iFi Audio GO bar

The GO bar is our top-of-the-line ultra-portable USB headphone amplifier/DAC.

Whether you're traveling, working remotely or at your desk, or just traveling for pleasure, the GO bar is the perfectly portable way to make your 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 while traveling.

Accessories include a leather travel case and Lightning to USB-C connector, no need to purchase a camera connection kit, plus a USB-C OTG cable and USB-C to USB-A adapter.

The DAC section of the GO bar uses a powerful 16-core XMOS microcontroller to process the audio data received at the USB input. Our 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 custom digital filter minimizes pre-echoes and ringing artifacts. Our precision GMT (Global Master Timing) clocking system guarantees ultra-low jitter.

• Ultra high resolution PCM up to 32-bit/384 kHz via USB
• Native playback up to DSD256
• 2x DXD
• Full MQA decoding

Four custom digital filtering options:

• Bit Perfect: no digital filtering, no pre or post ringing
• Standard: modest filtering, modest pre and post ringing
• Minimum phase: slow drop, minimum before and after the buzzer.
• Gibbs Transient Optimized: minimum filtering, no pre-ringing and minimum post ringing

Two analog processing modes:

• XBass+: an analog bass boost to "re-add" the lost bass response for a more accurate reproduction of the original
• XSpace: a holographic sound field to open up your music and bring you the spaciousness of a live concert

The GO bar's smart alloy case has physical knobs for precise volume adjustment, plus controls for selecting from various sonic tuning options. A column of colored LEDs provides a useful guide to the format and sample rate of the digital audio currently playing, and whether XBass+ and/or XSpace are enabled.

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

• Fully balanced 4.4 mm output: headphones with a balanced cable/connector can benefit from the fully balanced circuit of the GO bar
• 3.5 mm S-Balanced output: our S-Balanced technology reduces crosstalk and noise by 50% with regular single-ended headphones.

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

The circuit is packed with high quality discrete components and special attention has also been paid to power supply filtering, which drastically reduces signal noise introduced through the USB input

The amplifier design combines sonic purity with power.

• 475 mW in 32 ohmios
• 7.5V in 600 ohmios

No headphone amplifier of such a small size can match the Go bar's ability to handle complicated headphone loads or work with a wider variety of headphones.

The Go bar also incorporates two power adjustment technologies:

• iEMatch: attenuates power to match high-sensitivity headphones and IEMs, eliminates background noise and increases usable volume range
• Turbo: increases gain by 6 dB to satisfy the most power-hungry headphones

To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we have created an eye-catching special edition Go bar.

Limited to 1000 pieces, the 10th anniversary limited edition GO bar is covered in spectacular gold plating and features:

• A copper chassis for improved build quality and shielding.
• Improved power supply filtering
• A weight of 64g, 40g heavier than the original.
• The GO bar 10th Anniversary Limited Edition is truly the "gold standard" among ultra-portable USB headphone amplifiers/DACs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

It is a superior method to the traditional single-ended circuit approach. Balanced circuits reduce noise and crosstalk. Less crosstalk - clearer sound.

You will normally find this configuration in products at the higher end of the price spectrum, such as Pro iCAN Signature, but iFi is now using it across its entire range to produce the best quality audio for all our customers.

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

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

They are expensive, but they are a perfect complement to our products.

Tantalum capacitors are another example of the premium components we prefer. These polarized electrolytic capacitors have superior frequency and stability characteristics, giving them super high volumetric efficiency.