[KeaneShadow]

I'm posting an update regarding my order because I feel I might have been unfair to iFi Audio with my recent posts. I've received this update via email last night at 2:44am and read it this morning. My order was placed on 20 June around 17:30.

No "out for delivery" SMS, yet.

EDIT: My tracker has just been updated, I will be receiving the GO Pod today!

Very nice! Looking forward to reading your impressions!

 

[Nick24JJ]

So, I've received my GO Pod like 5 hours ago, set it up, and since then I have been listening...
I will not write any sound quality impressions, yet, as I need a few days to test and be sure.

For now, I will write some of my impressions about the product, after ~5 hours of use.

1. I am super happy to report that the GO Pod fits into my IMR Elan+ superbly, it keeps it in place and it fits my ears better than any cable! That thinner area of the 2-pin connector does not go all the way into the socket but it gets inside a little bit, and in any case this is enough to secure my Elan+ firmly in place. I am wearing them for 5 hours now, I've been to the supermarket and outdoors, no problem at all.

2. So far, I did not have any kind of Bluetooth disconnection. I am using my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and I have set the LDAC to 990/909kbps in the Developer Settings from almost the beginning. I can leave my phone on my desk on the 1st floor of my property and go on the second floor, and the connection is rock solid. Under these settings, I only had 1-2 disconnections in a specific spot in the upstairs bathroom, near the window, but all it took was to move my head a bit and the connection was immediately re-established. I've also set LDAC to 660/606kbps for a song or two. Absolutely no disconnection at all under these settings. So, LDAC 990/909kbps functions perfectly in my environment and with my S23 Ultra.

3. The case looks and feels brilliant/fantastic to me! I will never take it with me, ever, because the GO Pod appears to have excellent battery! I have been listening to LDAC 990/909kbps using UAPP since around 14:00 UK time, now it is 18:50 UK time, and I see: 64% battery remaining! Fantastic!! Furthermore, I love the design, the feel and the looks of this case! I love the lights, too!

I have 2 questions, @Mr BubbaHyde or whoever else would like to assist, please:

1) How should we clean the pins and the case? Should we use Isopropyl alcohol?
2) What happens If I will forget the case charging, does it have any mechanism to shut down and protect itself?

Thank you

 

[jsmiller58]

So, I've received my GO Pod like 5 hours ago, set it up, and since then I have been listening...
I will not write any sound quality impressions, yet, as I need a few days to test and be sure.

For now, I will write some of my impressions about the product, after ~5 hours of use.

1. I am super happy to report that the GO Pod fits into my IMR Elan+ superbly, it keeps it in place and it fits my ears better than any cable! That thinner area of the 2-pin connector does not go all the way into the socket but it gets inside a little bit, and in any case this is enough to secure my Elan+ firmly in place. I am wearing them for 5 hours now, I've been to the supermarket and outdoors, no problem at all.

2. So far, I did not have any kind of Bluetooth disconnection. I am using my Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and I have set the LDAC to 990/909kbps in the Developer Settings from almost the beginning. I can leave my phone on my desk on the 1st floor of my property and go on the second floor, and the connection is rock solid. Under these settings, I only had 1-2 disconnections in a specific spot in the upstairs bathroom, near the window, but all it took was to move my head a bit and the connection was immediately re-established. I've also set LDAC to 660/606kbps for a song or two. Absolutely no disconnection at all under these settings. So, LDAC 990/909kbps functions perfectly in my environment and with my S23 Ultra.

3. The case looks and feels brilliant/fantastic to me! I will never take it with me, ever, because the GO Pod appears to have excellent battery! I have been listening to LDAC 990/909kbps using UAPP since around 14:00 UK time, now it is 18:50 UK time, and I see: 64% battery remaining! Fantastic!! Furthermore, I love the design, the feel and the looks of this case! I love the lights, too!

I have 2 questions, @Mr BubbaHyde or whoever else would like to assist, please:

1) How should we clean the pins and the case? Should we use Isopropyl alcohol?
2) What happens If I will forget the case charging, does it have any mechanism to shut down and protect itself?

Thank you

I am glad you are enjoying the Go Pods, and that your worries of how securely your IEMs would be held have been dispelled!

I've never used the FiiO equivalents, but I think the Go Pods are game changers!!

 

[Nick24JJ]

I am glad you are enjoying the Go Pods, and that your worries of how securely your IEMs would be held have been dispelled!

I've never used the FiiO equivalents, but I think the Go Pods are game changers!!

Yes, at least the IMR Elan+ is very secure on the GO Pod! I've been wearing them, indoors and outdoors, since 14:00 UK time, now it is 20:35, been out, walked more then 10K steps briskly, no problem at all! One more thing, very important to me: prior to the GO Pod, I've been using the stock IMR (black) cable with my BTR7. The fit was good but after a couple of hours, I was reaching to one side or the other to refit it inside my ear. And, "of course", I was walking around with the cable zipped up to my chin. No more such "misery"! The GO Pod not only keeps my Elan+ on my ears all the time but it also keeps it in the right place, so the bone conduction effect is now permanent!

As for the UTWS5... LOL!
I won't talk about sound quality, yet, but I can reassure you that the LDAC implementation on the GO Pod functions p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y on my S23 Ultra, whereas FiiO's experimental LDAC was a complete disappointment for me, resulting in artifacts, electrostatic noises and disconnections - even while in the same room - which required resitting inside the case. A complete failure!!

I remember a "genius" here telling me that it will be same with the GO Pod, because my devices do not support Snapdragon Sound... What a joke...

LDAC 990/909kbps functions absolutely perfectly brilliant with my S23 Ultra and I am sure it will function similarly with my POCO F2 Pro, as well as LHDC will!
Haven't tested, yet, because I cannot take them out of my ears!

PS: I've been listening non-stop since 14:00 UK time, now it is 20:45 and it says: 56% battery remaining!!

 

[jsmiller58]

That is awesome!

Yes, at least the IMR Elan+ is very secure on the GO Pod! I've been wearing them, indoors and outdoors, since 14:00 UK time, now it is 20:35, been out, walked more then 10K steps briskly, no problem at all! One more thing, very important to me: prior to the GO Pod, I've been using the stock IMR (black) cable with my BTR7. The fit was good but after a couple of hours, I was reaching to one side or the other to refit it inside my ear. And, "of course", I was walking around with the cable zipped up to my chin. No more such "misery"! The GO Pod not only keeps my Elan+ on my ears all the time but it also keeps it in the right place, so the bone conduction effect is now permanent!

As for the UTWS5... LOL!
I won't talk about sound quality, yet, but I can reassure you that the LDAC implementation on the GO Pod functions p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y on my S23 Ultra, whereas FiiO's experimental LDAC was a complete disappointment for me, resulting in artifacts, electrostatic noises and disconnections - even while in the same room - which required resitting inside the case. A complete failure!!

I remember a "genius" here telling me that it will be same with the GO Pod, because my devices do not support Snapdragon Sound... What a joke...

LDAC 990/909kbps functions absolutely perfectly brilliant with my S23 Ultra and I am sure it will function similarly with my POCO F2 Pro, as well as LHDC will!
Haven't tested, yet, because I cannot take them out of my ears!

PS: I've been listening non-stop since 14:00 UK time, now it is 20:45 and it says: 56% battery remaining!!

The whole point of all of this is to be able to enjoy the music, and it sounds like the Go Pods are fulfilling that mission for you, as they do for me!

 

[Nick24JJ]

@jsmiller58 , sure

A few more initial observations.

1) The battery lasted from 14:00 until 22:30 UK time. Non stop LDAC 990/909kbps, playing WAV via UAPP from my Galaxy S23 Ultra.

2) I've also paired it with my Xiaomi POCO F2 Pro, which I (rarely) use as a DAP. To my surprise, the results were pretty mediocre. LDAC plays only at 660/606kbps, at higher settings it does not play at all. The same with LHDC. Additionally, both codecs work properly only when that phone is in the same room with me. Otherwise, disconnections and chopped sounds start as soon as I will exit the room. I do not mind at all since the GO Pod functions exemplary with my S23 U.

3) The IMR Elan+ barely fits inside the case. If the case would be a few millimetres shallower, it would not close completely. Even now, I make sure the case is fully shut, each time I place the IEMs inside it. No worries, I am aware the Elan+ is peculiar. And it can fully shut, after all.

 

[gryffe]

Is there any recommendation by iFi on whether we should limit the amount of times we remove the IEM's from the GO Pods to use the IEM's again in a wired setup? eg is wear and tear likely to happen if it was done several times a month, or even more frequently than that however unlikely that might be for most people? I can see me doing this sometimes to use my IEM's wired with my Fiio R7 desktop unit, or even if I fancy bringing my Mojo 2 out of cold storage.

 

[agrosash]

Another question about power management. How do the pods behave if they are out of the case? Is there some kind of timeout after which they turn off? Can I turn them on again without the case? Thinking about tossing them in a little sleeve on the go.

 

[Nick24JJ]

Second day for me, testing my GO Pod, this time with the 7Hz Timeless. Now using my S23 Ultra, listening to WAV via UAPP but earlier on, I took out my FiiO BTA30 Pro and connected it to my laptop for a few hours. For anyone owning this abandonware, as you know it does not even permit skipping to next or previous song...

The GO Pod do their best with the BTA30 Pro! WAV files via Foobar2000 or even Amazon Music Unlimited, sound great from my laptop! The Bluetooth connectivity range is a little worst than when paired to my S23 Ultra, but I can still move to other rooms in different floors of my property and listen to LDAC without disconnections. With my S23 Ultra, LDAC 990/909kbps plays flawlessly throughout my entire property.

The GO Pod brings my 7Hz Timeless to their full potential! It is a joy listening to my WAV files right now, Electronica mostly. The sound is full. The soundstage is among the best I've heard with my Timeless. Detail retrieval is high end. The high frequencies might feel a bit hot, depending from the recording but they are very analytic. The GO Pod tends to add a bit more bass, something I gladly welcome due to the genre(s) I'm listening to. What I genuinely appreciate is how YouTube Premium sounds! This is from where I'm discovering new music and listening to all those DJ mixes, super important to me! It sounds fantastic!

GO Pod + 7Hz Timeless = a great synergy! So much that I will leave my pair permanently hooked onto the MMCX ear-loop

PS: @Redcarmoose are you going to review the GO Pod?

 

[Nick24JJ]

Is there any recommendation by iFi on whether we should limit the amount of times we remove the IEM's from the GO Pods to use the IEM's again in a wired setup? eg is wear and tear likely to happen if it was done several times a month, or even more frequently than that however unlikely that might be for most people? I can see me doing this sometimes to use my IEM's wired with my Fiio R7 desktop unit, or even if I fancy bringing my Mojo 2 out of cold storage.

Another question about power management. How do the pods behave if they are out of the case? Is there some kind of timeout after which they turn off? Can I turn them on again without the case? Thinking about tossing them in a little sleeve on the go.

I have 2 questions, @Mr BubbaHyde or whoever else would like to assist, please:

1) How should we clean the pins and the case? Should we use Isopropyl alcohol?
2) What happens If I will forget the case charging, does it have any mechanism to shut down and protect itself?

Thank you

@Mr BubbaHyde , @iFi audio can you please reply to the questions above?

I have one more question, as well.

Is it possible to purchase an extra set, or two, of the MMCX and 0.78mm 2-pin ear loops? If so, are they going to cost me £29.00?

PS: I've just submitted all of the above questions in a new Ticket at iFi support, their standard SLA is 48hrs.

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

Glad to hear everything is working out well for you guys!

I have reviewed most of the questions posted prior to this and will get answers as soon as possible for you

Cheers!!

 

[davidmolliere]

So I got those babies on friday

The case is quite big compared to tws cases but I rather like it as I can fit any of my customs in here (except the huge Jolenes )
Here in the picture are Custom Art FIBAE5. I like the lighting on the case when you open it... classy!

No issues pairing them and they have plenty of power to feed any of my IEMs except harder to drive ones, they do drive the Elysium decently but not as well as Go Blu but that was to be expected...

I find the earloops to be a bit short for my ear size... it's not really 90° aligned when I wear them so the mike is pointed away from the mouth, I haven't tried it as I don't care much for that particular feature but still expected them to fall a bit more straight than that... I tried to shape the earhook but it's not memory wired so it stays that way.

Maybe different sized loops could happen?

Anyway, SQ wise I find the Go Pod to be less warm than Go Blu, more reference so to speak compared to a punchier and meatier Go Blu but I haven't run those for a long time yet.

 

[Mr BubbaHyde]

1) How should we clean the pins and the case? Should we use Isopropyl alcohol?


Thank you

Here is the answer I got in regard to cleaning the pins/contacts

"An alcohol wipe, contact cleaner or isopropyl alcohol would be fine"

Basically and obviously avoid water, my thought was going to be DeOxit, but I use that on a ton of things so it would be my "Go-to" choice as it is very quick in drying and completely safe for Electronics.

Cheers!!

 

[Nick24JJ]

Yesterday, I've tried a bit the GO Pod with my Tansio Mirai Sands. I am pleased to say that they have a much (much) better synergy compared to the FiiO UTWS5, which was awful and I am not the only one who has felt this. The Sands are very hot in the higher frequencies by default, and most people EQ them, but with the GO Pod they sound fine, very analytic in the higher frequencies, while the bass is still there.

When it comes to calls, I've had a few calls with family on WhatsApp, while I was indoors. No problem at all in hearing them or them, me.

 

[agrosash]

@iFi audio would it be possible to get a flat 2-pin vs. recessed ear hook? Maybe even with a little piece of plastic that can be pushed onto the connector of the hook that comes with it?