Do you listen to a lot of music on your smartphone but often wonder how you can improve the audio quality? You might have looked at portable DACs.
These clever devices slot between your smartphone and headphones, where they provide a huge boost to the audio quality. Well, good ones do anyway.
Well, guess what’s even better? It’s now available for £40 off its original price. It can be yours for £129 at Richer Sounds, provided you sign up for a VIP account, but this is free to do and only takes a minute. If you've been looking for a small DAC to enhance your phone’s audio quality, then this could be worth a look.
Despite being barely bigger than two UK postage stamps, the portable Go Blu DAC is one mightily attractive package.
Charge it for just 40 minutes and it’ll give you up to 10 hours of battery life, plenty of juice for pumping out your favourite tunes on the go. Charging is provided via a single USB-C input, which doubles up as a way to connect your smartphone or laptop.
For wired headphone users, there are 3.5mm and 4.4mm headphones to choose from, while Bluetooth 5.1 is on board for connecting to a pair of wireless headphones.
As the Bluetooth connection supports a variety of aptX codecs (HD, Low Latency, and Adaptive), along with LDAC, you can enjoy high-resolution streams up to 24-bit/96kHz when going wireless – a handy feature that isn't too common in portable DACs at this price level.
Your ears are in for a treat, too. When we tested the Go Blu back in 2021, we played John Mayer’s Shouldn’t Matter But It Does on Tidal and Mayer’s central vocal was “crisp and emotive as occasional keys sparkle through the easy treble and a soft, walking bass guitar reminds us that the low-end is also being held in check”.
We also played 167 by Farruko and Gallego, where we noted “the horns, pensive keys and deep Spanish vocal are exciting, but the Go Blu is sensible too, reserving just enough to add the required bite to the reggaeton rap section as the track progresses”.
So, if you’re looking for a relatively affordable way to enhance the audio of your smartphone, laptop or another audio source, and you want something highly portable, check out the iFi Go Blu for £129 at Richer Sounds.
MORE:
Check out our list of the best DACs
The king of portable headphone DACs is dead – but what a run it had
The iDSD Phantom DAC promises iFi’s “most accomplished” audio yet
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