My iFi Gold Bar! I got this from Japan from a dealer, I was incredibly lucky and managed to snag it at her cost! It truly is like the reviews say, it can replace some desktop setups!
I also own an iFi XDSD Gryphon, and for a while I was using it solely, through USB. Then I went back to the Gold Bar, and WOW! I prefer it more then the Gryphon, it has a fuller sound, everything sounds more forward, especially the low end.
The one thing I don’t like is that it doesn’t have a 0 noise floor. The power supply internals have been upgraded from the regular Go Bar, but still, listening using the super-sensitive Campfire Andromeda’s, there is a hiss in between songs and during very quiet passages. With the right USB cable though (DDHifi Nyx USB C) that shields the power and the data signals individually, I can eliminate the hiss in songs, and only hear it between songs if I listen for it.
Overall, one of the great loves of my life, makes digital bits into sweet, sweet angel’s tears!
This is why I can’t have nice things, with something so rare I would never quite dare to bring it out despite it being portable. Kudos to you for nabbing one tho!
Thanks! I can’t not listen to it, and the 20k gold is soft, so even though it lives in a padded pouch when not in use, it does have light scratches on both faces… Tried buying a case but I’ve only ever seen one on eBay, and none anywhere else, and I couldn’t win that auction! I bet it went to cover a regular alloy Go Bar too…