The iFi GO Kensai DAC is ideal for listening to music on the go

One of the downsides of a great hi-fi system is that other audio systems don’t sound as good. Whether you’re using your smartphone or some kind of digital audio player, the sound quality is unlikely to match what you’re used to at home if you’re lucky enough to have a great system. There are solutions to this problem if you love great music played through great sound systems.

Kensei’s new iFi GO Bar is a portable DAC and headphone amplifier that can connect to a smartphone or computer and delivers audiophile-quality sound that can hold its own with many high-end hi-fi setups. All you need is a good streaming source (like Tidal) and decent headphones.

I’ve now had a chance to listen to the iFi GO Bar Kensei to see if it’s worth the money compared to one of the many more affordable headphone DACs/amps currently on the market. iFi GO Bar Kensei is the world’s first pocket DAC with K2HD technology.

The K2HD was invented by JVC Kenwood engineers and claims to make digitized music sound as close as possible to the original analog master tapes, restoring harmonics that are usually lost in the digitization process. That’s a bold statement, and I’ll come back to it later in this review.

The iFi GO Bar Kensei is about the size of a small lighter (remember those?) and has a choice of a 4.4mm balanced Pentaconn jack and a 3.5mm unbalanced jack. The 4.4mm output has a balanced dual mono output that can drive even the fussiest of headphones.

Thanks to something called iEMatch, the iFi GO Bar Kensei automatically changes its output according to the impedance of the IEM or connected headphones. And for headphones with seriously demanding specifications, there is even a Turbo mode, which increases the sound by an additional 6 dB when necessary. You can enable this by pressing the volume + and – buttons at the same time.

Presented in a classic Japanese wooden box, the iFi GO Bar Kensei has that unmistakable Japanese hand-crafted feel. Also included in the kit is a leather storage pouch for the iFi GO Bar Kensei; there’s even a small pocket for a cable to connect the iFi GO Bar Kensei to your smartphone. USB-C and Apple Lightning cables are included.

The IFi GO Bar Kensei feels relatively heavy for its size and extremely well made. One end has a USB-C input port, while the other end has outputs for balanced 4.4mm and unbalanced 3.5mm jacks. Whichever you choose will probably depend on the headphones or IEMs you’re using. If you have an IEM or headphone with balanced cable capability, use it. This is a great sound upgrade.

On the left side of the iFi GO Bar Kensei are the volume buttons and a multifunction control for switching XBass, XSpace, and one of four digital filters. The final control on the left side is a three-way switch for the iEMatch headphone function, which can be set to 4.4mm and 3.5mm outputs or turned off entirely. Purists will love it. It’s best to try the settings and see how well they match the headphones you’re using.

On the back of the iFi GO Bar Kensei are nine LEDs that light up to indicate the type and resolution of the audio file being played. iFi GO Bar Kensei can handle PCM, DSD and MQA files. The last two LEDs in the row light up whenever the XSpace and XBass settings are activated.

XBass mode boosts low frequencies like a volume knob, while XSpace creates a spacious sound field. Four digital filters: Bit-Perfect, GTO, Standard and Minimum Phase. Again, just play and test them to see what works for your ears, as the effect will vary depending on the original recording.

To enter the digital filter mode, simply press the multifunction button for three seconds, after which the LED next to MQA will light up. Next, just toggle the settings to see which one you like.

Four digital filter options: BP, STD, MIN and GTO. BP stands for Bit-Perfect and was my favorite. STD is a modest filter that won’t scare the horses. MIN is a minimum phase filter that has a slow decay with minimal pre- and post-noise. Finally, there’s the Gibbs Transient Optimized GTO, which boosts the frequency to 352/384kHz with minimal filtering.

To test the overall sound, I fired up Tidal on my Mac and played a Maximum FLAC recording Just a little love Shelby Lynn. The Bit-Perfect filtered sound was incredible through my Sennheiser HD660 S2 open headphones connected to the balanced 4.4mm output.

The sound quality produced by the iFi GO Bar Kensei is in line with some of the best audio systems you’re likely to hear in headphones. Bass response feels like a proper power amp. The control that the iFi GO Bar Kensei exerts over the music is surprising in its precision.

The separation of instruments and vocals on the recording was exemplary. Of course, if you’re using the iFi GO Bar Kensei on a smartphone and your data bandwidth is limited to using a lower-quality streaming file, you won’t get the full experience. However, if you work at home and are connected to a Mac or PC, the iFi GO Bar Kensei is hard to beat for personal listening. It’s stunning.

My next trial music was Besame Mucho Chantal Chamberland, French-Canadian jazz vocalist. A real spine tingle is the best way to describe that sound. The guitar and piano were perfectly placed on the soundstage, and the drums in the background were placed in such a way that you could imagine the musicians playing.

Now we come to the K2HD filter and the bold claim that this digital filter restores some of the harmonics lost in the digitization process. When mastering analog music for CD, all data above 22kHz is cut off and the resolution is reduced by a factor of 256. K2HD processing technology was created by JVC KENWOOD engineers who used their ears to adjust the filter by comparing the sound to the original tape master.

Does it work? To enable the feature, you need to press the multi-function button for three seconds and then use the volume buttons to turn on and off. The effect is subtle, but overall I think the H2HD adds a warmer analog vibe to the music. This is more apparent on some tracks than others. This has a more noticeable effect on lower quality files such as CD quality, but minimal on higher quality streams.

Verdict: The iFi GO Bar Kensei is a mini wonder that produces some of the best sound quality with a premium streaming service like Tidal. It sounds amazing and you’ll be listening to all your favorite tracks all over again. The overall sound is simply superb. If you care about sound quality and enjoy listening through headphones, at home on the computer or out and about with your smartphone, the iFi GO Bar Kensei is hard to beat. Yes, it’s expensive, but in many ways it’s a better choice than a high-end Android digital audio player, and a great solution for iPhone users. If you love music, you’ll love the iFi GO Bar Kensei.

Pricing and Availability: The iFi GO Bar Kensei is available now for $449 / £449 / €449.

Additional information: www.ifi-audio.com

Specifications:

• Input: USB-C.
• Formats: PCM 384kHz, DSD 256, DXD 384kHz, MQA Full Decoder.
• DAC: Cirrus Logic Bit-Perfect DSD and DXD.
• Outputs: Balanced 4.4mm and Unbalanced 3.5mm.
• Power output: 475 mW into 32 ohms (balanced) and 300 mW into 32 ohms (unbalanced).
• Output resistance: <1Ω.
• SNR: 132 dBA (balanced) and 108 dBA (unbalanced).
• DNR: 109 dBA (balanced) and 108 dBA (unbalanced).
• THD + N: <0.002% 6.5mW/2V into 600 ohms (balanced) <0.09 100mW/1.27V (unbalanced).
• Frequency response: 20 Hz – 45 kHz (-3 dB).
• Dimensions: 65 x 22 x 13.2 mm.
• Weight: 28 g.