iFi GO bar|PORTABLE DAC| AMP | BLUTOOTH

AVAYESYMPHONY

iFi GO bar
PORTABLE DAC| AMP | BLUTOOTH

Best bar none.

Premium USB DAC. World’s most powerful headphone amp of its size.

*****

Headfonics 2022 Dec22 Best Portable DAC Amp Dongle logo
GObar Stereonet Oct22 Applause Award logo
GObar AV Forums Oct 22Best Buy logo
Hi Fi Choice Group Test Winner logo
Best Portable DAC Amp Dongle logo
Go, Go, GO!

The GO bar is our top-of-the-line ultraportable USB DAC/headphone amp.

Whether you are commuting, working remotely or at your desk or simply travelling for pleasure, the GO bar is the perfectly portable way to make headphones sound heavenly.

Connect to your laptop, MacBook, tablet or smartphone or any other digital device with a USB port for sensational sound at home, in the office, or on the move.

Accessories include a leather travel case and a Lightening to USB-C, no need to buy a Camera Connection Kit, plus a USB-C OTG cable and a USB-C to USB-A adapter.

Small. But mighty.

Small. But mighty.

The DAC section of the GO bar uses a powerful 16-core XMOS micro controller to process the audio data received at the USB input. Our in-house team has programmed the XMOS firmware to optimise sound quality and ensure a perfect partnership with the GO bar‘s 32-bit Cirrus Logic DAC chipset.

A customised digital filter minimises pre-echoes and ringing artefacts. Our GMT (Global Master Timing) precision clock system ensures ultra-low jitter.

  • Ultra-res PCM up to 32-bit/384kHz via USB
  • Native playback up to DSD256
  • 2x DXD
  • Full MQA decoding
Suits you, sir Banner
Suits you, sir

Four bespoke digital filtering options:

  • Bit Perfect​ – no digital filtering, no pre or post ringing​
  • Standard – modest filtering, modest pre and posting ringing​
  • Minimum Phase​ – slow roll-off, minimum pre and post ringing​
  • Gibbs Transient Optimised – minimum filtering, no pre-ringing and minimum post ringing​

Two analogue processing modes:

  • XBass+ – an analogue bass boost to ‘add back’ lost bass response for more accurate reproduction of the original
  • XSpace – a holographic sound field to open up your music to give you the spaciousness of a live concert
External affairs

External affairs

The GO bar’s smart alloy case sports physical buttons for precise volume adjustment plus controls to select between various sonic tuning options. A column of coloured LEDs provides a handy guide to the format and sample rate of the digital audio currently playing, and whether XBass+ and/or XSpace are engaged.

At one end is an asynchronous USB-C input and at the other a pair of headphone outputs.

  • 4.4mm fully balanced output – headphones with a balanced cable/connector can benefit from the fully balanced circuitry of the GO bar
  • 3.5mm S-Balanced output – our S-Balanced tech cuts crosstalk and noise by 50% with regular single-ended headphones.
Balance of power

Despite its diminutive size, the GO bar’s analogue circuitry sports a balanced circuit design with symmetrical twin-channel output stage. This reduces noise and crosstalk in the signal path by fully separating the left and right channels. This is usually found in larger and more expensive amplifiers.

The circuitry is packed full of high quality discrete components and special attention has been paid to power supply filtering too, dramatically reducing signal noise introduced through the USB input.


Purity and power

Purity and power

The amp’s design combines sonic purity with power.

  • 475mW max. into 32 ohms
  • 7.5V max. into 600 ohms

​No headphone amp of such a diminutive size can match the GO bar’s ability to drive tricky headphone loads or work with a wider variety of headphones.

The GO bar also incorporates two power tuning technologies:

  • iEMatch – attenuates power to suit high-sensitivity headphones and IEMs, it removes background noise and increases usable volume range
  • Turbo – ramps up the gain by 6dB to satisfy more power-hungry headphones
Birthday bling! Banner
Birthday bling!

To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we’ve created an eye-catching special edition of the GO bar.

Limited to 1000 pieces, the 10th Anniversary Limited Edition GO bar is smothered in show stopping gold-plate and boasts:

  • A copper chassis for enhanced build quality and shielding
  • Enhanced power supply filtering
  • A weight of 64g, 40g more than the original

The GO bar 10th Anniversary Limited Edition is truly the ‘gold standard’ among ultraportable USB DAC/headphone amps.

Act fast. Pre-order yours now from your local iFi dealer.

Once it’s GOne, it’s GOne!

GMT (Global Master Timing)

GMT (Global Master Timing)

The XMOS 16-Core chip processes the audio data received via the USB digital input.

This new low-latency XMOS microcontroller has greatly enhanced processing power. Compared to the current generation of eight-core chips, this new 16-core IC delivers double the clock speed (2000MIPS) and four times the memory (512KB), as well as the latest SuperSpeed USB standard.

iFi’s in-house digital development team has programmed the XMOS firmware to optimise sound quality and ensure a perfect partnership with the 32-bit Cirrus Logic DAC chipset used in the GO bar.

Roon FREE trial & subscription offer

Roon FREE trial & subscription offer

Now’s the time to boost your listening with the GO bar and Roon.

Enjoy the most powerful DAC/amp in the world (for its size!) with a 14-day free trial to Roon AND a free month should you decide to subscribe!

You can listen to your Roon library at home AND take it out and about with the new Roon Arc service.

14-day FREE trial & one month FREE when you subscribe

GMT (Global Master Timing)

GMT (Global Master Timing)

Extensive jitter-eradication technologies are applied to the digital stage, including our GMT (Global Master Timing) femto-precision clock and intelligent memory buffer. This represents a total ‘out-of-the-box’ systematic digital solution that solves jitter once and for all.

Hi-Res True Native® playback

Hi-Res True Native® playback

Hi-Res True Native® playback of all music formats from MP3 to DSD256, PCM384 and DXD384.

MQA (Master Quality Authenticated)

MQA (Master Quality Authenticated)

MQA is an award-winning British technology that delivers the sound of the original master recording. The master MQA file is fully authenticated and is small enough to stream or download. The GO bar adopts MQA technology to receive and decode MQA audio and provide master-level sound.

Visit mqa.co.uk for more information.

TDK

TDK

TDK C0G (Class 1 ceramic) capacitors offer high stability and low losses for resonant circuit applications.

Getting ever closer to the theoretical ideal of pure, frequency-constant capacitance, these capacitors reduce capacitor-induced distortion to vanishingly low levels.

They are pricey but are a perfect addition to our products.

Panasonic OS-CON

Panasonic OS-CON

Panasonic OS-CON caps totaling 5,410uF give very-low Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR), excellent noise reduction capability and frequency response characteristics. In addition, OS-CONs have a long-life span and its ESR changes little even at low temperatures since the electrolyte is solid.

Tantalum capacitors

Tantalum capacitors

Tantalum capacitors are another example of the top-notch components we prefer. These polarised electrolytic capacitors have superior frequency and stability characteristics, giving them a super high volumetric efficiency.

muRata control-type

muRata control-type

muRata control-type, low-ESR high-Q multi-layer capacitors. The ‘ESR control’ aspect of the Murata is something special. Their noise suppression abilities are impressive.

 Analogue circuitry features balanced design

Analogue circuitry features balanced design

The GO bar’s analogue circuitry features balanced design with a symmetrical twin-channel output stage.

This topology, usually reserved for larger and more expensive amplifiers owing to its cost and complexity, reduces noise and crosstalk in the signal path by fully separating the left and right channels.

iFi GO BAR banner GO bar Connection Guide banner iFi GO bar PCB
InputUSB-C
FormatsPCM
DSD
DXD
MQA
44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192/35
2.8/384kHz 2.8/3.1/5.6/6.1/11.3/12.3MHz
352.8/384kHz
Full Decoder
DACBit-Perfect DSD & DXD DAC by Cirrus Logic
Headphone OutputBAL 4.4mm/UnBAL 3.5mm
Output Power (RMS)Balanced
UnBAL
475mW@32Ω; 7.2V@600Ω
300mW@32Ω; 3.8V@600Ω
Output Impedance<1Ω (BAL/UnBAL)*
SNR132dBA / 108dBA (BAL/UnBAL)
DNR109dB(A) / 108dB(A) (BAL/UnBAL)
THD+NBalanced
UnBAL
<0.002% (6.5mW/2.0V @ 600Ω)
<0.09% (100mW/1.27V @ 16Ω)
Frequency response20Hz - 45kHz (-3dB)
Power consumption<4W max
Dimensions65 x 22 x 13.2 mm
Weight28.5g
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