iFi GO Hyperlink Max: Two-minute evaluation
iFi has taken the confirmed GO Hyperlink method and, by including a balanced 4.4mm headphone output and deleting MQA compatibility (which is, let’s not fake in any other case, no loss), produced the GO Hyperlink Max.
It’s slightly bigger than its extra inexpensive sibling – however that’s not the identical as being massive. And its relative bulk is mitigated no finish by stylish steel casework. Solely the uncovered braided cable that connects the primary physique of the DAC to the block which plugs into your supply gadget, offers us any trigger for concern. And even then, its vulnerability is theoretical slightly than precise.
Like nearly each iFi product TechRadar has examined, the GO Hyperlink Max performs properly and gives vital worth for cash. Regardless of if it’s linked to a smartphone or a laptop computer, with a half-decent pair of headphones on the different finish this DAC is able to placing a rocket up the sound high quality you’d in any other case be handled to. In each significant respect, it improves on the unassisted sound of your pc or cellphone – and never in a delicate approach. Is it one of many best portable DACs obtainable for this cash? You most likely know the reply to that…
iFi GO Hyperlink Max evaluation: Worth and launch date
- Launched November 20, 2024
- Priced $79 / £79 / AU$139
The November 2024-release iFi GO Hyperlink Max USB DAC is on sale now, and in the UK it prices not more than £79. In america it would set you again $79, whereas in Australia it sells for $139.
The world’s removed from in need of inexpensive USB DACs, after all (not least from iFi itself – see the admittedly pricier $499 / £449 / AU$769 iFi GO Bar Kensei or the five-star iFi hip-dac 3 at $199 / £199 / AU$349 for starters). However nonetheless, the mix of value and specification seems to be alluring right here…
iFi GO Hyperlink Max evaluation: Options
- DSD256 and 32bit/384kHz PCM assist
- Twin ESS Sabre ES9219 DACs
- Unbalanced 3.5mm and balanced 4.4mm outputs
In fact, the iFi GO Hyperlink Max is one thing of a one-trick pony – and so consequently it has only a few options. These options it has, although, are designed to get that one job achieved in some type.
So at one finish of the braided cable there’s slightly block with a USB-C connector on the tip. iFi gives each lightning and USB-A adapters to suit it, so the GO Hyperlink Max needs to be appropriate with any smartphone or laptop computer you care to say. On the different finish of the cable there’s a bigger block with unbalanced 3.5mm and balanced 4.4mm outputs at its finish, and on the within is the whole lot required to show digital audio info into analogue as successfully as potential.
iFi has deployed twin ESS Sabre ES9219 DAC chipsets to get the job achieved – which implies the GO Hyperlink Max can cope with audio information as much as DSD256 and PCM 32bit/384kHz decision. And fittingly for a corporation that’s by no means been afraid of a very good acronym or two, iFi has fitted this little gadget with ‘THDC’ (complete harmonic distortion compensation) expertise to maintain harmonic distortion to a minimal, and ‘DRE’ (dynamic vary enhancement, sadly, and nothing to do with the celebrated hip-hop producer) which – hey! – desires to extend the dynamic distinction between the quietest and the loudest moments in your music.
This association, says iFi, ends in a USB DAC that may twist out 100mW of energy from the unbalanced output and over 240mW from the balanced various. Which is lots by any USB DAC requirements, and will permit the GO Hyperlink Max to drive just about any applicable headphones with out issues.
Options rating: 5 / 5
iFi GO Hyperlink Max evaluation: Sound high quality
- Larger dynamism and improved ranges of element
- Extra constructive, punchier sound
- Throughout-the-board enhancements
Let’s face it: solely probably the most optimistic prospects purchase a brand new laptop computer or smartphone anticipating sonic excellence. These gadgets are too noisy (in electrical phrases) and too feature-heavy for audio high quality to be something aside from an afterthought. If you would like nice sound when you’re out and about or at your desk, a devoted music participant would possibly appear to be the best way ahead. iFi, although, disagrees – and the best way this GO Hyperlink Max could make your laptop computer or smartphone sound demonstrates that so long as the essential stuff is completed correctly, these could be simply as viable a supply of music as the most costly stand-along digital audio participant.
The distinction in high quality between plugging a pair of headphones straight into the headphone socket of an Apple MacBook Professional, say, and plugging the identical headphones into the GO Hyperlink Max having linked it through its USB-C is admittedly outstanding. The positive aspects are removed from gentle, and they’re wide-ranging. In all honesty, the copy is of a completely totally different commonplace.
Take mid-range decision, as an illustration. A 16bit/44.1kHz file of Lisa O’Neill’s Outdated Observe is extra detailed, extra direct, carries better harmonic variation and is, within the last evaluation, merely extra communicative and eloquent when heard through the iFi USB DAC. Daft Punk’s Get Fortunate as a 24bit/48kHz FLAC file demonstrates better low-frequency depth and texture, elevated dynamic headroom, and an altogether extra assured approach with rhythm and tempo administration. And Lobbo by Vieux Farka Touré et Khruangbin as a 24bit/96kHz file has better chunk and presence on the high of the frequency vary, in addition to elevated substance.
The frequency vary hangs collectively extra easily and confidently, and the tonal stability is improved too. Soundstaging is extra open, higher outlined and much more successfully managed than it’s while you depart the pc to cope with issues. There’s simply no side of music copy that the iFi GO Hyperlink Professional doesn’t cope with much more successfully than an costly, high-end laptop computer pc.
Sound high quality: 5 / 5
iFi GO Hyperlink Max evaluation: Design
- Braided connecting cable
- 150 x 15 x 10mm (HxWxD)
- 14.5g
Simply as with the ‘options’ part, the GO Hyperlink DAC is a useful, no-frills gadget the place ‘design’ is worried. This can be a product that must be as small, mild and moveable as is realistically potential, and that’s precisely what iFi has delivered.
The steel casework of the 2 sections of the DAC appear and feel good, and provides a touch of the premium to what’s a essentially discreet gadget. There’s a single LED on the primary physique of the GO Hyperlink Max, which lights up in certainly one of a collection of colors to point the dimensions of the digital audio file it’s coping with – although I can’t assist pondering it’s a little bit of a disgrace that the identical color (inexperienced) signifies PCM all the best way as much as 96kHz. Slightly visible affirmation that 96kHz is a considerably greater decision than 44.1kHz may be good…
The one side of the design that’s in any approach problematic is the braided cable that joins the 2 sections of the DAC, and even then, this can be a theoretical situation slightly than something tangible. iFi reckons the braiding helps defend the cable from outdoors interference, and I’ve no purpose to assume that’s not the case – it simply feels a bit susceptible for a product that’s possible to spend so much of its life in a pocket or a bag.
Design rating: 4.5 / 5
iFi GO Hyperlink Max Evaluation: Usability and setup
- Plug into your smartphone or laptop computer
- Plug in your headphones
- Away you go!
“It’s not rocket science” is, I believe, too weak an outline for the way simple the iFi GO Hyperlink Max is to make use of. Plugging the USB-C finish into your laptop computer or smartphone at one finish, and your headphones in on the different, doesn’t require in-depth directions – and when you can’t get this gadget up and operating in mere seconds, I don’t assume any quantity of directions are possible to assist.
Usability and setup rating: 5 / 5
iFi GO Hyperlink Max evaluation: Worth
- You merely cannot argue with the worth for cash right here
- Does what it does in positive type
The iFi GO Hyperlink Max represents unarguable worth for cash. The latent fragility of the cable apart, it’s robustly made, correctly completed, mild and moveable – and it does what it does in positive type. If you wish to maximise your moveable and/or desktop audio expertise with out spending an arm and a leg, you actually can’t go incorrect right here.
Worth rating: 5 / 5
Ought to I purchase the iFi GO Hyperlink Max?
| Attributes | Notes | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Options | The perks listed below are all you want for hi-res audio | 5/5 |
| Design | Small (potential) cable fear apart, it is a sensible little factor | 4.5/5 |
| Sound high quality | Detailed, dynamically agile, and punchier this time | 5/5 |
| Worth | It is unattainable to argue with what you get for the cash | 5/5 |
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
iFi GO Hyperlink Max evaluation: Additionally take into account
Should you can stay with out the 4.4mmm balanced output, the even smaller, even lighter iFi GO Link USB DAC makes a complete lot of sense – particularly because it’s usefully cheaper than the already-quite-affordable GO Hyperlink Max. If you wish to free your self for the ubiquity of iFi, although, it’s value contemplating FiiO’s KA13 – by iFi requirements its comparatively cumbersome, nevertheless it get the job achieved in positive type.
How I examined the iFi GO Hyperlink Max
- Qobuz and Tidal; Android smartphone and Apple MacBook with Colibri software program
- Sennheiser IEMs; Austrian Audio over-ears
I plugged the iFi GO Hyperlink Max right into a Samsung Galaxy S21 smartphone utilizing the USB-C connection, and into an Apple MacBook Professional utilizing the identical socket. I additionally linked it to an Apple iPhone 14 Professional through the Lightning adapter. Every gadget is loaded with Qobuz and TIDAL music streaming service apps, and the laptop computer additionally options Colibri software program to get round Apple’s inexplicable disdain for really hi-res digital information. Headphones included Sennheiser IE900 (linked utilizing the 4.4mm socket) and Austrian Audio Hi-X20 (utilizing the three.5mm equal), and music got here from each period and each style. I listened to the GO Hyperlink Max for properly over a working week this manner – and it was no type of hardship.
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