Interesting review. I only own the Mojo 2 at this point and just to underscore, the 4 channel EQ can drastically change the music. Also, you can and probably should adjust the EQ parameters depending upon what you’re listening through. I use cans, IEMs, and a homemade tube amp, and the EQ makes a huge difference.
Thank you for your review! Glad you tried the go bar with the DT 700 PRO X since i might go for that combination too. Can you share your experience using the go bar (black) with these headphones? Would it be a good pairing for casual music listening at home?
Someone recommended this video to one Korean community, and after I watch this, I had to buy gold go bar;;;;;; I am sorry to myself;;;;;; who will pay that in the future;;;;;; But, thank you for the information which I really needed.
I haven't tried the first generation but ive tried the second gen w2 and the ifi go bar sounds alot better in my opinion. It is the best dongle I have heard so far. And I've tried almost all of them. At least the more expensive ones.
Wonder which has better technical performance (sound quality) between the gold bar vs the micro idsd signature. The signature is on clearance in the US (for around $400).
Great review! I’m very interested in getting this and I’ve got a pretty specific use case: I work away a lot so I need a portable dac/amp but I also want to upgrade my low-tier Fiio K5 Pro which is at home in a desktop headphone/pre amp to active speaker set up. Can this Go Bar be used in a dac only, line output to another headphone or pre amp? Do you think the dac is strong enough to do that?
@@GavinsGadgets yes u are right u have mentioned that and I completely missed it sorry. So the sound quality rises up in this direction? 1) go BAR ---> Gryphon ---> mojo2 ---> go Gold? or this direction? 2) go BAR ---> mojo2 ---> Gryphon---> go Gold.
I own the mojo 2 and the ifi go bar standard edition and I find a significant improvement in overall sound with the mojo 2 especially when providing eq but even without it. The resolution of the treble detail is better and the eq bass shelf compared to the go bar bass boost is much better. I really enjoy the ifi go bar for in my pocket on the go use but I much prefer the mojo 2.
Hi Gavin, while you are using the lightning connector, did the lightning end heat’s up? Many of my dongle connector’s lightning end heat up pretty warm to a level you can’t ignore it.
Thank you for exceptional review. Just found your RUclips channel. Please can i ask your opinion on sound quality only between iFi Diablo vs Chord Mojo 2? Could you consider a comparison video if possible. Nice one
That’s a shock, Gavin you said the Mojo 2 was better sounding than the Gryphon in a previous comparison , but that the Gryphon was better sounding than the Go Bar. Does the Go bar have a line out mode as the mojo 2 as a dac is classed by many as being equivalent to up to 1K desk specific DAC’s. The Go bar without line out is just a really good sounding dongle is it? BTW did you play with the cross feed on the mojo 2?
Tech moves on. The Gryphon cost is made up of all the extra features over the Go Bar. And the Gold Go Bar works better for me, smaller etc, don't need the extra Gryphon features and I prefer the Gold Go Bar sound. Yes I used the crossfeed on the mojo 2. No line out on the go bar. With all the devices Adrian, it's not always about sound quality. For example the Gryphon has Bluetooth and USB C. The.mojo 2 doesn't. The difference between the Gryphon and Mojo 2 was close as I said at the time. All these devices are close, but personally the Gold Go Bar does it for me .
@@GavinsGadgets Thanks Gavin and yes you did say it was close. Gold bar isn’t an option anymore though so it’s the go bar or no bar 😁, shame , I think as my best DAC is the ifi Zen DAC Signature, the Mojo 2 would make a good in house nomadic and desk DAC Upgrade. Two things really worry me about the mojo 2 though, 1 Micro USB soooo easy to break etc, 2 I have seen a couple of write ups on it that say like some r2r dacs it can take up to 30 mins being powered on to hit peak performance so not really a spur of the moment thing if true. My blue mini Himalaya r2r on my Deva pro takes a good 5 to 10 mins to reach full performance
Oh and I have the xduoo balanced with the preamp upgrade you recommended which has soooo much power if not the sonic capability but as all my headphones are at present sub 1K not sure how much I would notice
@@GavinsGadgets maybe they will release the gold version again or incorporate it into a V2, what we need is gold bar signatures that way you could buy several, just kidding ifi if you are reading this.
Hi Gavin, Thanks for the review. What is your experience with the Gold Go Bar and electromagnetic interference? I own the iFi iDSD Signature and find it not usable when connected directly to a phone. It can only be used without disturbances when the mobile network is switched off.
Quick question. How did you aquire the gold version already. I've been looking everywhere and it seems as if it still isn't out yet. The original sounds so good.
@@GavinsGadgets The gold version appears to be sold out in the US. Believe it or not, I've seen a couple of them offered by US sellers on eBay for ... $3,000! (Yes, that's three grand, not a typo.)
I did start by skipping to the conclusion, before going back. Interesting conclusions. Is that for all genres? Do you know how do they compare to the ifi Go blue (which also has wireless)?
Is the sound quality the same or better than the Hip Dac2? (I want to use one of these two with my smartphone and a Hifiman Edition XS). Size and features don't matter too much, I just want the best sound quality.
I have a question. Does the USB C to Lightning cable included work well in the iPhone? I read somewhere that the included lightning cable doesn't work well. Sometimes it will work and sometimes it will not. I am guessing that this is mainly because of Apple's MFI certification thing. Thank you in advance.
Lol , you sent back the mojo 2 because the price tag over 700 , so you save money .lol I do have mojo 2 and it certainly beats some 1000.00 desk top dac amp , without hearing the gold bar , I cannot see the ifi gold bar having the body and weight to overall sound compare to mojo2 that has it with great female and male vocals...wonder what you would think of the cayin Ru7 compare to gold bar .
hard to believe the gold version is that much difference. I've been thinking GoBar are not power by battery. maybe can add-on iFi iDefender + iFi iPower from from source to Go Bar it should be sound even better.
Nice devices, but how quickly does the smartphone battery drain (IFi Go Bar) ? e.g. with an in-ear 32 ohm impedance. Such information is often missing in all tests. As nice as it is not to have an additional battery that is also defective at some point, but the smartphone batteries are already empty quickly enough
Thanks for the excellent (and somewhat surprising) review, especially since I'm currently debating between the Go Bar and the Gryphon. (I'm not considering the Mojo 2 only because Chord and iFi have very different pricing policies here in the US--iFi prices are the same amount in pounds and dollars, making them cheaper here, Chord dollar prices are a lot higher than in pounds. Although I believe the Mojo 2 is less expensive than the Gryphon in the UK, it's roughly a third more expensive than the Gryphon here and not worth the premium IMO.) I know you mentioned the Gryphon very briefly, but would you also choose the Go Bar over it? I'm leaning that way since it's half the price and I don't use Bluetooth. (BTW, the gold version is pretty much already sold out here, so not an option.)
I remember when I did my review of the Gryphon, there was a number of comments about the difference in pricing between the UK and US. The Gryphon does sound better than the Go Bar, but I really don't think you'll be disappointed with the Go Bar. Very different sizes and use cases as well, since the Gryphon has Bluetooth as you mentioned.
@@GavinsGadgets following the IFI line of thinking, would you say the IFI micro iDSD Signature sounds better than the Gryphon (and the Go Bars - both of them), but not as good as the diablo?
@@GavinsGadgets if the Gryphon sounds better than the go bar, then do you think Gryphon sounds better than mojo 2? I mean I tried to get the mojo 2 but audio advice sent me a sealed mojo 2 box with a used Fiio 😢 and I have the opportunity to buy anything between go bar gold, Gryphon or Mojo 2 (but now I don’t know what to do) my preference is for better sound, it doesn’t matter portability, or Bluetooth or balanced etc just great sound. Thanks in advance
@@edgarmoreno53 I’ve got a Diablo, had Gryphon, had Hipdac 2 and getting go bar tomorrow. Out of all of them so far, unquestionably the Diablo is the best, but then, the gryphon is the worst for me. The hip DAC 2 sounded better to my ears than the gryphon and the xbass was better too. It’ll be interesting to see how the gobar is, as it’s using cirus logic DAC chip, not burr brown like the others. I’ve also sent back the hipdac2 but only because I was getting interference from my phone which ruins the music, maybe I got a faulty one. I was really impressed with the sound from it though
Hi There can somebody help me?!! i will finally choose between "go bar" & "M15" & i will be happy if someone help me🙏🏻🙏🏻 i have two questions : 1)my only concern about "go bar" is the battery charge consumption !! does "go bar" have high battery charge consumption?? because i heard that it consumes a lot of battery charge!!! how much mAh does it use for one hour? (of course just for iem use & my iem has 18Ω) 2) & a more important question, considering that the output sound of "go bar" is warm, does it make v-shaped, u-shaped, w-shaped sounds worse & fully color? because my iem(FH9) is a little bit v-shaped, u-shaped or w-shaped & because the sound of "go bar" is warmer, I'm afraid that it will make this happen worse !!!
Battery consumption varies depending on how much volume you need. The Fiio are fairly efficient though. Ive never timed the battery drop percentage because it varied with each headphone. In the same light, I was never worried about the drop either. The go bar is really musical so should bring out the best with your fiio.
i don't understand why even bother making videos and advertisements for a limited edition crap like this 1000 units Only so what probably 800 went to reviewers if not all of them meaning no one can buy this thing so there's just No point in showing it at all
Not sure what the point is of your comment. How does it help anyone? Sounds like your disappointment you couldn’t get one. Limited runs of tech is not unusual. I’m sure if you asked politely, something like , “does anyone know of a store selling these” you might have got a different response. Also these did come out quite some time ago, so it’s not unusual by now for stock to have been depleted. I bought mine for the record. A quick search and there’s stock here www.audiologica.co.uk/product/ifi-go-bar-gold/
Interesting review. I only own the Mojo 2 at this point and just to underscore, the 4 channel EQ can drastically change the music. Also, you can and probably should adjust the EQ parameters depending upon what you’re listening through. I use cans, IEMs, and a homemade tube amp, and the EQ makes a huge difference.
Thank you for your review! Glad you tried the go bar with the DT 700 PRO X since i might go for that combination too. Can you share your experience using the go bar (black) with these headphones? Would it be a good pairing for casual music listening at home?
That would still be an excellent combo.
Great review i think you're one of the few channels to review this DAC/AMP
Thanks, appreciate the feedback 🙏
Someone recommended this video to one Korean community, and after I watch this, I had to buy gold go bar;;;;;; I am sorry to myself;;;;;; who will pay that in the future;;;;;; But, thank you for the information which I really needed.
Appreciate your feedback 👍
thanks Gavin. Have you tried the 1st gen Luxury & Precision W2 ? curious how the Go & Gold Bar compare to W2
Hi Tedy. Not yet I haven't.
I haven't tried the first generation but ive tried the second gen w2 and the ifi go bar sounds alot better in my opinion. It is the best dongle I have heard so far. And I've tried almost all of them. At least the more expensive ones.
Appreciate your reply 👍
@@thechampb12345 Thanks for sharing your thought, as i have W2 and i'm considering to buy Go Bar.
Wonder which has better technical performance (sound quality) between the gold bar vs the micro idsd signature. The signature is on clearance in the US (for around $400).
Thank you very much . Which one has the biggest soundstage and airiest presentation?
Gryphon
Mojo 2 hands down
Great review! I’m very interested in getting this and I’ve got a pretty specific use case:
I work away a lot so I need a portable dac/amp but I also want to upgrade my low-tier Fiio K5 Pro which is at home in a desktop headphone/pre amp to active speaker set up.
Can this Go Bar be used in a dac only, line output to another headphone or pre amp? Do you think the dac is strong enough to do that?
Thanks for your feedback. I would suggest using the go bar into an amp. Not another dac.
Just to be sure, the go gold sounds better than the chord mojo 2 right? And what about the Gryphon vs go bar?
Thats what I said. Gryphon is ahead.
@@GavinsGadgets yes u are right u have mentioned that and I completely missed it sorry. So the sound quality rises up in this direction? 1) go BAR ---> Gryphon ---> mojo2 ---> go Gold? or this direction? 2) go BAR ---> mojo2 ---> Gryphon---> go Gold.
Go Bar, mojo, gold bar - gryphon is a more complex device with a ton more features eg Bluetooth, personally I prefer the Gold Bar over it.
I own the mojo 2 and the ifi go bar standard edition and I find a significant improvement in overall sound with the mojo 2 especially when providing eq but even without it. The resolution of the treble detail is better and the eq bass shelf compared to the go bar bass boost is much better. I really enjoy the ifi go bar for in my pocket on the go use but I much prefer the mojo 2.
Hi Gavin, while you are using the lightning connector, did the lightning end heat’s up? Many of my dongle connector’s lightning end heat up pretty warm to a level you can’t ignore it.
Not that I noticed. Most of my listening is via USB C now.
Appreciated!
How is the go bar compared to the gryphon , since they are 100 dollars apart its not much of a difference between 500 and 600 - at least in euros
Different devices with different functions/options.
@@GavinsGadgets that's not very helpful
Thank you for exceptional review. Just found your RUclips channel. Please can i ask your opinion on sound quality only between iFi Diablo vs Chord Mojo 2? Could you consider a comparison video if possible. Nice one
I love the Diablo. I have reviewed it as well. A beast. Diablo over the Mojo 2 on sound quality 👌
@@GavinsGadgets thank you keep up the good work. Also for sound quality only - iFi Gold Bar vs Diablo for full sized HP’s?
Diablo for the win. More powerful too. That should be a surprise though. Thanks for your feedback, appreciated 👍
That’s a shock, Gavin you said the Mojo 2 was better sounding than the Gryphon in a previous comparison , but that the Gryphon was better sounding than the Go Bar. Does the Go bar have a line out mode as the mojo 2 as a dac is classed by many as being equivalent to up to 1K desk specific DAC’s. The Go bar without line out is just a really good sounding dongle is it? BTW did you play with the cross feed on the mojo 2?
Tech moves on. The Gryphon cost is made up of all the extra features over the Go Bar. And the Gold Go Bar works better for me, smaller etc, don't need the extra Gryphon features and I prefer the Gold Go Bar sound. Yes I used the crossfeed on the mojo 2. No line out on the go bar. With all the devices Adrian, it's not always about sound quality. For example the Gryphon has Bluetooth and USB C. The.mojo 2 doesn't. The difference between the Gryphon and Mojo 2 was close as I said at the time. All these devices are close, but personally the Gold Go Bar does it for me .
@@GavinsGadgets Thanks Gavin and yes you did say it was close. Gold bar isn’t an option anymore though so it’s the go bar or no bar 😁, shame , I think as my best DAC is the ifi Zen DAC Signature, the Mojo 2 would make a good in house nomadic and desk DAC Upgrade. Two things really worry me about the mojo 2 though, 1 Micro USB soooo easy to break etc, 2 I have seen a couple of write ups on it that say like some r2r dacs it can take up to 30 mins being powered on to hit peak performance so not really a spur of the moment thing if true. My blue mini Himalaya r2r on my Deva pro takes a good 5 to 10 mins to reach full performance
Oh and I have the xduoo balanced with the preamp upgrade you recommended which has soooo much power if not the sonic capability but as all my headphones are at present sub 1K not sure how much I would notice
The power of the xduoo is superb.
@@GavinsGadgets maybe they will release the gold version again or incorporate it into a V2, what we need is gold bar signatures that way you could buy several, just kidding ifi if you are reading this.
Hi Gavin, Thanks for the review. What is your experience with the Gold Go Bar and electromagnetic interference? I own the iFi iDSD Signature and find it not usable when connected directly to a phone. It can only be used without disturbances when the mobile network is switched off.
Hi Enrico. Thanks for your feedback. I haven't experienced any issues.
Quick question. How did you aquire the gold version already. I've been looking everywhere and it seems as if it still isn't out yet. The original sounds so good.
On headfi, ifi commented that their warehouse has lots of stock. They gave a link ifi-audio.com/stockists/europe - good luck 👍
@@GavinsGadgets The gold version appears to be sold out in the US. Believe it or not, I've seen a couple of them offered by US sellers on eBay for ... $3,000! (Yes, that's three grand, not a typo.)
Woah. That's crazy
HI Gavin! What are your thoughts on the Go Bar versus the ifi Hip Dac v1?
Different use cases and size. I prefer the compact Go Bar.
I did start by skipping to the conclusion, before going back. Interesting conclusions. Is that for all genres?
Do you know how do they compare to the ifi Go blue (which also has wireless)?
You missed my part where I compared the sound quality versus the go blu. It's in the video. And also the gryphon.
@@GavinsGadgets that's the problem with jumping to the conclusion. OK thanks
Please can you campare Better the sound of these devices, which Is Better and why
The video does explain this.
It's and expensive dongle. How does SQ of standard go bar compare to dragonfly cobalt?
It’s better than my cobalt and other dongles.
Is the sound quality the same or better than the Hip Dac2? (I want to use one of these two with my smartphone and a Hifiman Edition XS). Size and features don't matter too much, I just want the best sound quality.
Go Bar has better quality.
If I already have the original iFi hip dac, should I still buy this? I’m feeling it might be redundant, as I would mostly use it on my Windows PC
Keep what you have got
I thought as much. Seems like I don’t need to get this or the iFi Gryphon since I have the hip dac. Thank you
I think, Gavin cannot say that you can buy better one, because it will push you to buy it. But, when I assemble the informations I've got, hipdac
I have a question. Does the USB C to Lightning cable included work well in the iPhone? I read somewhere that the included lightning cable doesn't work well. Sometimes it will work and sometimes it will not. I am guessing that this is mainly because of Apple's MFI certification thing. Thank you in advance.
Hi John. I have read that too. It was OK for me though. iFi did release a firmware to help with this.
Thank you so much.
Lol , you sent back the mojo 2 because the price tag over 700 , so you save money .lol
I do have mojo 2 and it certainly beats some 1000.00 desk top dac amp , without hearing the gold bar , I cannot see the ifi gold bar having the body and weight to overall sound compare to mojo2 that has it with great female and male vocals...wonder what you would think of the cayin Ru7 compare to gold bar .
hard to believe the gold version is that much difference.
I've been thinking GoBar are not power by battery. maybe can add-on iFi iDefender + iFi iPower from from source to Go Bar it should be sound even better.
It is hard to believe. Even i couldn't believe it.
Good review as always Gavin. I've waiting for someone to take a look at the Go Bar!
Thanks Cam 👍
as a ifi gryphon , fiio q3 thx , fiio btr5 and go bar owner. I prefer the go bar as my go to choice
Nice collection Adrian. Thanks for your feedback too 👍
thx for the great review 😎 could you also compare it to Questyle M15? 😊
Thanks for your feedback. I'll see what I can do
The m15 doesn't sound as good as the ifi go. But I don't like ESS DACs.
Nice devices, but how quickly does the smartphone battery drain (IFi Go Bar) ? e.g. with an in-ear 32 ohm impedance. Such information is often missing in all tests. As nice as it is not to have an additional battery that is also defective at some point, but the smartphone batteries are already empty quickly enough
It does drain battery probably around a third more than normal if listening at a highish volume.
So the Go bar and the Gold bar sound Better than the Mojo2?
The video explains everything Andrea
@@GavinsGadgets so the Gold has larger soundstage than the Mojo2? How about the sound signature ?
@andreagalbiati1332 there's no way on earth that the gold bar has a better sound than the mojo2
Thanks for the excellent (and somewhat surprising) review, especially since I'm currently debating between the Go Bar and the Gryphon. (I'm not considering the Mojo 2 only because Chord and iFi have very different pricing policies here in the US--iFi prices are the same amount in pounds and dollars, making them cheaper here, Chord dollar prices are a lot higher than in pounds. Although I believe the Mojo 2 is less expensive than the Gryphon in the UK, it's roughly a third more expensive than the Gryphon here and not worth the premium IMO.) I know you mentioned the Gryphon very briefly, but would you also choose the Go Bar over it? I'm leaning that way since it's half the price and I don't use Bluetooth. (BTW, the gold version is pretty much already sold out here, so not an option.)
I remember when I did my review of the Gryphon, there was a number of comments about the difference in pricing between the UK and US. The Gryphon does sound better than the Go Bar, but I really don't think you'll be disappointed with the Go Bar. Very different sizes and use cases as well, since the Gryphon has Bluetooth as you mentioned.
@@GavinsGadgets following the IFI line of thinking, would you say the IFI micro iDSD Signature sounds better than the Gryphon (and the Go Bars - both of them), but not as good as the diablo?
Diablo is the one I prefer the most. I prefer the Gryphon over the Signature. But you can't beat the Go Bar size vs its sound. So convenient.
@@GavinsGadgets if the Gryphon sounds better than the go bar, then do you think Gryphon sounds better than mojo 2? I mean I tried to get the mojo 2 but audio advice sent me a sealed mojo 2 box with a used Fiio 😢 and I have the opportunity to buy anything between go bar gold, Gryphon or Mojo 2 (but now I don’t know what to do) my preference is for better sound, it doesn’t matter portability, or Bluetooth or balanced etc just great sound. Thanks in advance
@@edgarmoreno53 I’ve got a Diablo, had Gryphon, had Hipdac 2 and getting go bar tomorrow. Out of all of them so far, unquestionably the Diablo is the best, but then, the gryphon is the worst for me. The hip DAC 2 sounded better to my ears than the gryphon and the xbass was better too. It’ll be interesting to see how the gobar is, as it’s using cirus logic DAC chip, not burr brown like the others. I’ve also sent back the hipdac2 but only because I was getting interference from my phone which ruins the music, maybe I got a faulty one. I was really impressed with the sound from it though
go bar over the go blu?
For sound quality, yes
what players (source) you used to connect them to test？
All the ones mentioned in my video. Pretty much everything I could find and cross platform.
So the sound: Gold Go bar > Mojo2 >Gryophon >Go Bar (?)
That’s was my preference.
does it get hot?
They all can get warm.
Mojo 2 vs micro iDSD Signature?
Pick your own poison depending on the features
Hi There
can somebody help me?!!
i will finally choose between "go bar" & "M15"
& i will be happy if someone help me🙏🏻🙏🏻
i have two questions :
1)my only concern about "go bar" is the battery charge consumption !!
does "go bar" have high battery charge consumption??
because i heard that it consumes a lot of battery charge!!!
how much mAh does it use for one hour?
(of course just for iem use & my iem has 18Ω)
2) & a more important question, considering that the output sound of "go bar" is warm, does it make v-shaped, u-shaped, w-shaped sounds worse & fully color?
because my iem(FH9) is a little bit v-shaped, u-shaped or w-shaped & because the sound of "go bar" is warmer, I'm afraid that it will make this happen worse !!!
Battery consumption varies depending on how much volume you need. The Fiio are fairly efficient though. Ive never timed the battery drop percentage because it varied with each headphone. In the same light, I was never worried about the drop either. The go bar is really musical so should bring out the best with your fiio.
i don't understand why even bother making videos and advertisements for a limited edition crap like this 1000 units Only so what probably 800 went to reviewers if not all of them meaning no one can buy this thing so there's just No point in showing it at all
Not sure what the point is of your comment. How does it help anyone? Sounds like your disappointment you couldn’t get one. Limited runs of tech is not unusual. I’m sure if you asked politely, something like , “does anyone know of a store selling these” you might have got a different response. Also these did come out quite some time ago, so it’s not unusual by now for stock to have been depleted. I bought mine for the record.
A quick search and there’s stock here www.audiologica.co.uk/product/ifi-go-bar-gold/
Biased
Not in the slightest. Explain further.