A pocket Bluetooth DAC/amp that sources agree is unusually powerful for its size: comparisons with the BTR5, Qudelix 5K and similar receivers put its balanced output at or near the top, and most reviewers drove full-size headphones from it. They agree just as widely that it hisses into sensitive IEMs, especially from the 4.4 mm jack, and iFi's own staff say one fixed gain setting was a compromise. The sound is liked almost everywhere, but described two ways: most hear iFi's smooth, slightly warm house sound, while a large minority hear a linear or forward, occasionally bright presentation, and a few say it is indistinguishable from its rivals. The rest splits between reviewers and owners. The ChronoDial is the most praised control in the class, but some owners report the wheel jumping the volume to maximum. Reviewers call the build premium, while owners report swollen batteries and early failures. The Bluetooth range is measurably weaker than rivals', though some users never notice it. The app-free design delights some reviewers and loses others, who want EQ and a gain switch. Whether it is worth the money divides roughly evenly, with the Qudelix 5K as the usual alternative.
About this product
The original 2021 GO blu with 4.4 mm balanced and 3.5 mm outputs and the ChronoDial volume wheel. iFi now lists it as end of line; its successor is the cheaper GO blu Air, a different product not covered here. Not the wired GO bar or GO link dongles.
iFi's GO blu is a 54 × 34 × 13 mm Bluetooth receiver lighter than an AA battery, with a copper-coloured front plate, a clicking watch-crown volume wheel iFi calls the ChronoDial, and both a 4.4 mm balanced and a 3.5 mm output. Inside are a Qualcomm QCC5100 radio that takes every mainstream codec from SBC to LDAC and LHDC, a Cirrus Logic CS43131 DAC, a twin-mono amplifier rated at 245 mW into 32 ohms balanced, a microphone for calls, and iFi's XBass and XSpace analogue voicing switches. It also works as a wired USB-C DAC up to 24-bit/96 kHz.
It launched in late 2021 at $199 against the FiiO BTR5 and the Qudelix 5K, and the reviews were warm: five stars from What Hi-Fi?, a place on Headfonia's recommended list, and Z Reviews calling it the new benchmark. The owners' threads filled up just as fast with talk of hiss, Bluetooth range and, later, swollen batteries. iFi has since marked it end of line in favour of the cheaper GO blu Air, but the original is still sold, often below its launch price.
