🔷 ifi GO blu BT Dac/Amp

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories [Official] DACs
62

The Qudelix 5k still beats the btr5 and go blu handily for me. The dragonfly wasn’t worth talking about. And the half dozen others I tried just lacked the authority found on the units with more power.

And the Qudelix independent volume handling may be the reason it beats the blu for me. You have so much more control and it seems to adapt to the source in some way. Not sure what magic it is doing here. And it is one of the few with noise free BT implementation with the dunu zen. (Don’t talk to me about the q5s-tc bluetooth. Terrible)

And the go blu is still doing something insane with volume when switching devices with no changes being done on the source devices. (iPhone over BT and macbook wired in this case). I ripped the Zen out of my ears so I didn’t experience hearing damage. I am afraid to do anything with them at this point. This has now happened three times. I now take the iems out, make changes to switch source or iems and put them back in when everything is playing correctly.

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63

Unfortunately, I don’t have dunu earphones, so I don’t have a comparison.

In my humble experience, a very high percentage of you can assume that general evaluations of only one component of a hi-fi chain will be very, very difficult to accept.

The Kombo Campfire Audio earphones and some ifi audio devices sound very, very good.

Or take a Grado RS2e, for example,

which is a red rag for the vast majority of reviewers.

With a topping DAC / amp combination, for example, I would totally agree, while a combination of Loxjie D50 and SingxerSA-1 produces a completely different sound, and a very positive one.

The Sennheiser HD 600 on my Zen combo sounds so outstanding that even a € 4000 tube / amp combo doesn’t sound any better, while the HD800s takes me into another world at this price.

Everything is probably a question of synergies and personal taste. :man_shrugging:

64

Oh, I agree. But at this moment, the go blu does almost nothing better than the Qudelix on my primary headphones. The timeless is the best match so far in that it’s not worse on the blu. But it’s not better either.

I will say xspace and xbass work well and is much easier to push a button than use the Qudelix parametric EQ or crossfeed functions. But the Qudelix has parametric EQ and slider based user controlled crossfeed… with the entire auto eq library.

Anyway, Qudelix is still reigning champion for me.

I haven’t tried my lsa hp-2 ultra yet. Maybe those will change the story.

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65

I’m curious to know where the Hip-DAC ranks for you if xCAN is the second best. I had and sold the xCAN two years ago, because I felt it’s DAC was holding it back (compared to Mojo or Zen DAC). I don’t own the Hip-DAC but would think it should sound better than the xCAN.

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66

Good to know

I have been pondering a Qudelix and was curious to hear some additional takes on the Blu vs Qudelix … I own the BTR5 and like it for work, but have been thinking about something else for my personal gear. Either q5k or a ZenDac, but I will get more use out of the wireless.

67

Maybe a bit unfair, but I’ve tried both with the Focal Clear, and the 3D + - xBassII solution is so perfect that spatial hearing and the fine resolution of the stage is significantly higher in this combination than with the Hip-Dac.

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With the xCan, the highs on my Grado’s are not very aggressive and the 3-dimensional display is more spacious than on the Hip-Dac.

My KXXS’es sound very spacious in this combo.

In addition, I personally think that the xBass in the Hip-Dac is generally a bit “more coarsely” defined than in the rest of the ifi audio portfolio.

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68

Got it. When I had the xCAN, I was fairly new to the hobby and lacked good IEM’s & Headphones which probably resulted in my poor opinion of the xCAN’s performance.

The fingerprint magnet finish did not help it’s case either.

69

anybody that owns the go blu getting regular or recurring connection issues with bt ? e.g. put phone in 1 pocket and the gb in another and it loses connection?

70

Yep. Started happening once I went mobile with them. I am not used to thinking about it. The Qudelix works a floor away across the house when I leave the phone in the office.

71

My BTR5 is fine unless I get the indoor part of the HVAC between it and the wifi access point. All wifi dies there, as does my cell reception, so I am not too critical of that unit.

72

Yeah, my btr5 (original, not new)is ok. Basically what I expected. Qudelix just keeps exceeding expectations.

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73

Having had the go blu for over a month now im still very happy with it.

Its not perfect though, my former portable BTR5 had a more stable bluetooth connection, go blu randomly skips occasionally, not a deal breaker for me and mostly happens when its in my hand, far away or in movement.

Also the clip on capability of the BTR5 made it feel more portable and useful as a microphone you could hang to your shirt. I will tape a clip to my go blu so this will be better lol.

The SE out sounds a little lackluster compared to the BAL out, so im not really convinced in that S-bal tech of this product but also havent done a really extensive comparison so put an extra grain of salt to this statement.

Now the good part (still comparing to BTR5)

Overall more resolving, with better presentation, more colorful hence more engaging.

Handles picky and hard to drive cans incredibly well for its specs and cost, like the clears or the beyer T1.2 for example, I couldnt believe how well some of these matchups work but they do.

(On some headphones the BTR5 had better synergy for my taste though, but on the majority of my cans the go blu wins, sometimes by a lot)

The way the volume synchronices with the connected device is an amazing feature, the volume wheel is not only good, it can adjust the volume perfectly to where I want it either with the wheel or from my phone. Also 0 accidental volume changes while in pocket.

I really like how subtle the xbass and 3d implementation is, they slightly change the timbre so it can fix some mixes and make some synergies even better.

End of my small review/comparison

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Theres a lot of praise for the qudelix 5k and some new competition like the UP5, btr5 2021 and others soon to be released (maybe a new qudelix?), I may get a q5k just to see if it lives up to the hype lol… Though I dont really expect to like it more as I really like the ifi house sound-

And I would also like to try other portable solutions like dongles or bigger boys like the gryphon (having bulk in my pockets annoys so not very likely), so ill see how the go blu stacks up in the not so distant future.

4 Likes
74

Not sure about UP5 or BTR5 2021 but yes, I’ve read a lot of posts about how good the Qudelix 5K is, some going as far as comparing the 5k with Desktop setups and liking Qudelix more (with IEM’s).

Honestly, these days, I’m finding the difference in sound quality between DAC’s is less and less. For me, it comes down to two things

  1. Does the device have the features I’m looking for?

  2. How it pairs with my gear.
    Ex: iFi devices have warmer signature and pair well with HiFiMan Headphones, while Warm Headphones most of the time pair well with more Transparent DAC’s… etc.

4 Likes
75

I’m curious if you were using a TRRS 3.5 connection or a standard TRS 3.5? Or tried both?

76

I only have trs 3.5mm headphones, and I dont think 3.5trrs should be used on this port if the phones are actually balanced.

It was kind of a connotatively bad way to say that I prefer the balanced out and hear a difference as should be

77

I use the Hart audio cable system and both the trs and trrs connections work in the s-balanced port regardless of the phones being balanced or not. At least that is the case on the hip dac. Maybe I’m cheating a bit though with the Hart system :man_shrugging:.

Last night I was going back and forth between a trs and trrs connection with my t60rp’s (balanced phones) on my hip dac and honestly couldn’t tell a difference, but I do think the 4.4 out sounds better than the se out. I wonder if others in the forum have experimented and can hear a difference between trs and trrs from the s-balanced port on any iFi product that has the feature.

78

what are your thoughts on the xbass and 3D/soundstage EQs? Something you enjoy or does it make a big difference?

79

I can only speak for the xbass function as I don’t have anything with the 3D ability. I do like the xbass, but definitely not with every headphone.

With the t60rp I find its not the best fit. The bass is already decently boosted with the zmf pads I’m using and I think the xbass muddies things up a bit and you loose some overall detail. However, with the Elegia or HD6XX I do enjoy using the xbass as it brings out the low end in an enjoyable way. It gives the elegias that little bit extra bass that I typically enjoy without loosing any or very little detail. I think with the 6XX they get closer to being a complete headphone for my taste. The mids stay crisp and It adds some low end punch that I personally feel they lack.

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80

The xbass and 3d make a huge difference on most ifi products, and they are very addicting too, but the go blu in particular took a different approach making those filters very subtle.

81

My personal mobile Nr: 1 pick (with activated 3D function, it has hardly anything to do with the usual in-ear sound behavior)

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