[iFi audio]

so basically hardware is the same but it got some software tweaks? Couldnt find much facts between all the marketing, sorry if i am wrong.

There have been changes to the hardware, comparative shots of The original GO Bar and Kensei can be found on our website!

Cheers!!

 

[dawidhifi]

This looks super nice! I'm wondering if it would be a good match for my Hifiman HEK Stealth and Sennheiser IE 600.

 

[musicday]

300mW @ 32 ohm for the single ended 3.5 mm, nice

 

[KaiFi]

Just when I'm getting comfortable with my KA17, a competitor comes out with an update...might have to get this

What are the volume intervals like on the Go Bar? Are they particularly large or small? The KA17 allows you to set this yourself, which is nice.

 

[Billyak]

I'm not familiar with K2HD technology so it would be interesting to see how it is utilised here.

I had a very brief scan of the K2HD website and it seemed to imply that it was part of the recording chain (ADC) and not the playback chain (DAC) but I might be very wrong.

 

[feverfive]

Not a "need" nor "want" for me as of now, but I'll be keeping this in the back of my mind for down the road. An aesthetic gripe: I look forward to the day when that Hi-Res sticker is no longer plastered over everything.

 

[BS5711]

Very very early impressions in short snippets, with more to come…. Tiny, and built like a tank. Minimalistic and clean feel. Very rich and full sounding. XBass is addictive. There is oh so much power - so far for headphones I have driven my Aeon Noire and my Meze 109 Pro, and for IEMs Pula Pa02, Penon Quattro, Penon 10th AE, and Hidizs MP145 without the Kensei breaking a sweat. MQA support is there if you want it. The real standout impression, though, is as I noted above… very rich and full sounding.

More to come!

How is the noise floor hiss with sensitive IEM ?

My standard Go Bar has the highest noise floor of anything I have ever owned by some margin, IEMatch is there for a reason.

I imagine this one is the same ??

 

[BS5711]

Not a "need" nor "want" for me as of now, but I'll be keeping this in the back of my mind for down the road. An aesthetic gripe: I look forward to the day when that Hi-Res sticker is no longer plastered over everything.

It’s a sticker just pull it off.

 

[maegnificant]

Sorry guys, but that K2HD stuff reads like the next MQA.

 

[KaiFi]

Sorry guys, but that K2HD stuff reads like the next MQA.

But there's no special LED for it on the device

Edit: Haha wait, yes there is, I'm stupid. Okay, yeah, it's a little like MQA, at least on the surface. That "original master" language is also giving MQA.

 

[jsmiller58]

How is the noise floor hiss with sensitive IEM ?

My standard Go Bar has the highest noise floor of anything I have ever owned by some margin, IEMatch is there for a reason.

I imagine this one is the same ??

I definitely detected hiss with sensitive IEMs - and that’s where, like the Go Bar - the built in IEMatch saves the day! When I turned that on the background became black on the IEMs I tried!

 

[jsmiller58]

Sorry guys, but that K2HD stuff reads like the next MQA.

Really? I didn’t see that. Can you give an example?

 

[maegnificant]

Really? I didn’t see that. Can you give an example?

Just the overall presentation and description. I don't know for sure of course, but it seems very vague and sketchy.

 

[jsmiller58]

Just the overall presentation and description. I don't know for sure of course, but it seems very vague and sketchy.

I would hope it’s not the case… and that everyone has learned their lesson from the travails that MQA has experienced…. From the limited reading I had done it seemed that they were looking to restore the richness to the sound in the playback, not at the encoding time, which is very different than MQA.

 

[KaiFi]

So the K2HD processing is a setting like XBass that can be turned on or off on device? Or am I misunderstanding what it is?