iFi’s Small but Musical GO link Max
"iFi put together a 4. 4mm balanced & 3. 5mm outputs and dual ESS DACs and created a very budget friendly dongle dac, the GO link Max. According to iFi’s spec’s this dac offers impressive power output of up to 241 mW into 32Ω via the 4. 4mm balanced output and a respectable 100mW into 32Ω via the 3. 5mm output. These numbers indicate the GO link Max pairs best with IEMs and easy to drive headphones. My GO link Max arrived in a simple white box including the dac dongle, a USB C to USB A adapter and a USB C to Lightning adapter. I liked their Lightning adapter enabling me to immediately connect to my iPhone 14 driving my Kiwi Ears Cadenza IEMs. I also used it at our audio society’s clubhouse wiring up my iPhone with GO link Max to some Rowland gear driving Revel Ultima Studio’s. Those in attendance thoroughly enjoyed listening to this simple but effective source feeding music to our high-end system. After listening to some of my favorite tracks I found the GO link Max provides a tight and clean bass performance. However, it truly excelled in the midrange and treble. Vocals sounded full with a natural timbre and cymbals/high-hats clearly sparkled. At its price, the GO link Max packs quite a lot into a small package. For those dipping their toes into the IEM/headphone pool, the iFi GO link Max is a great starting point for anyone wanting a musical dongle dac."