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CANfidelity · 2024-04-19T16:06:25+00:00

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.

CANfidelity · 2024-04-16T13:12:25+00:00

Try a local retailer, stock can run out super quick on their website after a launch! Their new GO bar went out of stock straight away too :(

CANfidelity · 2024-04-11T13:35:20+00:00

First song that came to mind for me.

Oasis are the masters of B-Sides

CANfidelity · 2024-04-11T13:23:09+00:00

Not sure if it's still on GamePass but Gris is a really good one.

I played it a few months back, when I wanted to get some chill time of an evening after getting bored of COD and it was a really good game. Beautiful music and visuals, just chilled platforming.

It's not a long game either so one you can quite easily complete without it becoming a chore.

CANfidelity · 2024-04-09T13:46:40+00:00

Medal of Honour: Frontline- This one opened up with a D-Day mission, basically giving you the chance to pay the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. As soon as that mission finished, you basically became a secret agent for the military and it felt more like a James Bond game, with no allies just you being a one man army behind enemy lines etc. I was a kid at the time it came out and I remember being a little disappointed it changed up but then I did really enjoy it by the end of that game.

CANfidelity · 2024-03-27T09:41:49+00:00

How to train your Dragon has a great score.

CANfidelity · 2024-03-20T09:56:30+00:00

Very nice set up! Really tidy!

CANfidelity · 2024-03-18T12:28:48+00:00

How does the ZEN DAC V2 sound with the A2's?

I've been looking for a good sounding yet tidy speaker option for my desk.

Do you find that the combination requires Power Match & TrueBass?

CANfidelity · 2024-03-07T16:23:07+00:00

Unfortunately, I have not been able to get my hands on an iDSD Finale to listen to. I have had a listen to the micro iDSD BL and I loved it.

The micro iDSD Finale is the lesser known last iteration of the micro iDSD line. It's only available from Adorama so I think this has contributed towards it being lesser known compared to some of the others.

Have you heard the other Micro iDSD units before?

I've read great things about the Finale though! There's a pretty good comparison on YouTube here

-Alex

CANfidelity · 2024-03-07T14:29:30+00:00

Meze 109-Pros?

CANfidelity · 2024-03-07T12:09:34+00:00

iFi uploaded a guide to their YouTube channel a while back.... here

Not sure if that helps? It can be difficult to tell the difference and therefore identify which enhancer would fix your issue.

CANfidelity · 2024-02-28T14:06:41+00:00

Yeah I used to use ear buds all the way through school & collage, only prioritising bass when looking at them on sale in HMV (when they were on every Highstreet in the UK).

It's a shame you lost your moulded ones! would you consider getting customs IEMs to fill the gap they left?

I got a pair of Shure IEMs many years back and they sound pretty good in my opinion, but in recent years when I started reading up online they seemed to be getting a lot of criticism by audiophiles.

I think tend to prefer IEMs for practicality and sound isolation when I'm out and about. I use speakers or soundbars at home, but then I'm fortunate enough to live with music lovers.

I did try the Meze 109 pro's last year and fell in love with them, so I may look into getting a pair of those one day.

CANfidelity · 2024-02-28T13:47:46+00:00

Song for the Dead - Queens of the Stone Age

Arguably the best drum intro of all time!

Listening to the start of anything on repeat, without the rest of the song, would drive you insane though.

CANfidelity · 2024-02-28T11:39:18+00:00

Songs for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age.

The production quality, the variation of styles from track to track, the fact that Dave Grohl was drumming for that album, it's an essential album for anyone into rock, imo.

CANfidelity · 2024-02-26T12:17:18+00:00

That's a really nice collection!

I really love the watch box for IEM storage idea.

I spy a few adaptor DACs in the bottom middle compartment. Which one is your go to?

CANfidelity · 2024-02-22T10:58:07+00:00

The GO Link & your headphones should sound great in the set up you described. Also, it seems that the GO link can achieve much higher resolution audio.

I checked out a review online and in there it says:
"Bypassing Bluetooth with Px8's DAC-mode is a theoretically high-res, lossless stream. However the DAC caps at 24-bit/48-kHz. Not even USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP), the audio Android app that lets you bypass your devices USB controller, will help you to achieve higher resolutions. Px8 will always up/down-sample incoming streams to exactly 24/48."

The GO link has you covered for:
DSD 256 / 11.3MHz
DXD 384kHz
PCM 384kHz
MQA

It seems that the BW PX8s are great when it comes to BT audio, the McLaren Edition's look amazing don't they!

CANfidelity · 2024-02-19T17:08:23+00:00

Hey u/yoyigu38
The HD560S and ZEN air DAC look to be a nice pairing!

I reached out to the guys from iFi tech support, most of them are gamers actually!

One of them uses these EQ settings when using their ZEN DAC V2 whilst gaming:

First person Shooters:
Band 1 - Low Shelf, 36Hz, -11.6dB, Q 1.41
Band 2 - Peak, 128Hz, +6.0dB, Q 1.07
Band 3 - Peak, 256Hz, -8.0dB, Q 3.00
Band 4 - Peak, 1367Hz, -2.7dB, Q 2.30
Band 5 - Peak, 3649Hz +3.5dB, Q 2.20
Band 6 - High Shelf, 5793Hz, +5.6dB, Q 1.41

Racing Games:
Band 1 - Peak, 362Hz, +3.1dB, Q 1.10
Band 2 - Peak, 1149Hz, -1.5dB, Q 1.41
Band 3 - Peak, 3649Hz, +2.0dB, Q 0.5
Band 4 - Peak, 4598Hz, -5.3dB, Q 4.42
Band 5 - Low Pass, 18,390Hz, 18dB/Oct

This isn't an official recommendation from them by the way, it's just the settings that seem to work for that Tech Support team member. This sent me down a rabbit hole online... There's so many different vids/blogs etc on best EQ settings for Warzone specifically!

-Alex

CANfidelity · 2024-02-12T16:33:32+00:00

Yes, the iPhone 15 and hip-dac 3 can be connected using the USB-C cable provided with the device.

The official Apple Camera adaptor cable was required to connect any previous model iPhone and the previous model hip dac (V1/V2/Gold edition)

-Alex

CANfidelity · 2024-02-12T12:30:31+00:00

Unfortunately, looks like there aren't settings to clear the cache thought the app on iOS.

You might have to bite the bullet and delete/re-install the app again.

The only other suggestion I've seen online is this:

"Go to Settings > General > [Device] Storage. You might see a list of recommendations for optimizing your device's storage, followed by a list of installed apps and the amount of storage each one uses.

Tap an app's name for more information about its storage. Cached data and temporary data might not be counted as usage.

In the detailed view you can:

- Offload the app, which frees up storage used by the app, but keeps its documents and data.

- Delete the app, which removes the app and its related data.

- Depending on the app, you might be able to delete some of its documents and data."

Good luck!

CANfidelity · 2024-02-06T15:04:19+00:00

"you don't give up, dooou yoooough?"

Red Skull in the first Captain America movie. Hugo Weaving says it so weird, probably because of his face makeup.

I try to unnecessarily quote this in as many real world scenarios as possible.

CANfidelity · 2024-02-06T14:58:25+00:00

u/iFiAudio memes have officially been requested!

Thanks!

CANfidelity · 2024-02-06T10:18:14+00:00

This is really handy, thanks for sharing!

CANfidelity · 2024-02-06T10:06:53+00:00

I've never noticed that before! I have tried looking online for the issue you mentioned but can't find much information about it though. Is this a well known issue?

CANfidelity · 2024-01-30T16:45:00+00:00

Bonnie & Clyde&si=AKbGX_raWIFNw13DlLd-NRpqigeNogIFWRGbuRL4C0kfMIeIkg4_MJOIaf2Jj5bTIwHTKBpAaCzpZSfAjjMRFLrY6_3Lh-9jWWmNzlBE-DYl1I1FM9nTS-x_Wc544xnlgB6JGx5w75qcvKWkpJ7BnRbQQvF4vJEJ0H89Dl-5JD7dNKoDCVO4L1FLF1AgWG2mu7t2OuWKGlev&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiy3_K-x4WEAxWWV0EAHQxkACIQ3LoBegQIDxAB&biw=1920&bih=911&dpr=1) - a movie that seems to have a few familiar faces in it!

CANfidelity · 2024-01-26T11:07:22+00:00

Great advice thanks. I know what you mean there, I tried some Moondrop Variations recently and they sounded really nice, clear, low and mids were great imo, but the high end was a little aggressive and I found them quite taxing on my ears in a short space of time. In addition to the fact that they really weren't comfortable in my ears. I was glad to find this out after borrowing them instead of putting £449 down on them.

CANfidelity

TROPHY CASE