iFi Audio GO Bar Portable Hi-res USB DAC, Preamp, and Headphone Amp

Best bar none

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

Features:

• Pocket size hi-res USB DAC, preamp, and headphone amp 
• True balanced circuit design with a symmetrical twin-channel output stage 
• Advanced hi-res digital audio support: 32-bit/384kHz PCM, native DSD, and full MQA decoding 
• Four digital filter options, XBass+ and XSpace analog processing modes – tailor sound to suit your music and headphone type 
• iEMatch and Turbo power tuning – perfect output matching for sensitive earphones or power-hungry headphones 
• Two ultra-low noise headphone outputs – 4.4mm fully balanced and 3.5mm S-Balanced 
• Robust and lightweight alloy enclosure with precision volume control and format/sample rate LED indicators 
• Leather travel case included, with pockets for GO bar and connecting cable 
• Sensational sound at home, in the office, on the move – everywhere you go, the GO bar goes too

Go, Go, GO!

The GO bar is iFi's top-of-the-line ultraportable USB DAC/headphone amp. Whether you are commuting, working remotely or at your desk, or simply traveling 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 Lightning 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.

The DAC section of the GO bar uses a powerful 16-core XMOS microcontroller to process the audio data received at the USB input. iFi's in-house team has programmed the XMOS firmware to optimize sound quality and ensure a perfect partnership with the GO bar‘s 32-bit Cirrus Logic DAC chipset. A customized digital filter minimizes pre-echoes and ringing artifacts. iFi's 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

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 Optimized - minimum filtering, no pre-ringing and minimum post ringing
• Two analog processing modes:
• XBass+ - an analog 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

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 colored 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 – iFi's 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 analog 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

The amp’s design combines sonic purity with power.

• 475mW into 32 ohms
• 7.5V 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