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Excellent googa mooga, this DAC/Amp is awesome! It’s beautiful on the outside, feature-packed on the inside, and has some equalizer presets that liven up the party whenever you want. iFi Audio is a great audio kit, but they’ve outdone themselves with this one and it will grow with you. It can be updated wirelessly with new Bluetooth codecs as they become available. This is almost a no-brainer.
iFi GO blu: Price and availability
You can purchase the iFi GO blu for $200 directly from ifi-audio.com or Amazon. I would also consider purchasing the $29 blue GO case with a clip from ifi-audio.com. The case makes it easier to use the headphones by clipping them to your shirt so the microphone is closer to your mouth when taking calls.
iFi GO blu: Build and assemble
Next to the Qudelix-5Kthis is One of the smallest DAC/Amps on the market. to pack this level of sophistication and features. It is the size of a 9V battery. The exterior of the unit is wrapped in a soft-touch polymer with copper-colored trim. On the right side of the GO Blu is where you’ll find a luxurious infinitely scrolling ChronoDial, which gives you excellent analog volume control and handles playback and phone functions with several clicks. Below is the button that controls the EQ preset modes, Bluetooth pairing, voice alert functions, digital filter mode, and factory reset.
At the top, you’ll find an LED that tells you which EQ preset you’re using, the Bluetooth connection, and the status of the digital filter. Alongside that are the 4.4mm Balanced and 3.5mm S-Balanced headphone outputs. At the bottom, there’s an LED for battery status, a microphone, a factory reset hole, and a USB input, which supports charging and audio playback up to 24-bit/96kHz.
The power button is on the left side. Press it twice to hear which Bluetooth format you are currently receiving. You’ll also use this button along with the button below the dial to turn voice announcements on or off.
This powerful device is incredibly small and lightweight, but has a nice feel in your hand thanks to the soft-touch plastic. All the buttons have satisfying clicks and the USB-C port doesn’t work when plugging and unplugging cables. A refined touch are the engraved labels on the back next to all the buttons, telling you what they do so you don’t have to remember everything. They do a lot!
iFi GO blu: Features
We talked about hardware features while we were talking about build quality and fit, so let’s look in a little more detail at what some of those features do. The GO Blu comes with three presets: XBass, XSpace, and XBass + XSpace. The first two increase the bass and widen the soundstage, respectively. The third is a combination of both. As a bass lover, I would like more control over how much the bass is boosted, but for most, it will give a noticeable boost that won’t overpower the rest of the mix.
The 3.5mm output features balanced circuitry rather than the single-ended circuitry approach traditionally used on most products at this price point. This reduces noise and gives you clearer sound.
The GO Blu uses Qualcomm’s QCC5100 chip, along with Cirrus Logic 43131, which supports aptX Adaptive/HD/LL, LDAC, LHDC, AAC and SBC with the ability to update over the air to add newer codecs. Because the GO blu is call enabled and uses that QCC chip, you also get active noise cancellation with those microphones so you can use IEMs or traditional headphones during your commute or in the office and have the ability to take and make calls with minimal interruption to your listening flow. Choose the GO blu case with clip so you can clip it to your shirt and make hands-free calling even easier.
I haven’t drained the battery yet, but it gets me through a full work day and lasts ten hours. A high-power charger (6.3v) can recharge the GO blu in 40 minutes.
iFi GO blu: Sound quality
So, with all this technology packed into such a small space, what do you think? I’ve listened through the 3.5mm and 4.4mm ports, using Bluetooth and wired USB-C audio sources, and I will tell you that the output of this DAC/Amp is an elevated experience. I tested the audio quality with sensitive and unwieldy IEMs from 1MORE, Campfire Audio, and Sennheiser’s IE900. For headphones, I did the same, using Sennheiser and HiFiMan planar magnetic over-ear headphones.
Knowing that the iPhone only supports AAC, I wanted to see what the GO blu could do with one of the high-resolution codecs. In this case, LDAC was connected to a Pixel 7 Pro and both codecs were a delight. The LDAC transmission offers more dynamics, but iPhone owners won’t feel left out, as the sound image is still quite pleasant through AAC.
The wired connection, which gives you access to lossless audio from Apple Music, is transcendent. Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes” and the title track from the movie soundtrack “Get Out,” Michael Abels’ haunting “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga” were ethereal experiences for its wide, open soundstage. With the right combination, the iFi GO blu’s imaging is highly analytical, allowing you to get lost in the nuances of the music you’re listening to. Combined with headphones or IEMs that aren’t very analytical themselves, you still get impressive clarity and nuance.
The overall sound signature is very balanced and neutral, so I appreciate the XBass feature. Getting that boost in bass made hip-hop tracks much more enjoyable when I plugged in the 4.4mm cables from the Sennheiser IE900, which itself is very neutral sounding. The Go blu really gives you bright, bright reproduction of upper mids and high frequencies without being sibilant or harsh. The entire listening experience is smooth without compromising the attack or nuances of the instrument, and I never had to turn the volume on my phone higher than 75%. Most of the time I listened at very satisfactory levels with the slider up to around 50%.
iFi GO blu: Competition
Interestingly, iFi’s Zen DAC 3 is the same price, but that DAC is larger and more suited to a desktop experience with its available 5V DC input. Then you’ll want to look at the FiiO BTR7. It has similar features, but does not have microphones for calling and has a slightly shorter battery life. However, it does have a companion app with a parametric equalizer, something the GO blu doesn’t have.
The Quedelix 5k is $100 cheaper and while it doesn’t have as wide a soundstage, it’s definitely a very capable Bluetooth/USB-C DAC/Amp and has microphones for calling. Add to that an incredibly impressive companion app with solid parametric EQ settings and it becomes a very tempting contender. I bought the Quedelix 5k for my personal use, but I will also buy the GO blu at some point.
iFi GO blu: Should you buy it?
You should buy the iFi GO blu if…
- You want a great multi-source DAC/Amp
- You want great sound at a fair price
- You want enough battery life to get you through a workday
You shouldn’t buy the iFi GO blu if…
- You want PEQ
- Money is tight
A powerfully versatile DAC/Amp
The iFi GO blu Bluetooth Amplifier/DAC has soundstage and clarity that sounds like your music is radiating from the sky. The best part? Audiophile quality at a fair price!
