So I received my Go One friday morning and as usual with dynamic drivers, I waited a bit to post impressions so that I had a bit of time to burn them in, my experience with Graphene dynamic is that they do open quite a bit after burn in so I set it for a 36 hours burn in from the M8.
First a few quick pics before I take proper studio shots, I picked a transparent design with a simple left and right color coding but I like the result
And the bluetooth module (just half of it the other one is similarly sized and without the controls, I'll take more pics later) :
So... that's how a custom Go One looks, but how does the first dynamic (and BT enabled) IEM from Piotr sound?
Running the BT module, first thing is smooth and pairing with my iPhone (and android devices as well) was effortless as it should.
Second, the range is excellent as is to be expected from a BT 5.0 device. Battery life looks great too but I need more time to give figures.
Last but not least, as I discovered when I plugged the Go One to my DAPs the BT module has a nice output power and driving authority.
This is something that is often lacking. Not the case there kudos to Custom Art from picking the good stuff
Yes, Go One is 16ohm and 110dB so shouldn't be hard to drive. In the real world though, it needs a bit of power to be driven well and the BT module does a great job.
Out of the BT module, the Go One is a full sounding unit that is both smooth and fun with a strong bass line, full mids and nice energy and extension up top. Staging I would say is close to FIBAE4 and bigger than the more intimate Black and in absolute terms it's above average with a notably good height. Imaging is good out of BT and very good out of a DAP.
Don't let its driver size fool you, Go One packs some excellent slam with plenty of mid bass delivered with punch and good control. The bass line is strong and well textured. Speed is excellent, the 6mm driver choice is paying off there and made sense from the BT power perspective. The sub bass extension is decent but the bass is clearly tilted towards the mid bass. On to the mids, I was happy to recognize Custom Art house sound there : the Go Gone packs smooth, full midrange with the right touch of bite to make it exciting althought it's less vibrant than say FIBAE7 but more along the lines of FIBAE4. It packs more bite than my beloved FIBAE Black and as such I find the Go One more lively in the upper midrange. Last but not least, the Go One treble has a nice energy in the lower treble (something I lacked a bit in F4) but more importantly I was surprised by the Go One extension up top (something I lacked a bit in the Black although it's part of the charm). Go One treble section is balanced and unexpectedly refined at this price point.
Next thing I did of course after a few hours with the BT module is plug the Go One to my N6ii/R01 with Penon OSG cable.
Out of a DAP, the Go One clearly scales up and my first surprise was to need to push the N6ii to High Gain and the volume close to volume levels of... my Elysium with is my hardest to drive IEM. But I was rewarded by a more balanced presentation : a tad less mid bass emphasis doubled with better control, much better separation in the midrane, more accurate timbre and impressive extension and refinement up top for the price. Staging and imaging also greatly benefited, with more air and separation reaching another level.
Granted this is a much unfair comparison between a BT module and a 600$ R2R DAC card for a 1K$+ DAP but it shows how the Go One does scale. I'll include R6 2020, DX300 and M8 to the comparison but let me say right away N6ii/R01 and R6 2020 were the best pairing for my taste.
It's very early so I need more time for the full review but let me say I am quite happy with Go One right now, not always easy to get excited about mid tier IEMs when you're lucky to own quite a few TOTL but this one is a lot of fun to listen to and deceptively strong performer technically, going to be a fun review
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