iFi GO bar - Ultraportable DAC/preamp/headphone amp

Product Information

To toggle Gain H / L one needs to push both + and – volume buttons at the same time for >2 seconds. Similarly to the Host Volume Sync case, the “usual” uppermost 6 LEDs on the device’s bottom faceplate will play an animation to indicate the action has been carried out.

Consistently to this, GO Bar drives the likes of Final A3000, Tanchjim Darling, and even Final E5000 waaaay better then most other dongles, but does not have enough power for RHA CL2, nor of course any demanding planar overear. Those are the specs I generally look at first, but if you want to take a look at all of them, I will place links here for you.

Sound Impressions

The Go bar suffers slightly from the lower power of the phone vs. the laptop. But the pairing with the Solaris is really quite wonderful. The physical design is clean and simple, with buttons on the side and a crisp OLED display on the front. An included case offers protection from scratches and fingerprints, as the shiny, larger body is prone to both. Disclaimer: The iFi Go/Gold Bar units were provided directly by iFi Audio. The review reflects my sincere opinions as always. About iFi Audio With the Solaris, the Go bar Gold makes for a sound that’s bassier than its counterpart and better textured and with better pitch differentiation. The Gold dongle is also more impactful and offers a larger, more epic sound, one that’s more bombastic. It’s also cleaner- and clearer-sounding, without sacrificing engagement or the other qualities of the regular version. It’s more resolving, offers a greater sense of tactility, and textures, generally, are richer. Brass instruments have some real edge and grit to them (these are good things). The Go bar Gold is a significant step up from the other iFi one. These improvements are also discernible on the S12, which becomes more refined and richer, but also sounds a bit thinner and brighter. The ESX900 combinations is outstanding and good enough to rival some desktop systems. The DACS we’re comparing today are all small, portable, and share similar weights, sizes, and dimensions.

I'm not an IEM guy, so I basically ran through the headphone stands against all four units at least for a few minutes before settling into evaluation mode. Obviously throwing every headphone I had into a detailed accounting would have taken way longer than my allotment, but all four units seemed to manage everything I threw at them: HD280, HD558, HD650, HE5XX, OG Clear, even Atrium. Eventually I landed on the HD280 (v2016) for testing, as it's probably the most flat headphone in my kit right now.The sound is the flattest and least obtrusive, but also very flat and front row. The gray haze never goes away, no matter if single or dual DAC or filter chosen. I found linear sharp/fast the best (no surprise there). GO bar gold: it’s almost pointless offering impressions of the dongle because, for one thing, it’s impossible to buy, for another, it’s expensive and heavy enough that I’d be more inclined to look at the Gryphon, and, well, it’s ridiculously heavy for a dongle. Running some simple math it’s also quite clear that GO Bar issues its max power on Balanced Ended output vs circa 55Ω impedance, that being a bit less than 1W, and from there on down it rapidly starts winding down both voltage and current flow. Host power requirements​I didn’t analythically measure GO Bar’s power requirements, yet there are quite a few things that can be said based on iFi’s published data, and subjective experience.

This is to say that I’m not too overly concerned with specs outside of Power Output and Output Impedance, though Bit-Depth and Sample Rate certainly come in handy when determining which kinds of files can be played. Sound Certainly the more “pasticy” sounding out of the bunch. More closed off and all the instruments seem to be made out of plastic with this kind of low end puch going on. It is also the hazyiest of all 4 of these.

GO Bar is much closer to neutrality (although still somewhat into warm-ish territory). Its sound is well bilaterally extended, with very good note body accross the board, good clarity and good detail, with very good but not over-accented bass presence and a good treble rendering. I’ve posted impressions elsewhere from a previous loaner tour, and my ambivalent feelings about this dongle haven’t really changed, which is why I didn’t buy one. I prefer the tonality of NOS but find it constrained, closed in, and dull; OS, by contrast, is less congested and constrained but has a thinner and weedier tonality. It’s still somewhat lifeless and flat.