My iFi Gold Bar! I got this from Japan from a dealer, I was incredibly lucky and managed to snag it at her cost! It truly is like the reviews say, it can replace some desktop setups!
I also own an iFi XDSD Gryphon, and for a while I was using it solely, through USB. Then I went back to the Gold Bar, and WOW! I prefer it more then the Gryphon, it has a fuller sound, everything sounds more forward, especially the low end.
The one thing I don’t like is that it doesn’t have a 0 noise floor. The power supply internals have been upgraded from the regular Go Bar, but still, listening using the super-sensitive Campfire Andromeda’s, there is a hiss in between songs and during very quiet passages. With the right USB cable though (DDHifi Nyx USB C) that shields the power and the data signals individually, I can eliminate the hiss in songs, and only hear it between songs if I listen for it.
Overall, one of the great loves of my life, makes digital bits into sweet, sweet angel’s tears!
Thanks for the shout out u/Tryptamine9!
We only made 1000 of these and a lot of them were bought in Japan!
I’m glad you’re enjoying the device. I’ve fed back the comments on this thread to the development team - regarding the noise floor being where it is… The honest responses you get on forums are genuinely useful to read and work on.
Feel free to DM me or head to our sub if you wanted any advice on anything :]
Thanks,Phil
Hey, thanks for the comment! I am enjoying the device greatly! Its a critical part of my standard audio stack whether I’m listening on my laptop or my smartphone. DDHifi TC09S USB cable -> iFi Gold Bar -> ALO/Campfire Audio SXC8 4.4mm MMCX cable -> Campfire Andromeda. All I might change is an upgrade to custom Campfire Supermoon’s for much better fit and a different sound with a deeper, more present low end. Though there will be no change in DAC!
I was toying with the idea of selling the Gold Bar and buying a Mojo 2, but after reading and watching some opinions, I can see that when placed against the Gold Bar (not the Go Bar), some prefer the Mojo 2, but more seem to prefer the Gold Bar, even preferring it to $2000 DAPs! Hearing all that, and knowing if I sold it that there would be absolutely 0 chance of ever replacing it I’d be a fool to get rid of such a unique and wonderful device!
Noise floor aside its perfect. And the noise floor I’ve found a way to minimize with the USB cable I’m using. I know almost everyone says USB cables can’t make any difference unless they are defective, and I would have agreed in the past, but I believe in the scientific method, and testing out a hypothesis with an experiment and then trusting experimental evidence. It may not make a difference you can hear on other DACs, but on the Gold Bar it does.
Thanks for passing on this info to your development team! I have previously reported this to you via support, but I’m really glad your active in the community on these forums and others. It shows a unique care and interaction with your customers, and that right there makes me more of a fan of your products! Thanks for making good stuff with excellent support, and taking care of your customers!
So, although I have already messaged you this directly, I thought it best to add this message to the thread as it may benefit anyone else reading the comments to see:
I just checked your IEM’s matched with our GO bar on the headphone calculator tool on our website. This tool shows you if your headphones/IEMS (the list we’ve gathered has nearly all headphones options on there) match well with our DACs & Headphone amps (we have our full range uploaded on there too)
The Campfire Andromeda’s are quite sensitive IEMs with measurments showing 112.8 dB/mW.
Matched with our GO bar it shows that the volume would be too high if used together, regardless of if you chose the 4.4mm or 3.5 headphone output.
It also shows the volume being too high for the IEM’s even if you purchased one of our separate iEMatch cable adaptors too…
However, if you wanted to use an individual iEMatch (sold separately) in combination with the built in iEMatch on the GOLD bar then this could bring it down to a better noise floor for level you.
The GO bar is a very powerful little unit which is why we built in an iEMatch feature, but in this case I can see how it may be causing issues for you with those IEM’s specifically due to their sensitivity.
Maybe try another pair or IEM’s or headphones and this could potentially be a better pairing… Or if you are set on using this pairing of IEM’s and GO bar the you could have a look at doubling up your iEMatch in the signal path.
FYI iEMatch does not compromise signal quality, it just lowers the output.
I hope this helps to offer some sort of solution for your hissing!
Thanks,
Phil
Definition of iEMatch
I’m posting this part of my reply for others as well, since I don’t want others to think the Go Bar is unusable with sensitive headphones! It is usable, as my experience shows:
I have tried the IEMMatch feature, and it works well actually. if I set it to 3.5, it lowers it enough that I can still hear the hiss, but at the 4.4 setting I can only hear the hiss if I really listen for it. Unfortunately, it steals a little bit from the low end and bass, which is weird… It certainty doesn’t affect the quality of the sound at all, its just the Andromeda headphones, they are known to have a change in frequency response based on output impedance of the source. I’ve long heard this with my ears, and then I later saw a graph on Crinacle in their IEM frequency response database for Andromeda 2020’s (the model I have) where they measured with a standalone IEMMatch, and indeed there is more bass roll-off… These headphones are picky!
The Andromeda’s like more power than you would think… They sing when given some good juice! Also, the features like the filter settings and the X Bass and X Space are amazing to have. Buying the DDHifi TC09S Nyx USB C to C cable really did help too, so for others this is actually a solution. You will still hear a hiss between songs, but during music playing it will be absent, it is so low you won’t hear it in quiet passages. I would say that this is a great pairing because the quality of the Gold Bar is amazing, and the Go Bar isn’t supposed to be *that* far behind, and the Andromeda’s can take advantage of that quality. The soundstage is so vast, that when watching movies you can hear as though you are listening to a surround sound system. When listening to music the sounds come from behind you, in front of you, to your sides, all around! You can hear every last detail too, things I’ve never heard before in music I’ve been listening to all my life!
I have been planning on buying custom Campfire Supermoon’s sometime too, and those are quite insensitive planar IEMs (15.5 Ohms, 94 dB @ 1 kHz: 54 mVrms). The Gold Bar should be a decent pairing with those beasts, I hope!
I know that its almost impossible, or it may actually be impossible to design a headphone amplifier with both high output power and a low noise floor for super sensitive headphones! It really is one or the other, either you design an amplifier for sensitive headphones that has lower output power, or you design a powerful amp and it will have a higher noise floor. Personally, I bough the Gold Bar for its quality, which is unsurpassed by cheaper, less powerful amps with a lower noise floor, so I’m OK with the hiss, especially since I’ve found a way to make it better with a better USB cable! Also, I am thinking of buying an iDefender and trying an external power source for the DAC to give it clean power when its hooked into my laptop. that should also help!