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Five Stars – What Hi-fi?
"Exceptionally Good, Highly Recommended"
It weighs less than a AA battery! iFi Audio's new GO blu portable HD DAC/headphone amp is diminutive enough to take with you wherever you go. It gives you best sound with a wired connection and also the convenience of wireless as you no longer need to have a cable connection to your smartphone. It pairs wirelessly with your source device via Bluetooth with no need to worry about whether you’ve got the right cable for your Android or Apple device. Just pair and go.
"Very Compelling"
"When portability is paramount and convenience is key, you cannot currently better the iFi Go Blu," raves What Hi-fi? in a November 2, 2021 that honors the GO blu with a top rating of Five Stars. "It levels up your phone’s sound with very little effort or added weight in your pocket or strain on your wallet. It can sit in the tiny watch pocket of your jeans, doing its good work nowhere near your actual phone, and if you’re working in a cafe, it will both look and sound exceptionally good next to your flat white. Highly recommended."
"For the price, the iFi GO blu is a very compelling device," reports headphonia.com, October 28, 2021. "Build quality is great, the sound is impressive, I/O is complete thanks to 3.5 + 4.4mm headphones out, and it can virtually work with everything you own, as a DAC/Amp."
Far Superior Alternative to Wireless Headphones
GO blu delivers superior sound compared to wireless headphones or earphones that integrate Bluetooth processing, D/A conversion, and amplification onto one, standard ‘off the shelf’ chip. There is a ceiling to the sound quality that can be achieved with this kind of approach.
Connect a pair of good corded headphones or in-ear monitors with the separate, high-quality GO blu portable DAC/headphone amp, and your sound quality will beat any pair of wireless headphone or earphones hands down. Using the GO blu means no compromise on sound quality.
GO blu's wireless performance is also far superior compared to single-chip solutions. Pair the GO blu to your Apple/Android. Connect your favorite corded headphones to the GO blu and then tuck it away. It's so petite it will slip into your running gear or suit pocket. It’s also gorgeous enough to show off by leaving it on the table at your favorite coffee shop.
Performance, Convenience, and Flexibility
GO blu's lightweight, soft-touch polymer enclosure is great for Bluetooth reception, unlike signal-blocking metal. With its copper-colored trim and ChronoDial watch crown-style control, the GO blu is a pleasure to use wherever you go. iFi has even incorporated a high-quality chip-based (CMOS-MEMS) microphone, enabling hands-free calls, voice chat for gaming and access to voice assistants such as Apple Siri and Google Assistant.
Further flexibility is provided by the USB-C charging port, which doubles as an audio input, enabling a USB connection from source devices that don’t offer Bluetooth connectivity. Hi-res PCM audio data up to24-bit/96kHz is supported when the GO blu is connected in this way.
HD Bluetooth 5.1
The way iFi implements Bluetooth is anything but run of the mill. The use of Qualcomm’s latest four-core QCC5100 Bluetooth processing chip ensures that every current high-definition Bluetooth audio format is supported – including aptX Adaptive and aptX HD, LDAC and HWA/LHDC, regular aptX and aptX Low Latency, AAC, and SBC (plain vanilla Bluetooth).
This means every possible source device is handled at the highest audio resolution its Bluetooth specification allows. No other pocket-size DAC/amp delivers such comprehensive codec support and such high-quality sound over Bluetooth. The GO blu is Bluetooth v5.1-compliant, ensuring the best possible range, stability, and performance, and its Bluetooth engine can be updated over the air.
Three Unique Stages
Most pocket-size Bluetooth DAC/headphone amps incorporate all-in-one ‘system on a chip’ solutions to deliver input processing, digital-to-analog signal conversion and amplification. These are simple and cost-effective, but they cannot compare with expertly designed, individually optimized circuit stages when it comes to sound quality.
Uniquely for a device of this type and size, the GO blu’s clever design packs in separate Bluetooth, DAC, and amp stages, each engineered in distinct blocks to deliver the ideal combination of cutting-edge specification and superb sound.
The Bluetooth stage makes full use of Qualcomm’s latest four-core QCC5100 Bluetooth chip and supports every current high definition format. This then feeds the DAC stage with a Cirrus Logic 32-bit DAC chip at its heart. This is coupled with a customized digital filter to minimize pre-echoes and ringing artifacts and a precision clock system to ensure ultra-low jitter, thus reducing errors and distortion in the digital audio signal.
The amp circuitry benefits from symmetrical twin-mono signal paths and utilizes iFi’s Direct Drive design concept – direct-coupled to ensure a clean signal path without distortion-inducing output coupling capacitors. The amp stage delivers up to 5.6V (twice the voltage of others) – considerably more power than other similarly sized devices – handling even relatively tough headphone loads with ease. To ensure signal strength suits the sensitivity of the connected headphones or earphones, auto-gain adjusts output up or down by 6dB.
Balanced Circuit Design
Whether you use balanced or unbalanced headphones with GO blu, you get the least noise and the best channel separation for the most enjoyable music.
The GO blu boasts a balanced 4.4mm output, enabling headphones equipped with balanced connectivity to take full advantage of the GO blu’s balanced amp design. In addition, the 3.5mm output benefits from iFi’s proprietary S-Balanced circuitry. This cuts crosstalk and related distortion in half when used with regular, single-ended headphone connections. It is especially beneficial with high-sensitivity in-ear monitors. Both outputs are gold-plated to resist tarnishing and maintain optimum contact quality.
X-factor, Inside and Out
With iFi's XBass technology to add back lost low-end grunt and XSpace technology to widen the soundstage, the GO blu is small on the outside, but mighty on the inside. You will be immersed in its majestic musicality. Even phone calls are ‘clear Voice capture’ using Qualcomm’s ANC technology. Clear, crisp and no annoying echo.
The X-factor doesn’t stop with the sound. GO blu‘s watch crown-style ChronoDial control is a masterpiece of precision engineering and, just like a chronograph, it gives you precise, analogue volume control. You can use it to play, pause, and skip tracks forward and backwards and even activate the voice assistant on your Bluetooth-connected smart device.
The GO blu is made with hi-tech components. It weighs in at a super featherlight 0.92 oz., which is less than the weight of a standard AA battery. GO blu be your ‘go-to’ music device.
