iFI Audio / GOBARKENSEI

An ultra-portable DAC ""forged"" for those who have mastered audio. ""GO bar Kensei"" is the world's first ultraportable DAC equipped with the famous ""K2HD"" technology.

■K2 Technology: Evidence of Emotion Despite the pristine clarity of digital recordings, they can sometimes feel emotionally flat and lifeless. Engineers at the prestigious Victor Studio were troubled by the lack of perceptible emotion between the original master and the digital submaster, and set out to find a solution. They meticulously compared countless finished recordings and copy recordings, relying on their instinctive senses and human expertise. The solution they came up with was ""K2 Technology."" Processing with K2 technology reintroduces rich, natural harmonics to otherwise lean and cold digital sounds, adding an organic quality unlike any other upsampling. Processing with K2 technology breathes life into your recordings and brings your music back to life.

■GO bar Kensei's digital audio circuit is centered around a 32bit Cirrus Logic DAC chipset with advanced multi-bit modulation. In addition, iFi's GMT (Global Master Timing) high-precision clock system provides ultra-low jitter to reduce errors and distortion in the digital audio signal. The iFi digital development team has programmed the XMOS firmware to optimize sound quality and create the perfect partnership with Cirrus Logic DACs. PCM supports 32bit/384kHz, DSD supports DSD256. Unlike other DACs that convert DSD to PCM, it uses an architecture that plays back DSD data natively. GO bar also realizes full MQA decoding.

■Balanced output with hidden power. Surprisingly considering its ultra-compact size, GO bar Kensei's analog circuit is a balanced design with a symmetrical dual mono channel output stage. Although this topology is typically reserved for larger, more expensive amplifiers due to cost and complexity, it allows for complete separation of left and right channels, reducing noise and crosstalk in the signal path.


■Input: USB-C
■Supported formats
PCM 44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192/352.8/384kHz
DSD 2.8/3.1/5.6/6.1/11.3/12.3MHz
DXD 352.8/384kHz
MQA full decode
■DAC: Bit-Perfect DSD & DXD DAC by Cirrus Logic
■Headphone output (RMS)
Balance: >477mW@32Ω; 7.2V@600Ω
Single-ended: >300mW@32Ω; 3.8V@600Ω
■Output impedance: <1Ω (BAL/S-BAL)*
*Numbers when iEmatch is not used.
■SN ratio: 132dB(A) / 121dB(A) (BAL/S-BAL)
■Dynamic range: 109dB(A) / 108dB(A) (BAL/S-BAL)
■THD+N:
Balance: <0.002% (6.5mW/2.0V @ 600Ω)
Single-ended: <0.09% (100mW/1.27V @ 16Ω)
■Frequency characteristics: 20Hz - 45kHz (-3dB)
■Power consumption: <4W max.
■Size: 65 x 22 x 13.2 mm
■Weight: 64g