iFi GO Link - Portable DAC & Headphone Amplifier - USB-C to 3.5mm Adapter - Improve Sound from Any Device - Gold-Plated 3.5mm Headphone Socket – Supports Hi-Resolution 32-bit/384kHz/DSD256/MQA

The iFi Go Link provides improved sound for very little money. The braided wire seems fragile so be careful. So far, I'm enjoying it. Update: I was listening to some lossless rips of CDs I own and found one just didn't sound good. It sounded like a noisy recording so I decided to to a head-to-head comparison. I'm playing Taylor Guitar's Wood & Steel collection of artists playing beautifully recorded music. I ripped the CD into lossless FLAC files played through my Chromebook. My headphones are Sennheiser HD599. I plug the headphone jack into the analog jack of the Chromebook. The iFi GO Link goes into the USB 3 port. The difference isn't big but the iFi Go Link provides a clearer sound, a cleaner background, better stereo separation, cleaner details, and a more open sound; less tiring. The analog connection just doesn't sound as open. Does it make enough of a difference? I say yes.. For this price, I'm happy. Should you purchase the iFi Go Link? There are more important elements in the chain that should attend to first. 1. Make sure you have a good lossless recording or are listening to a CD directly. It can't get better than your source material. 2. The best headphones you want to purchase. I don't feel the need to purchase $600 headphones but these Sennheiser's are working for me. You can enter the discussion about in-ear vs headphones, over the ear vs around the ear, open back vs closed back, wireless vs wired, noise cancelling vs not, balanced vs unbalanced cables, and planar magnetic vs dynamic technology. There are pros and cons to each. This is where you should spend the most money and research time aside from the cost of the music itself. 3. The digital to analog converter (DAC)/amplifier hardware. You can spend a lot of money here but for my usage the iFi Go Link hit the right price point for my first foray into DACs. I think this matches what my headphones and ear send to my brain. 4. What's fourth? I guess it's your ear and your environment. Right now, while I'm listening I can still hear my air conditioner. As far as my ear, I've lost some upper midrange but the high end is still pretty good (audiologist tested). I'm experienced musically so I know what to listen for. Of course, you mileage will vary. I think that my audio chain is pretty well matched. If I chose a more expensive DAC/amp I might need better headphones and a better listening room. I don't feel tempted by the $200 DAC/amps out there.

The iFi GO Link is a gem. I generally like iFi's products, and this ain't my first audio rodeo. As more devices go to the USB-C port, I found I wanted something inexpensive but solid, and a step above an Apple dongle. I give away a fair number of headphones and IEMs to friends and family and recently I've been including an iFi GO link with them, because wired still gives the best sound for the money. And the best sound period. I have used this DAC/AMP with my iPad, with a generic droid tablet, and with and adapter with iPhone 12. Friends have used it with various droid phones and computers. Nobody has had any problems. That alone is worth a few stars. I like that the parts are separated by a short length of quality wire. This reduces microphony and makes it easier to transport, even when on. Users should note that the fit of the female jack is quite firm and tight. You will need to push to properly plug in a TRS plug. This is desireable in a portable device. I've sourced this from ROON, QOBUZ, Apple Music, and local files. The indicator light DOES turn yellow when playing higher-res files, but is set to be green on flac at 44.1/16 and 24 and 96/24 files, so if you don't see it change color it's probably because it's performing as designed. As usual, the iFi sound signature is clean, no artifacts, and slightly warm, even though this is an ESS based device. I find that it provides adequate power for any of my IEMs, and most headphones. This is NOT the device to use for headphones that only sound their best with plenty of power. That said, I did not experience drop-outs or any power concerns from native USB-C devices, and I did not try to stress the system while using a lightning adapter (voltage limitations). I find myself going to this device ahead of more expensive devices such as the AudioQuest Dragonfly Cobalt, because the sound quality is similar, and because it has better connectivity (USB-C vs USB-A). It does NOT take the place of higher end desktop devices for those who are deeper in the rabbit hole - it's just a better choice for the times when you want ultra portable and simple to use. Amazon asks you to rate volume control, but that is entirely based on the device to which it is connected and the app you are using. It will mimic what you expect. Phone volume up and down buttons give coarser control, while in-app sliders allow fine adjustment. Just for the record, I've bought 4 of these so far, one for me, and have given away three. I wouldn't do that if I didn't think it was near bulletproof in its intended role.

The iFi GO Link is a pretty little dongle. The cable feels rather thin and possible breaking point. I'll need to be careful with it. The sound from the iFi GO Link is immediately noticeable with my Sennheiser headphones. The sound is quite airy, with very crisp and separated highs. The mids are very present. The low end is a bit lacking. There is no "Punch." The soundstage is slightly narrower than I had hoped. The overall sound was rather quiet, I had to nearly maximize the volume control to have it where I wanted it. I hooked up my iFi Nano BL to my phone with my Sennheisers, and heard the sound I've grown to love. Less than 50% audio dial settings sound amazingly full, crisp, and punchy. It made me realize this little dongle isn't going to be a replacement, but something useful in certain cases, like my car. With my Sennheiser's, the sound wasn't anything to write home about. It's nothing I'd want to rush and show my friends. The Nano BL is far superior in that accent. I noticed the dongle did get rather warm after about 30 minutes of music listening. When I hooked this up to my PC, I will say the audio it produced was very nice through my surround sound speakers. The airy nature and tightness of the sound was perfect for the surround set up. I assume in my car, this will have the same experience. I would be 100% satisfied with this sound improvement over my PC 3.5mm jack. I will update if I find issues in my car or later on, but until now, I'm happy with my purchase.

At his price point, it’s an amazing piece of tech. The sound quality is quite good and it’s easy to use. I also had excellent experience using iFi support. I did have 2 minor issues but neither were show-stoppers. One is that if you use it with inefficient headphones, it may not achieve the volume you want. If you push the volume too high, the Go Link will cause the sound to cut out. The one other issue is that I’m a bit Roon user. The Go Link is not Roon Ready nor Tested (which I knew going in). Using it with Roon and a Sonore microRendu endpoint, I did run into an occasional issue where switching music from one sample rate to another would cause a static like noise. Bottom line, I think it works great for use with my iPhone or out of my laptop USB. It does come with a USB-C to A adapter as well as an adapter for an iPhone.

Long time audio engineer here. Pretty good headroom and depth. Good sound quality and detail — when it works. Often half resets if the usbc is jossled and routinely fails when first inserted. When it does this you get FULL volume white noise. DO NOT put your earbuds in first. Make sure the device connects correctly before you put the headphones to your ears. Otherwise, if the usb handshake goes poorly (25% chance each time) you'll have tinnitus for the rest of the day; if you can still hear at all. Unacceptable firmware. Makes the device unusable.

I don't think of myself as an audiophile but I've grown to appreciate good sound quality in my music. I did a little research about DAC's and I came across this one. It was highly rated across the internet and it was also inexpensive. I've had it sitting in my cart for months because I have several other cheaper DAC's and those all sounded the same. I was afraid that this iFi GO Link DAC would sound the same as the other DAC's that I have and I would have wasted my money. Boy, was I wrong. Music sounds amazing with this iFi GO Link DAC! It doesn't just increase the volume and call it a day (though, it does increase it quite a bit). It also increases the soundstage and I absolutely love a wide soundstage. It doesn't boost the amount of bass in the music, which I'm glad for because I'm already using bass-heavy headphones, but it does lift the quieter elements in a song to where it's like really hearing the full depth of that song for the first time. Now I get to go back through my music collection and enjoy it even more and in a way that I haven't before. There was no setup that needed to be done. I just plugged the DAC into my phone then plug my headphones into the DAC and that was it. As I was using it it did get a little warm but not hot at all. I have no complaints whatsoever. This just might be the best purchase I've made all year!

Was not what I was expecting. The good: Plug and play functionality with computer and laptop, sounds great, accessories and adapters are huge plus. The bad: Doesn't work on my phone (S23 Ultra), can't apply EQ settings on computer easily (requires third party programs and installs) The "my mistake": Made the error of asking ChatGPT for a DAC with inline mic support and it came up with the Ifi Go Link. This DAC *DOES NOT* support inline mics, so learn from my mistake and do you own research! Overall, the DAC does what DACs do, but it did not meet up to the functionalities that I was hoping to use it for.

Keep in mind, I have only been a budget “audiophile” for around a month. I was looking for a portable solution for someone who didn’t want to drop $200+ on a portable DAC/AMP so I would feel comfortable taking it everywhere with me. I took a gamble (not a very big one at all tho) and bought the Go Link even though reviews were scarce and the product is so new that none of the audiophile creators I follow for advice had said anything about it. And in my humble, amateurish opinion, this is an incredible piece of tech that could have easily been up-charged $50-100. I read that iFi has been shooting for affordable portable high-res and I think they hit the bullseye with this little guy. This thing punches way above its weight class and includes enough attachments that it becomes an excellent AND versatile tool for people interested in hi-fi products. It comes with USB-C natively with Lightning and USB adapters. I’m not kidding when I say if you are new to this stuff, a good pair of headphones or IEMS and the Go Link are a perfect place to start. On testing the comparison in audio, I alternated between a Samsung USB-C dongle and the Go Link. I was listening on a Samsung tablet whose sound card is about as consumer grade as it gets. On my Sennheiser 86x headphones, the hardest to drive headphones I have at 150Ω, the sound went from pretty quiet even at high volumes to crisp, clear and deep with the Go Link. I’m not an expert just yet, but the difference was the most obvious with the 86x. I also used my Salnotes Zero IEMs and this is where it was most impressive since IEMs are significantly easier to drive. You could hear the musicians breathing in some tracks with the IEM Go Link combo. I also ran a test with my Koss Porta Pros and another noticeable difference there as well. Basically, this thing is unreal at this price. Not to mention it is so much smaller than i thought it was going to be, it’s portability is incredible. I have no idea how they fit the amount of oomf this thing has into such a small package. If you’re entry level, start here. Don’t spend the hours and hours of scouring I did to find the right option for someone who isn’t interested in spending thousands on Hi-Fi equipment. It’s not going to get better than this in terms of value and you aren’t going to get buyers remorse considering how affordable this is.