As above, so below. Here’s my experience with the Go-Link so far (NOT a review)
I bought the Go-Link as an intended upgrade to the Apple dongle I was using with my new phone (an Oppo Find X5 Pro). I tried it in store before purchasing one and the main takeaway from that experience was that I liked the sound coming from that headphone jack, but it was LOUD (I was testing with a pair of CA Mammoths). Once I put the IEMatch between the Go-Link and the Mammoths though that resolved the loudness issue.
Naturally I plugged in my freshly-purchased Go-Link after I left the store and started the journey back to where I was staying (30 minutes by tram then 90 minutes by train, listening to music the whole way.)
After about 10 minutes on the train I was slapped up the side of the head by a couple of loud clicks, which I thought might have been in the mix of the song I was listening to. I also noticed the Go Link was getting rather warm. I switched from Plexamp to Spotify to listen to something I’d downloaded there and as I kept listening the pops and clicks started to come in bursts every ~5 minutes, continuing when I switched back to Plexamp since I thought it might have been a software interoperability issue. Not wanting to risk my IEMs or my hearing any further I switched back to the Apple dongle for the remainder of my train ride.
When I got back to where I was staying I found the tools for flashing the firmware (curiously as has been pointed out before, the Go-Link ships with a newer version of firmware than is available on ifi’s download portal), I flashed firmware v1.66 figuring the situation couldn’t get worse if I did, then started some slightly more detailed testing.
Firstly I used the included lightning adapter to test the Go-Link with Spotify on an iPad. I left it running for ~6 hours to see if it would warm up the same way it did on my phone. It didn’t warm up with the iPad and when I came back to listen after those six hours had elapsed I didn’t hear any of the artefacts from the train ride the day before.
I next tested with Spotify on an LG V60 for around 90 minutes to see if it was an OS issue, and despite the V60 giving a very low volume level to the Go-Link (but still totally usable with my IEMs without having the IEMatch in the signal path) I still heard no artefacts, and the Go-Link didn’t heat up.
Finally I re-tested the Oppo on my flight home yesterday, running the setup for ~2 hours using Plexamp, Musicolet and Pocket Casts (not using UAPP with the Oppo, before anyone asks) and while the Go-Link did warm up again, I didn’t have any issues with the pops and clicks from the train ride. I still haven’t tested Spotify on the Oppo, but I’ll get there in time. Long-term I want to upgrade to the Go-Blu, but in my brief period of owning the Go-Link I find this to be a worthy upgrade over the Apple dongle and am happy to have plonked down the cash for one
