Verdict
While there ’s a deal to like about the style the iFi GO Bar Kensei go about things , it ’s by no substance the complete clause – the price , the feral treble response and the odd operational instability all count against it to a lesser or greater extent
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
iFi is n’t just a word that ’s annoying to typecast – it ’s a caller that ’s created a very cosy little corner for itself where phone amplification and digital - to - analogue conversion is concerned . It compete at every price - point , and by and large it compete heavily .
But while it ’s no stranger to the sinewy price - tag , with this new Kensei variation of its GO Bar USB DAC / headphone amp it ’s pushing the envelope more than somewhat . Can it possible justify the price agio over any number of extremely well - regarded alternative ? Even with the optic and tactile allure of Japanese stainless sword ? countenance ’s find out …
Availability
The iFi GO Bar Kensei is on cut-rate sale now , and in the United Kingdom it ’s usable for £ 449 . It costs $ 449 in the United States , and it ’s around AU$769 in Australia . This , it scarcely needs saying , take a leak it one of the most expensive USB - panache headphone amp / DACs around – which stand for expectations are high even before it ’s out of its packaging …
Design
It ’s not especially big , the GO Bar Kensei ( an unremarkable 65 x 22 x 13 mm , HWD ) , but thanks in large part to the fact it ’s made from Japanese stainless steel , it ’s ( a definitely remarkable ) 65.5 g. A robust air hole would seem to be in gild .
The back of the richly haptic GO Bar Kensei is where you ’ll find some extremely small engraving and some smaller still LEDs – these point the type and sizing of the digital audio file the iFi is handle with , as well as allow you have a go at it which ( if any ) of the filters and /or processors are engaged . On the front , meanwhile , the ship’s company logotype sits above a couple of Japanese characters mean Kensei or blade nonesuch . A Kensei is someone whose supremacy of swordplay eclipses even acknowledged swordmasters , you see …
On one side of the iFi there are three buttons and a sliding switch . The switch is a three - lieu thing , and engages ( or disengages ) the IEMatch feature – configurations are off , 3.5 and 4.4 , and you ’ll find you involve it if your phone are of a particularly unhelpful sensitiveness . Those numbers relate to the 3.5 millimetre unbalanced and 4.4 millimetre balanced yield at one last of the GO Bar Kensei .
The push button , meanwhile , cover volume up and volume down with a multifunction button taking attention of cycle through digital filters and/or analogue processing modes . And at the bottom final stage of the iFi there ’s a USB - C input , through which all digital audio recording information must insert .
Features
It ’s good to say iFi has left little to chance when it come to change incoming digital audio information to outgoing analog audio info where the GO Bar Kensei is concerned . It ’s specified to within an column inch of its sprightliness .
When digital audio entropy is get at the USB - century input , it ’s process by a 16 - core XMOS microcontroller before it ’s passed to a 32 - bit Cirrus Logic DAC . This chipset is a ) supported by condenser sourced from sword as reputable as muRata , Panasonic and TDK , and b ) able to fully decodeMQAand is compatible with resolutions up to 32 - bit/384kHz and DSD256 .
The datum watercourse is also attended to by JVCKenwood - developed engineering foretell K2 . The originator intended K2 for levelheaded quality correction ( for which read ‘ attempting to make digital audio information speech sound less parky and dispassionate ’ ) , and in iFi ’s hand it is ( according to JVCKenwood , who really ought to make out ) tight than ever to “ the original ideal K2 sound ” . In its GO Bar Kensei execution it ’s called K2HD .
On top of this , iFi has deployed those digital filters and parallel processing style that will be familiar to anyone who ’s paid tending to the company over the past few years . There are four selectable filters here : Standard , Bit - Perfect , Minimum Phase and GTO ( which , as we all get laid , stands for Gibbs Transient Optimised ) , and if the iFi website is to be believed then the appropriate filter can take the appropriate musical style of music and make it , well , even more appropriate . Both XBass+ and XSpace analogue processing mode are also uncommitted .
And after all that , the analogue information is uncommitted via 3.5 mm unbalanced or 4.4 mm balanced output .
Sound Quality
In almost every regard , the iFi GO Bar Kensei is a unattackable and pleasurable performing artist – certainly it aid your smartphone sound several orders of order of magnitude better than it otherwise might . But ‘ almost every ’ is not what anyone want to read about a very expensive example of a very common product , is it ?
Play a 24 - bit/192kHz TIDAL - derived file of ZZ Top ’s La Grange and the difference the iFi name to a smartphone ’s phone is heavy . It ’s a wide - receptive yet tightly unified performance , with a soundstage plenty big enough to let every element of the transcription express itself fully without being impacted on by any other element . Despite the spacious nature of the sound , the GO Bar Kensei ties everything together into a tangible whole , rather than offering up a collection of individual occurrences that do n’t relate to each other .
gloomy - frequency presence is considerable , and the control the iFi exerts over bass information means that rhythmical locution is convincing even though it ’s hit hard and with bona fide deepness . And here as in every other part of the frequency range , detail level are very high-pitched indeed – no facet of tone or grain escapes the Kensei ’s attention .
This is even more apparent in the midrange , where the iFi allow vocalists of all kinds to verbalize themselves with real articulacy . The giving , well - specify soundstage allows a vocalist to stretch their wings a little , and the detail spirit level mean you ’re never in any doubtfulness as to the attitude or role of the vocalizer in question , lease alone their proficiency .
Dynamic headway is considerable , so the shifts in volume or intensity in a recording are chase faithfully . And the scurvy - key harmonic variations that only become evident in the quieter moment of a transcription are paid just as much attention .
At the top of the frequency range , though , the GO Bar Kensei overplay its hand more or less . Treble sounds are gruelling and inexorable , lacking in substance and attack with all in all too much ferocity . The top conclusion is flamboyant and thin as a result , and does n’t share all that much tonality in uncouth with everything that ’s going on beneath them . increase in book , it scarce needs saying , only make this unwelcome trait more obvious .
Even less welcome , though , is the sudden deadbolt of electric noise that sometimes accompanies the start of a novel digital sound recording file . It does n’t bechance every clock time by any means – but it find , and it ’s unpleasant . I find the USB - C / Lightning cable iFi supply seems more likely to stimulate it than the USB - C / USB - C cable television – but it may have nothing to do with the cable at all . I ’m just speculate . In any result , no one ’s expecting their relatively expensiveDACto indulge in some unsolicited white noise when it ’s supposed to be play music , even if it does n’t happen all that often .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
You have proper headphones , correct ? You have a subscription to a top - tier music - streaming service ? Your smartphone contract bridge includes tidy sum of data ? Then the GO Bar Kensei could be just what you demand to maximise all those elements …
The iFi handles the top of the frequency compass in the most self-assertive , lineal and honestly unsettling manner . ‘ Toppy ’ does n’t even start to describe it .
Final Thoughts
It ’s been a while since I ’ve had to occupy myself with anything other than effectual quality when write the ‘ sound tone ’ section of a review – and the fact that the iFi GO Bar Kensei does n’t coddle in these bouts of noise all that often does n’t make them any easier to live with . And let ’s face it : one rogue sample is enough to give any prospective client the fearfulness …
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every DAC we brush up good over an prolonged period of time . We utilise industry - received tests to equate characteristic in good order . We ’ll always secernate you what we get hold . We never , ever , accept money to review a intersection .
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FAQs
There ’s no Bluetooth support for this model , with wired connectivity the only option .
