iFiAudio GO link - Portable DAC Dongle - USB-C to 3.5mm Headphone Amplifier, High-Resolution Audio, ESS ES9219MQ Chip, Supports PCM 32bit/384kHz, DSD256, MQA

I had an LG phone in the past that had an ESS DAC built in and it sounded great with MQA files and Hi Res Audio. I wanted to be able to listen to Hi-Res audio again and found support built into modern phones virtually non existent. I bought a HIDIZ USB C headphone DAC that I thought would mean I could listen to high quality again but alas no. It required putting my phone in developer mode with USB debugging enabled to work, it was very hit and miss sometimes not working at all. Very poor.I bought a Sony phone that supported Hi-Res audio. It was good but the headphone amp on it was rubbish. Not good enough to drive decent headphones. Both of these went on eBay.I then decided to buy the GO Link to listen with my new iPhone having switched from Android. Really wanted to listen to Apple HiRes Lossless properly. It comes with a USB C to lightning adapter included. I plugged it in and added a pair of good quality wired headphones then went into the settings in Apple Music and switched on being able to listen to HiRes Lossless. It worked perfectly without any problems.The sound was very impressive. The first album I managed to find that was Hi Res was Iggy Pop’s “The Idiot” I found the stereo separation excellent. Hearing subtle nuances in the sound field I hadn’t heard before. All the different components of the opening track Sister Midnight could be heard individually rather than blending into the entire sound of the song. I did notice bits I hadn’t heard before. Even Iggy’s backup vocals behind his own main track could be heard quite clearly. Tried lots of other albums in high res quality and all sounded excellent. Apple Music on the iPhone iOS can’t seem to do gapless properly which is a bit annoying. It can on Android apparently. No fault of the GO (come on Apple) Listening to the Go Link with Qobuz I had no gapless worries and LP’s like Floyds Dark Side of The Moon or a bit of Jean Michel Jarre all worked fine and sounded REALLY good! I’ve also used it whilst working plugged into my MacBook Air and can listen to my own HD Audio collection. All in all a well built great little headphone DAC at a very reasonable price. Finally I can listen to HD Audio again. Very pleased, can’t fault it.

I am posting here a quick preview before I post my long one in headfi. I have many similar devices (ka3, ka2, dc03 pro, DRAGONFLY V1.2, DACMAGIC ) and reviewed the ifi go bar in headfi few months ago.The go link is the absolute nobrainer to buy immediately. The sound is absolutely stellar and scale significantly my beloved 58x that are not easy to drive. Now if you have vastly more difficult to drive headphones than the 58x you should look devices like the ifi go bar and fiio ka3.The ifi go bar is also very good but I find it expensive and I do not have expensive headphones to match at the moment.The fiio ka3 is also amazing for the money but drawing a lot more power and a bit aggressive tuned for my taste. Even if you have that there is still room to buy also the go link is so much smaller, so much more efficient and tames the ESS sabre dac sufficiently enough to make it sound organic as only ifi products can sound.To my taste is much better than the dc03 pro, I am still thinking to return the dc03 but if I keep it will be only for the app with the special discrete volume steps.And the s-balanced configuration can be used with a suitable adapter and your special balanced cable that you already have and love in one of your favourite headphones so almost not to miss balanced configuration at all..The icing on the cake : a very good lighting adapter for the iPhone is also included. I paid 17£ for that when I bought my ka3.I mean how much better deal can be than that?

Had to return this dac/amp from iFi. After plugging into my Xiaomi smartphone and then pressed play, a very loud distorted noise blasted from my wired headphones, which nearly blew my eardrums away!Presumably I had received a faulty one. I did eventually manage to hear music played from it after plugging and replugging the cable. However after half an hour the unit got very hot. I had the same loud distorted sound after I plugged it in again. So not very impressed with the quality of this 5 star What Hi Fi reviewed dac/amp. I consider it not fit for purpose.I've now bought a Fosi Audio DS2, to replace the iFi, which is brilliant and IMHO a much better sounding quality product, which is more substantial and doesn't blow my ear drums away and become too hot.

So out of the box, this product is good enough, no need to go around inside looking for firmware updates as I think the default driver is great. When I download the firmware and driver from ifi, I feel as if the soundstage got thin, so I stuck with the default drivers.Talking about the default drivers. Wide soundstage, good dynamics, intrument seperation is amazing. The voices, they're bright, but certainly not harsh to the ears. I love it! Whenever I listen to my favourite Jazz artist, it certainly does give me all the details I want.Whilst I was listening, I could hear the harp clearly, the quiet classical guitar that was playing in the background of the recording was giving me the "WOW" moment as it was so much clearer than before. It was pretty satisfying to my ears.The bass is very good, I can say that this DAC didn't overwhelm the bass whilst it was still pretty thumpy. I do like thumpy bass and this does a brilliant job, this one is not overwhelmingly thumpy. It has a pretty V-shaped sound that I kinda like too.I like this product and would totally recommend it to any person who wants to get the music quality they love.

Makes a huge difference to the sound on my headphones

DO NOT BUY

Excellent reproduction, marked improvement in sound stage and instrument separation.Nice construction, a little concerned at the interconnect cable which seems like it may be a little fragile/vulnerable. Time will tell. Recommended.

Great item, super happy with this.