antolini – Duwadjuwandadu (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Michael Jackson – Billie Jean (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Ferit Odman – Look, Stop & Listen (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Chopin – Nocturn No. 20 In C-Sharp Minor (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Fazıl Say – Nazım Oratoryosu (Live) (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Vivaldi – Le QuarttroStagioni “The Four Season” (Deezer HiFi)
• Otto Liebert& Luna Negra – The River (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Photek – The Hiden Camera (Spotify)
• Muse – Hysteria (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Metallica – Sad but True (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Opeth – Windowpane (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Megadeth – Sweating Bullets (Tidal Hi-Fi)
• Rush – Leave That Thing Alone (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Slayer – Angel of Death (Spotify)s
• Liquid Tension Experiment 2 – Acid Rain (Spotify)
• Yosi Horikawa – Bubbles (Spotify)

The Sound:

The FiiO UTWS5 is a decent sounding BT DAC/Amplifier Solution that offers mildly warm tonality that is not overdone. This is the general characteristic of almost any devices that do use an AK (Asahi KASEI) DAC. The bass shows a pretty good sense of body, depth and authority for a BT device with all IEM’s I have tested the UTWS5. The midrange sounds pretty clear and lively and detailed, while the treble area is reproduced with a good level of airiness and sparkle.

The FiiO UTWS5 review has been written after a burn-in period of about 50 hours. The sound impressions are mainly based on my pairings with the FiiO FH9 and FD7. My main BT source was the FiiO M11 Pro, beside the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Plus.

Bass / Midrange / Treble / Soundstage

The UTWS5 pairs extremely well with FiiO’s FH9, FD5 and FH3 universal IEM’s, which I have used during my auditions. The background is surprisingly silent for such a True Wireless BT DAC/AMP adapter.

UTWS5 is able to produce a good sense of subbass depth, rumble and extension for a BT DAC/Amplifier Adapter. The rumbles produced in this area are shown with a good level of authority, especially when I have paired the devices with the flagship Hybrid IEM FH9 of the company. The midbass region on the other hand sounds in general petty impactful and controlled. What I like is the body and depth that is produced without to lead to any unwanted midbass hump and mixings. The general bass presentation of the UTWS5 can be described as fairly deep, controlled and clean with above average level of resolution for a BT DAC/Amplifier Adapter.

The FiiO UTWS5 has a fairly transparent and detailed midrange presentation and shows a mildly warm tonality in this area. The lower midrange region shows an efficient level of body and depth especially when I do listen to the UTWS5 with the FH9 flagship Hybrid and to the FD5 which is a decent sounding Single Dynamic Driver IEM of the company. Male vocals and instruments like cellos or acoustic guitars are reproduced with sufficient amount of body and depth. The upper midrange on the other hand is pretty pronounced but controlled, so that female vocals and instruments like violins and pianos are musical and transparent, without any remarkable harshness and sibilance. The existing upper midrange extension is a bit short, but still pretty sufficient for a BT DAC/Amplifier Adapter.

The FiiO UTWS5 shows a treble presentation that sounds moderately bright, fairly crisp and surprisingly detailed for a BT DAC/Amplifier adapter with all IEM’s I have listened. The transitions from the upper midrange towards the lower treble are do sound in general pretty controlled in moments when instruments do play with high level of distortion. The lower treble area shows decent sense of clarity, especially when I pair the UTWS5 with the FD5 and FH9 IEM’s. When it comes to the upper treble presentation, I can say that the UTWS5 offers a efficient sense of airiness and sparkle when I do listen to instruments such like pianos, violins or to percussion instruments like hi-hats or cymbals.

The UTWS5 offers a moderately expansive soundstage atmosphere that shows conditions for a fairly precise placement of instruments and vocals. The stage shows a good sense of wideness, while the depth is on an average level.

Comparison:

FiiO UTWS5 versus FiiO UTWS3:

Both the UTWS5 and the UTWS3 do look almost identical and there is no change in build quality. One of the most noticeable differences is the output power where the UTWS5 shows a big improvement. However, this doesn’t mean that the UTWS3 was not powerful, while it is a welcome improvement if you have an IEM that need lot of power like the TIN HiFi P2 or Final Audio E5000.

The UTWS5 shows a slightly warmer tonality and a darker/cleaner background, which makes it easier to located instruments in the background. The subbass region of the UTWS5 shows slightly more depth and rumble, while both a pretty equal in terms of control/authority in this area. The midbass region of the UTWS3 is slightly less highlighted and impactful compared to the UTWS5, which has the upper hand in terms of resolution in this area.

The midrange of the UTWS5 shows a bit more warmth and a better sense of musicality compared to the UTWS3 that sounds slightly more neutral I this area. The lower midrange of the UTWS5 shows more body/intensity when listen to vocals and instrument like violas and guitars.

The upper midrange of both devices is nicely emphasized, while the UTWS5 is the winner when it comes to the resolution in this area. The treble region of the UTWS5 shows a better level of clarity and definition, and offers also a better sense of airiness and sparkle.

The UTWS5 has the upper hand in terms of soundstage widens, while the depth of the stage is pretty similar on both devices.

Conclusion:

The FiiO UTWS5 is a decent product in this product category, which offers a great value for your money both in terms of features and when it comes to its general sound capabilities. The UTWS5 is more powerful, has a cleaner/darker background and shows an audible improvement when it comes to the overall sound performance over its predecessor the UTWS3, which was already a great product in this area. In short, highly recommended!

Pros & Cons:

• + Overall Sound Performance
• + Powerful and Clean Output (especially for a TWS adapter)
• + Ergonomics
• + Stabile Connection up to 10meters / Low Latency
• + Battery Life
• + IPX4 Water Resistance
• + APP Control/OTA Update
• + Decent Value for your Money

• – No LDAC support
• – Only available with MMCX interface (2-Pin variant may come soon)

Thank you for the Read!