A super-small DAC/headphone amp that can do big things with your music
View online review whf.cm/iFiGoBlu
This portable DAC/ headphone amp offers a Bluetooth 5.1 connection to your source device (although not to your headphones, those still need to be wired into the unit) thus eliminating one wire from the potentially bulky, tangled equation of phone, to DAC, to headphones.
The Go Blu is truly tiny; its footprint is barely bigger than two UK postage stamps placed side by side. It also weighs in at just 26g, making it lighter than an AA battery.
Though small in stature, the iFi Go Blu is mightily attractive. The rotary dial in the top right corner clicks reassuringly and can be turned for volume control, or pressed in various ways to play, pause, skip tracks or access your phone’s voice assistant. Because of its dimensions, this dial looks like a premium chronograph watch crown, an aesthetic aided by the lightweight, soft-touch polymer front plate which feels for all the world like copper – but unlike signal-blocking metal, it helps with Bluetooth reception.
There are various combinations of sound effects available: XBass, XSpace, the two combined, or turned off entirely.
You get balanced and unbalanced headphone jacks, so you are covered whether your chosen wired headphones sport the niche Pentaconn 4.4mm output or the more common 3.5mm connector – and iFi’s proprietary S-Balanced circuitry is used throughout.
Battery life is up to 10 hours, and juicing up takes a maximum of 40 minutes. There is also a chip-based CMOS-MEM microphone to enable hands-free calls, gaming talk and access to voice assistants including Siri and Google Assistant.
The USB-C charging socket doubles as an audio input, enabling USB connection from your source device. Hi-res PCM files up to 24-bit/96kHz are supported when the Go Blu is connected in this way.
The Go Blu supports Bluetooth 5.1 and every Bluetooth audio format from aptX HD to plain old vanilla SBC.
Uniquely, the Go Blu features distinct Bluetooth, DAC and amp stages, each engineered in separate blocks. At its heart is the Cirrus Logic 43131 32-bit DAC chip – although it’s important to remember that unless you are using wires (wherein your audio quality will max out at 24-bit/96kHz via PCM), Bluetooth streaming has an impact on the resolution of your music. Meanwhile we find the iFi has no i
