[Ichos]

The Samurai is here.

 

[Blackrao]

I got to try Ifi Go Bar Kensei and I am very impressed by the overall upgrade in not only aesthetic but the sound quality is honestly really good for a dongle dac/amp

 

[iullian]

I got to try Ifi Go Bar Kensei and I am very impressed by the overall upgrade in not only aesthetic but the sound quality is honestly really good for a dongle dac/amp

You mentioned crossfeed in the beginning of your video. Is this real? As it is the first time I heard about this about Go Bar, or any IFI DACs.

 

[Blackrao]

You mentioned crossfeed in the beginning of your video. Is this real? As it is the first time I heard about this about Go Bar, or any IFI DACs.

xspace adds some crossfeed to make it more speaker like and immersive

 

[iullian]

xspace adds some crossfeed to make it more speaker like and immersive

I have 4 IFI DACs and never associated the xSpace with crossfeed. Thank you for opening my eyes. I just enjoyed the output and never wondered why ...

 

[KaiFi]

It's getting to the point where I'm preferring the Kensei to the KA17. At first it was a little difficult to choose between them, but after listening to them both side-by-side more, to me the Kensei just sounds like a general "step up" from the KA17 sonically, though the KA17 is certainly a worthy dongle amp and punches above its low price tag. But the Kensei is making my ZMF Bokeh really shine and I've preferred listening to it more these past several days. And I prefer it with K2 HD left on and the Minimum phase filter.

 

[ThEvil0nE]

If you're into CD, K2(44.1kHz)/K2HD(192kHz) (era specific) is a remastering technique to closely recreate original master sound. There's many types of these remastering techniques and the way to know if an album was produced/remastered in any of these technique is by looking for it on album cover and or cd/vinyl label.

 

[Billyak]

I have found this video on YouTube going in to, what appears to be, the K2 process for CD's.



I still fail to see how this fits in to the go bar's playback method.

 

[Polky74]

Sorry, maybe I wasn't very careful but can the K2 function be deactivated? And if it can be deactivated, how does listening differ with and without its activation? Thank you.

 

[iFi audio]

Sorry, maybe I wasn't very careful but can the K2 function be deactivated? And if it can be deactivated, how does listening differ with and without its activation? Thank you.

Yes, the function can be turned on or off, to your liking.

For listening I'll leave that to the folks that have one for impressions.

Cheers!!

 

[jsmiller58]

It's getting to the point where I'm preferring the Kensei to the KA17. At first it was a little difficult to choose between them, but after listening to them both side-by-side more, to me the Kensei just sounds like a general "step up" from the KA17 sonically, though the KA17 is certainly a worthy dongle amp and punches above its low price tag. But the Kensei is making my ZMF Bokeh really shine and I've preferred listening to it more these past several days. And I prefer it with K2 HD left on and the Minimum phase filter.

The KA17 is much more, analytical or bright to my ears than the Kensei. Like you, the Kensei to me is much more pleasant and engaging to listen to than the KA17, with the Kensei having a bit warmer, fuller, and more engaging tonality. And, of course with XBass, XSpace, and K2HD the sound is unbelievably good, to me - I can only bring myself to turning them off to remind myself what the Kensei sounds like with them without those, and how much I like XSpace, XBass, and Kensei. But I can see where KA17 might fit in, if the IEM or headphone is overly dark to begin with. Now that I’m home from traveling I’ll have to try both the Kensei and KA17 with my Bokeh and Quattro, which to me are already pretty warm.

 

[Condocondor]

So, I wanted to post this quote from the Youtuber "Pragmatic Audio" comments section since the Queststyle M15 seems to be the gold standard (now dethroned by the Kensei GoBar.)

"@pragmatic_audio_review
Yes the kensei xspace and xbass are very similar to the Gryphon in Levels. As for the K2 it isn't fickle even YouTube is processing decently. I have the Questyle m15 , it is very good but the Gobar not only has better stage and dynamics but eclipses most with it's features."

 

[jsmiller58]

The KA17 is much more, analytical or bright to my ears than the Kensei. Like you, the Kensei to me is much more pleasant and engaging to listen to than the KA17, with the Kensei having a bit warmer, fuller, and more engaging tonality. And, of course with XBass, XSpace, and K2HD the sound is unbelievably good, to me - I can only bring myself to turning them off to remind myself what the Kensei sounds like with them without those, and how much I like XSpace, XBass, and Kensei. But I can see where KA17 might fit in, if the IEM or headphone is overly dark to begin with. Now that I’m home from traveling I’ll have to try both the Kensei and KA17 with my Bokeh and Quattro, which to me are already pretty warm.

I tried the Bokeh on both the KA17 and the Kensei, thinking there would be better synergy on the KA17 as the Bokeh already is a bit dark. Surprisingly the Bokeh on the KA17 was quite a bit more flat sounding, while lively and punchy on the Kensei. I still have to try the Quattro, which given its very dark presentation I will expect the KA17 to do better with the Quattro, but we'll see as the Kensei continues to surprise me

 

[BS5711]

I got to try Ifi Go Bar Kensei and I am very impressed by the overall upgrade in not only aesthetic but the sound quality is honestly really good for a dongle dac/amp

Correct me if I am mistaken but the technology isn’t upscaling, it is interpolating lost information beyond 20khz or thereabouts.

 

[Syan25]

I'm interested in the X Bass option. Is it subtle?