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Seeking the very best possible audio experience with your headphones? You don't need to have the top-of-the-line audiophile gear to enhance the sound quality with the slick IFI Audio GO BAR USB-C Headphone Amp because it'll make any headphones sound significantly better. Tech expert and audio enthusiast Dave Taylor checks out the Hi-Res Audio, Ultra-Res PCM, DXD, and MQA compatible IFI Audio GO BAR and finds it adds a lot to any headphones he tries out, as he explains.
Check out the GO BAR at: https://www.ifi-audio.com/
Then be sure to also check out Dave's Q&A Web site https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/
#audiophile #headphones #amplifier #ifiaudio #gobar #headphoneamp #askdavetaylor
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0:00
This tiny audio device is a game changer. Let's check it out
0:04
Dave Taylor here and I'm checking out this. This is the IFI Audio Go Bar headphone amp
0:18
And if you look at it, size-wise it's about the size of a lip balm
0:22
But holy cow, they have jammed some electronics in here. This gives you a significant improvement on the sound quality of whatever headphones you're using
0:33
And it has both 3.5mm and 4.4mm balanced. So you can plug in a wide variety of different headphones or I suppose earbuds
0:46
But really you want to use this with headphones. Now, let me tell you a little bit about the chips
0:52
And then I'll tell you a little bit about the features. And then I'll have a couple of close-ups and I'll show how it works
0:58
And then I will talk about the pretty amazing audio that it gives you
1:03
Now, the unit is powered by a 32-bit Cirrus Logic DAC chipset with custom digital filters
1:10
They have IFI's custom Global Master timing precision clock. They've really put in a lot of circuits and a lot of stuff in the tiny little board that they have inside this thing
1:23
What does it deliver? I'm glad you asked. It delivers ultra-res PCM up to 32-bit 384kHz playback, native playback up to DSD256 and single and double-speed DXD
1:39
One way you see this is if you have a service like Tidal that has MQA, which is Master Quality Assured
1:46
Then this is a fully decoding MQA playback system. You will get really pretty amazing sound
1:54
It really sounds like you're sitting in the studio as they're making that recording
1:58
It's pretty sweet. Now, it also has symmetric twin-channel output. They put a ton of effort into trying to get rid of issues that other amps have like crosstalk and timing issues
2:11
So you don't have any noise, any distortion, anything. The output, like I said, you have the two different outputs on the end
2:19
And you have 550 milliwatts into 64 ohms. And these can power headphones anywhere from 16 to 600 ohm headphones
2:31
So whatever you've got, I guarantee they're going to plug into this and they're going to sound really good
2:36
So how do you use this thing? Well, it has USB-C on one end and it has those amp outputs on the other
2:44
In fact, why don't we just jump to some close-ups so you can see what's going on
2:49
First off, here's the front of it. And then on the right, there's nothing
2:55
On the top, there is the USB-C plug and that's how you connect it to your audio source
3:01
On the left, there are a number of buttons. The topmost button lets you turn on and off features like X-Base and Space
3:10
I'll get back to those in a second. Then it has its own volume up and down because it's an amp in addition to being a DAC
3:18
And then there is a little slider that gives you the ability to do a little bit of fine-tuning in terms of what it's doing
3:26
On the bottom, you have that 3.5 and 4.4 millimeter output. And then on the back, or maybe this is the front, I'm not sure
3:35
you have this long list of different output audio formats and different things that it's engaging
3:43
And they're indicated by teeny tiny little lights. I'll give you another photo of that when we get to the point of me actually having audio
3:52
I will say it is essentially completely impossible to read it. So as much as the design is very elegant and very smooth
4:01
you really are never going to look at it because you're going to need a flashlight
4:05
and you're going to need to be moving the light around to get just the right angle
4:09
Honestly, if I could give them feedback, I'd say, can you give us some color on those letters, please? I would like to actually read it
4:17
Be that as it may, how do you use it? Super easy. So one of the wires they include is this very nice USB-C to lightning connector
4:26
So plug that into the USB-C on one end. I will plug this into my iPhone 13 Pro on the other end
4:36
And now any audio I want to listen to, let me just unlock my phone
4:40
any audio I want to listen to will come through the lightning connector and into the amp
4:46
And then I can plug my headphones directly in. And these are my Audio-Technica ATH-WP900s
4:54
Very nice on-ear headphones. Let's see, left and right. That looks good
4:59
So I put these on and I'm ready to go. So I can just pick something
5:05
And obviously something like Tidal is going to sound fantastic, but I'll even just do Spotify
5:14
And I really can't listen to it because it's such a nice, sweet, big soundstage
5:20
that I just get lost in the music. So instead, let me show you
5:25
Here's a picture of the lights that illuminate when I'm listening to this particular music source
5:31
And you can see, as I said earlier, it's pretty hard to read, but you do get some feedback
5:38
Now, I can use the button on the side to turn on and off two different additional amplifying features
5:46
one of which they call X-Bass Plus, which gives you, as you would expect, more bass
5:51
but it does it in a way that doesn't leave you with muddy mid-range or anything
5:56
It's a nice, totally reasonable addition that gives you better bass. And the other one is Space
6:03
Space is supposed to give you, and it does indeed give you, a bigger soundstage
6:07
And it's really pretty cool. And, of course, the best thing about it is you can turn either or both of those features on or off
6:14
So you could listen to your music, and then you can say, Hmm, I wonder what it would sound like if I added a little more soundstage
6:21
And you just push the button, and it suddenly expands the music out, and it sounds pretty terrific
6:27
Now, what else can I tell you about these? So, I can tell you that it is 65 millimeters by 22 millimeters by 13 millimeters
6:37
and the whole unit is 28.5 grams, which is to say you can have this in your pocket, and you won't even know it's there
6:45
It's super light. Now, in the box are a couple of other wire adapters, so let's crack that open and see
6:52
So, in addition to the Lightning to USB, there's also a USB-C to USB-C
6:59
and a USB-C to USB-A adapter. So, between these two cables and the adapter, you should be able to plug into really any music source
7:10
from your phone or your tablet or your computer to a proper stereo system
7:15
And, in addition, it also includes a warranty, and it includes a little get started cheat sheet
7:24
and a really nifty little, here it is, little IFI sticker. I'm not sure where you would put that, but you could put it on something
7:33
Like, if there is a glass wall in your studio, because you have an acoustically isolated space
7:40
you could put that on the window. How cool would that be? And, finally, one more thing is that it includes this pretty nice little leather case
7:51
So, you can put everything in here. I, honestly, I'm not sure when I would do this, but you can put it in here
8:01
Let's see, somehow, there we go. Put it in there, probably put in your favorite cable, and then click it closed
8:10
and it is ready and portable, and, you know, you're ready to travel
8:15
Now, you don't have to go anywhere to be able to enjoy this, though
8:19
I've been enjoying this at home, but also, I will say, I've been using it with some headphones
8:25
that have active noise canceling, too, and it's an insane win-win to be in somewhere noisy
8:32
like a Starbucks or a co-working space, and then use this to get the best possible audio quality
8:40
out of my Tidal, or my Spotify, or my SiriusXM, or just my own music library
8:47
and then have that ANC to get rid of all the additional noise that I don't want to hear around me
8:53
It is a kind of freaky experience, because it's so good, and it works so well together
8:59
So, what we need to talk about is we do need to talk about the sound, and these are, this is beautiful
9:06
I mean, it takes good headphones and makes them really good, and if you have really good top-end headphones
9:12
this is going to make them sound bigger and richer and sweeter, and it's just a really nice
9:18
very precise and detailed sound. The lows sound really good, and then you turn on that X-Bass Plus
9:25
and you get even more bass, and it's just a really fun experience
9:29
I was listening to some early Cal Jader, and it was like, oh, interesting, that's the bass line
9:36
because it was like I didn't even hear it before, and with this all hooked up
9:41
it was just like giving me so much detail in the music. The high ends sound lovely
9:47
I will tell you Ella Fitzgerald never sounded so good as she did through this, and there's just a lot to like
9:56
It's a lot of dynamic range, there's an excitement to your music, whatever you listen to
10:02
and everything's honestly going to sound better. I mean, high-res audio, PCM, DXD, MQA decoding
10:10
you throw some audio at this, and it's going to make it sound better. What's not to like about that
10:16
Now, to be fair, it is a little spendy, and IFI Audio really had a lot of fun
10:21
They came up with the Anniversary Edition, which looks like a little tiny gold bar
10:26
That one has even more cool electronics in it, but it's really pretty expendy
10:31
But if you spend a ton of time listening to music, then there's no question this is going to be worth the investment
10:38
because it's going to make things sound better. Now, we do need to talk about price, but before we get to price
10:44
I'm going to ask if you could subscribe to my channel. Click or tap on that subscribe button
10:49
and don't forget to turn on notifications, and we're connected. Great, thank you
10:54
Now, this is the IFI Audio Go Bar Headphone Amp, and it's $329 at ifi-audio.com
11:05
and if you really want that swanky gold edition, they only made a thousand albums, so you better jump
11:11
and they are $499 for the Gold Anniversary Edition, also at ifi-audio.com
11:19
I love this thing to death. This is absolutely going to live in my computer bag, and I'm going to use it wherever I can
11:26
because if I'm listening to this via Bluetooth, you know, it sounds good
11:31
But when I hook all this stuff up, all of a sudden, those very same headphones sound like they cost another $500
11:38
It adds that much to the music. Definitely worth checking out if you're an audiophile, or just want the very best possible sound
11:46
That's all I got. I'm going back to my music, which means I'll catch you in my next video
12:01
Thanks for watching
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