GO bar Kensei - Portable DAC/Headphone Amp Featuring K2HD Technology - Hi-Res PCM 384kHz/DSD256 - Analogue XBass+ and XSpace Processing

The iFi GO bar is a powerhouse. While the price is steep for its size, the audio quality is nearly indistinguishable from a full-sized desktop DAC. I decided to keep this for my PC setup over the Kensei version as it offers better price-to-performance. Performance Notes: xBass/xSpace: Effective, though less "impressive" than iFi's desktop gear. IEM Matching: Perfect for sensitive IEMs (like my Shure SE846). xSpace helps widen the narrow stage, and xBass fills out the sound beautifully. Earbuds: Great for flathead fans who need more bass. Headphones: If you use wide, open-back headphones, you might notice very little difference (maybe 1%) when toggling the DSP effects. Is it worth it? There are many great DACs under $100 that get very close to this level of quality. However, if you want that extra bit of premium polish and power, the GO bar is still the one to beat. Hope this helps fellow audio lovers make a choice!

Ifi Go Bar sounds clean and detailed, fills out instruments and voice well, has plenty of punch and nicely avoids treble glare. Xbass and Xspace are both useful, bass for lower level listening and Xspace does exactly what it's supposed to do, for example, Patty Griffen's Moses from Living With Ghosts can easily sound shrill but with xspace I get much more of the room acoustics and and it's a pleasant listen. The Go Bar sound is spacious and shockingly articulate for something this small and inexpensive. I gave sound quality 4 stars but in a device this small it deserves 5. So far I have listened to Redbook ALAC and MQA from Tidal using MacBook Pro as a source and 256k AAC from my iPhone which also sounds good. The only slight irritation are the stiff cables which can make it awkward to get to the buttons, but longevity is probably the object here. In my opinion it's $330 extremely well spent. Update - 2 weeks in - The above stands, however the supplied Ifi cable for iPhone has stopped working. First I had a level drop which had me scratching my head but soon it started to glitch when the cable was moved, so I need a new cable. My first thought was just to buy another and use the replacement cable I expected they would send as a spare. Well that was stymied because they don't market that cable independently of the Go Bar. Also you just cant get a quick response from ifi. So now I am returning the Gobar in order to get a new cable. Pretty exasperating. Update May 2023: Ifi contacted me and replaced the cable within 10 days, no problems since. I must say I really appreciate this little DAC. Listening through Audirvana on my Mac, using a pair of Meze 109 Pro's the sound is so good, sometimes I have to pinch myself. While my main system ($3200 streaming DAC with headphones amp) is has better resolution, the GoBar is not that far off and I really appreciate the Xbass boost and Xspace options - no eq directly on my Wattson Madison! I have changed rating to 5 stars.

Overall, this is a well made and extremely useful DAC and amplifier. Came with two dongles (one is for iPhone, which is what I use it with), along with a carrying case - nice touch! The unit itself is relatively easy to use, although figuring out the various modes, setting changes, and light meanings will require you to download the User Manual and take your time learning the set up options. The sound quality is excellent, and it translated everything in full detail, including MQA files. Even with the 6dB boost, it's not as loud as my Red Dragonfly DAC, but this should be plenty for most users in a variety of situations (note that I have not tried it with balanced 4.4mm headphones yet, only 3.5mm). A bit hard to figure out what all the lights and locations mean, but either way it sounds much better than the converters in your iPhone or iPad. Overall, definitely recommended for audiophiles.

Overpriced not worth it

This is one of my favorite DACs in my collection. This dongle has an extremely powerful amp, allowing me to reach unreasonable volumes on hard-to-drive headphones. The build quality is amazing, full metal chassis with high quality 4.4mm TRRRS and 3.5mm TRS jacks. The sound quality is outstanding. It comes with 3 digital filtering modes, plus a bit-perfect mode so you can pick which one sounds best to you. The volume syncing doesn't work on my Android phone but works flawlessly on Windows. I do not own another headphone DAC/amp that is this powerful yet small enough to carry around in a pocket.

I used a pair of campfire equinox IEMs and a balanced connection to review this DAC. Okay, when I got this DAC there was an issue where music would drop out while using Tidal. To start the music again, I would have to pause/unpause the song several times. It was a bummer, but I could not find any other complaints about this. Anyway, I started the return process when I realized that ifi has upgradeable firmware. The firmware upgrade process is a little ambiguous, but you download their firmware updater from their website. Updating the firmware to V2.2 completely resolved the issue! Anyway, to talk a little about the features... Pros: low noise floor: Campfire IEMS have a reputation for picking up noise like crazy. This DAC does VERY well lowering the noise floor (I can nearly hear static during soft instrumentals or vocals). small: lots of DACS are just to large to justify carrying around with you. This works great to carry with your phone MQA: Works great with tidal, it picks up master tracks without hassle. built-in volume controls: one of the biggest problems with mac/ios and DACs is that volume control is terrible. The built-in volume buttons on this DAC eliminates the issue of over/under volume control on IOS/mac os devices cons: Charging: wish this was a simply pass through DAC, but I am willing to charge it to have built in volume controls

Penso sia difficile fare di meglio per un dongle. L’ho comprato dopo aver posseduto un Cayin Ru7,non ero soddisfatto della qualità costruttiva (costa come il go bar),bene,con l’ifi go bar ho tutto: qualità costruttiva,qualità audio e anche accessori,doppio cavetto e custodia in pelle ottima per riporlo. Stra consigliato!

Da diversi anni ascolto musica liquida usando lo smartphone e software come Tidal o Apple Music. Per quanto la comodità delle cuffie wireless sia inarrivabile e la qualità abbia raggiunto ottimi livelli, l’appetito vien mangiando, come si dice, e così ho deciso di provare ad alzare l’asticella e usare un dac usb e delle cuffie cablate di buon livello. La scelta, qualche anno fa ormai, è ricaduta sul Dragonfly Red di Audioquest. Subito ho notato un miglioramento della qualità e sul momento la cosa era soddisfacente. Col passare del tempo, però, sono usciti nuovi dac, e viste le recensioni entusiastiche, alla fine ho ceduto, e ho aggiornato il mio Dragonfly Red col più recente IFI go bar Kensei. Esteticamente forse il dragonfly era più accattivante, ma le dimensioni sono confrontabili ed entrambi funzionano senza bisogno di batteria interna. La qualità audio però è tutta un’altra storia. Il dac ifi produce un suono con strumenti più definiti e separati, ha dei bassi più intensi e un volume confrontabile. Purtroppo al massimo volume, con alcune canzoni, si nota un po’ di distorsione, quindi è necessario ridurre leggermente il volume (cosa mai successa col dragonfly). Il volume, almeno con le mie cuffie, non è da discoteca, ma è comunque abbastanza elevato. Il volume audio si comanda con i tasti del dac e non con i tasti del telefono, e sono presenti altre funzioni per enfatizzare i bassi, aumentare la spazialità del suono e applicare filtri al suono (questi ultimi devo studiarli meglio prima di potermi esprimere). Sono presenti una porta usb-c da un lato del dac, e dall’altro due uscite cuffie di dimensione differente. Sul retro, una serie di led forniscono informazioni su volume, qualità della musica in riproduzione e stato di attivazione delle funzioni aggiuntive come i filtri, enfatizzazione dei bassi o la musica spaziale. Ci vuole qualche minuto per capire come gestire le varie funzioni, ma provando si capisce velocemente come muoversi tra le diverse funzionalità. Nella confezione (in legno e molto scenografica), troviamo solo il dac, una custodia (un po’ tozza a dire il vero), due cavi (uno usb-c usb-c e uno usb-c Lightning) e un adattatore usb-c usb-a. Lo consiglio? Se ascoltate musica di buona qualità assolutamente si. A patto ovviamente di avere cuffie cablate di qualità, o rischierete di aver buttato via soldi.

This device is not as iOS compatible as advertised. After purchase, digging deep at the bottom of a thread on Head-Fi, an iFi rep states that the currency draw prevents handshakes with some iPhones and they are having to get them back from dealers.

まだオーディオ沼歴が浅いのですが、今まで使ったスティックDACの中で最高の製品です。 中華製のスティックDACは低域が強調されてしまうものが多いと感じていたのですが、これは音のバランスを崩さず解像度と迫力を増してくれます。低域は強調されるのではなく、より深いところまで鳴らしてくれる印象です。中高域も解像度が上がり、各楽器によりフォーカスしやすくなります。勇気がいる価格でしたが、買って大正解でした！

Sometimes a dropout. Then you have to reconnect the ifi to your iPhone. Not a big deal.