iFi AUDIO GO LINK

iFi Audio launched in 2012, as a side company of Abbingdon Music Research. They quickly became known in the headphone world for making some excellent sounding headphone amps, DACs, and tweaks including a lovely valve buffer called the iTube. Fast forward to 2023 and iFi have released a plethora of products including affordable DAC/Amps, phono pre-amps and electrostatic energisers, to say they have come a long way is an understatement.

The GO link is one of their latest products, and at only £59 it promises to revolutionise the listening experience of those who use their smartphones for playback whilst on-the-go. Can it shake up the 3.5mm dongle market, or does it fall short?

FEATURES AND BUILD OF THE iFi GO LINK

The GO link is a very small device, with a USB-C connector on one end and 3.5mm jack housed in a small metal enclosure on the other. It comes with a lightning adapter for iPhones in the box along with a USB-C to A adapter too - this also allows you to use it with a PC. There is an LED indicator that changes colour depending on whether you are listening to PCM/DSD or MQA, and iFi Audio have gone to great lengths to get the best out of this little dongle.

Inside the GO link you will find an ESS ES9219MQ/Q DAC chip featuring 32-bit HyperStream III architecture, along with this iFi Audio have fitted its own dedicated clock circuitry using a specialised crystal oscillator. iFi Audio have also optimised the DACs performance by utilising some of the tech ESS built into the chip, something that is often overlooked by other brands.

Instead of letting the software control the volume, which can result in a loss of digital Bits (reducing the quality of the output), the GO links volume is all controlled internally at the DAC chip. This hardware-based volume control is another feature not commonly found on similar dongles.