iFi audio GO bar Kensei Portable USB DAC and Headphone Amp

Treat yourself to a high-quality headphone listening experience while commuting, traveling, or simply at work with the GO bar Kensei Portable USB DAC and Headphone Amp from iFi audio. The unit features K2HD, an innovative Japanese audio processing technology that revives sterile, detached digital sound with rich, natural harmonics, adding an organic quality unlike any other. Other enhancements include an improved power supply and clock circuitry for absolute clarity. The Go bar Kensei ships in an engraved wooden box and includes a USB-C to USB-C cable, a USB-C to Lightning cable, a USB-A to USB-C adapter, and a leather carrying case.

Tailored, Sweet Sound

Listen the way you like with four bespoke digital filters and two analog processing modes, each tailored to enhance your enjoyment across different music genres.

• Bit-Perfect: Delivers natural tones, ideal for all genres.
• GTO: Enhances sound details and density, particularly suited for Vocal tracks.
• Minimum Phase: Produces a warmer sound, blending characteristics of Bit-Perfect and Standard, perfect for Soul and Jazz.
• Standard: Offers a tighter sound with controlled highs, perfect for Pop music and Movie OST.

Experience chest-thumping bass with XBass+ and immerse yourself in a spacious sound field with XSpace.

Advanced Chip, Accurate Clock

The DAC section of the GO bar Kensei uses a powerful 16-core XMOS microcontroller to process the audio data received at the USB input. The in-house team programmed the XMOS firmware to optimize sound quality and ensure a perfect partnership with the 32-bit Cirrus Logic DAC chipset. A customized digital filter minimizes pre-echoes and ringing artefacts. The GMT (Global Master Timing) precision clock system ensures ultralow jitter.

Supports higher-than-streaming audio formats:

• PCM up to 32-bit / 384 kHz n
• Native DSD playback up to DSD256n
• 2x DXDn
• Full MQA decoding

Compact and Powerful

• The GO Bar Kensei is crafted with Japanese stainless steel for maximum rigidity.
• USB-C connectivity ensures plug-and-play convenience, allowing for hassle-free use.
• The GO Bar Kensei offers a maximum output power of up to 477mW, which is about 10 times more powerful than an iPhone 15.
• It incorporates two power tuning technologies: iEMatch for high-sensitivity IEMs, and Turbo mode for power-hungry headphones. This allows it to easily drive a wide range of premium earphones and headphones.

K2 HD

• K2HD processing revives rich, natural harmonics into emotionally flat and lifeless digital recordings.
• The unparalleled originality of K2HD lies in its advanced high-frequency extension, enabling the restoration of natural harmonics and overtones beyond 22 kHz, delivering audio quality that is close to the original master.

XMOS 16-Core Chip for Hi-Res Audio

• The XMOS 16-Core chip processes the audio data received via the USB digital input.
• This new low-latency XMOS microcontroller has greatly enhanced processing power. Compared to the current generation of 8-core chips, this new 16-core IC delivers double the clock speed (2000MIPS) and four times the memory (512KB), 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 perfect partnership with the 32-bit Cirrus Logic DAC chipset used in the GO bar.

Full MQA Decoding

• MQA delivers the sound of the original master recording. The master MQA file is fully authenticated and is small enough to stream or download. The GO bar adopts MQA technology to receive and decode MQA audio and provide master-level sound.

Balanced Circuitry and GMT Clock

Balanced Circuitry

• The GO bar's analog circuitry features a balanced design with a symmetrical twin-channel output stage.
• This topology reduces noise and crosstalk in the signal path by fully separating the left and right channels.

GMT Clocking

• Extensive jitter-eradication technologies are applied to the digital stage, including iFi's GMT (Global Master Timing) femto-precision clock and intelligent memory buffer. This represents a total out-of-the-box systematic digital solution that solves jitter once and for all.

Premium Components

TDK

• TDK C0G (Class 1 ceramic) capacitors offer high stability and low losses for resonant circuit applications.
• Getting ever closer to the theoretical ideal of pure, frequency-constant capacitance, these capacitors reduce capacitor-induced distortion to vanishingly low levels.

Panasonic

• Panasonic OS-CON caps totaling 5410 µ F give very low Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) and excellent noise-reduction capability and frequency-response characteristics. In addition, OS-CONs have a long-life span and their ESR changes little even at low temperatures, since the electrolyte is solid.

Tantalum

• Tantalum capacitors are another example of the top-notch components we prefer. These polarized electrolytic capacitors have superior frequency and stability characteristics, giving them a superhigh volumetric efficiency.

muRata

• Murata control-type low-ESR high-Q multilayer capacitors. The ESR control aspect of the Murata is something special. Their noise suppression abilities are impressive.