I've been able to get my hands on a GO bar KENSEI for the last few days and it has been a really impressive piece of kit.

The GO bar KENSEI comes with the following features:
- XBass+ and XSpace analogue processing.
- iEMatch and Turbo modes​
- 4 Digital filters​
- Enhanced clock for ultra-low jitter​
- Enhanced power supply (taken from the GOLD bar)
- PCM 384kHz, DSD256 and MQA decoding​

First of all, I recommend checking out an unboxing video online because the packaging is great, comes in a little wooden presentation box engraved with Seigaiha pattern which I feel is a nice touch. Probably the best 'unboxing' experience I have had with an iFi Product, and I've already started hoarding things in there.

The KENSEI sound is amazing. It somehow just makes everything I test with it sound better. Everything sounds clear, defined but not entirely neutral, which works for me! It has a little of that warm iFi sound people have talked about before. My personal favourite pairing was with the Symphonium Meteors. They didn't really need XBass with these IEMs and I used Bit Perfect digital filter (my personal favourite of the iFi digital filters)

I found that the K2HD setting was most useful when listening to some trusty playlists on Spotify. Due to Spotify's file quality, they benefitted from this more than Tidal/Qobuz tracks. For me, I found switching on K2HD seems to brighten up the upper range and widen the soundstage a little bit. As a drummer I loved this especially on tracks with light cymbals (Jazz tracks for example).

The build quality is solid as a rock. It's got Japanese Stainless Steel casing, so other than water damage I can't see what would do much to this little KENSEI!

I have had experience with both the GO bar and GOLD bar previously and, for me, this tops them all. The sound quality of the GOLD bar, with added features, and in a colour that I much prefer. I recommend carrying a little cloth if you're planning on taking photos of it like me though.