Great review.

Excellent review!
I have one on the way and excited to test it out.

Are you aware of any detailed comparisons with excellent DAP/cable setups @McCol? Can't wait for the day to leave those behind if the quality trade-off is not too bad, so I'm interested in learning how far we are at this point in time.

One thing that is an extreme problem with gear like this is that batteries HAVE to be user replacable. My XM4's have gone from 36 to 13 hrs in 2 years time and will soon become useless. 400 quid for the Go Pod may not be an extreme price as a one time thing, but if you need to do it every 2nd or 3rd year then it's all of a sudden super expensive.

drftr

They seem better than UTWS5, especially for the support of the LDAC.

@drftr fully agree with you on this, 400 may not be much for a one time thing, but it gets very costly especially if you have to do it every 2 years or even lesser depending on your usage/charging habit. if only some brands can come out with something that's possible to replace the battery by the users, that's a win in my book, in terms of longevity and sound quality.

@drftr
I plan to spend more time over the next couple of weeks doing some more impressions against my N7 DAP and the Shanling H7 DAC/AMP/Bluetooth unit.

I'm keen to see how close in percentage terms I feel the Go Pods get to these units.

The more I compare to the BTR7 the more I feel the sound quality on the Go Pods (to my ears) is of a better quality. The BTR7 is warmer but I feel the Go Pods are more detailed and accurate when using with my Fibae 7U earphones.

Totally agree on the battery point and the cost this could entail over time.

Hopefully @iFi audio is following the comments section

drftr

Whilst they don't have LDAC support, I find the combination of the iBasso CF01 MMCX bluetooth adaptors paired with my Magaosi K3 Pro's a real match made in heaven. I wonder how these would compare to the Go-Pod.

Have not tried the Go Pods yet but judging from the pictures and owning the CF01, I am pretty sure the latter at least are more ergonomic. The Go Pods seem to stick out strangely from the ear? I feel iBasso nailed it in terms of looks and ergonomics compared to all other similar devices. On the other hand the CF01 has an impedance problem and its sound really depends on the earphone you pair it with. Somet fit well (using the IT07 with it), but others have reported major frequency response changes, especially in the bass department. So I guess the Go Pods might be better here.

@Hanesu

The Go Pods don't stick out behind the ear, maybe my picture gives the impression but they sit really flush behind the ear and against my head.
There is a slight overlap but this is actually a good thing as it means your finger can easily place on the control pad on each ear.

The fit looks very good

+1