Disclosure: I’d like to thank Karina at iFi for providing me with the GO pod Max for this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and iFi had no say or input on the contents of this review.

It’s been almost two months since I reviewed iFi’s latest entry in their GO pod lineup (at least, at that time), the GO pod Air. It improved on the original GO pod in almost every way. It was lighter, it felt more comfortable to use, and the charging case was shrunk to make it more portable. It was a great product that nearly made the original GO pod obsolete. I say nearly because the Air lacked the additional output power to drive more power-hungry IEMs (it had roughly half the output power of the original GO pod). Enter the GO pod Max. It takes the design and intention of the original GO pod and adds features you didn’t think you needed. Along with aptX Lossless support, we also get more durable materials with an aluminum shell, and JVCKENWOOD’s K2 and K2HD technology that we recently saw implemented in the iFi iDSD Valkyrie and iFi GO bar Kensei.

The GO pod Max also boasts a price increase to go along with the added features and refinements, with an MSRP of $599 USD, a $200 increase over the original GO pod, and more than double the price of the Air. The question most will want answered then is, is the iFi GO pod Max worth the price? Well, let’s get into it and find out.

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• GO pod Max
• Two sets of ear hooks (MMCX, 0.78mm 2-pin)
• Charging case
• USB-C to USB-A charging cable
• Quick start guide and warranty information

The overall design of the GO pod Max “pods’ remains the same, but we now get an aluminum shell instead of textured polymer. While this has increased the weight from the 12 grams of the original to 24.5 grams, I found I actually didn’t notice the increase as much as the number suggests. I even compared the fit directly with the GO pod Air when I still had it, and while yes, the weight difference is noticeable, it wasn’t as off-putting as I thought it would be. Aside from this, the pods themselves are essentially the same as the other two models, with most of the changes being internal. Despite the different shell material, the GO pod Max retains the IPX5 rating, meaning sweat and water resistance. This is perfect if you decide to use them for indoor and outdoor workouts.

The GO pod Max is still using the same functional design as the original and the Air, so the capacitive touch button is located on the bottom panel on the outside of each pod, and the microphone is located on the bottom part of each pod, facing the front. The exact same 2-pin connection for the ear hoops is also used. The Max comes with a set of 0.78mm 2-pin ear loops and a set of MMCX ear loops. Extra sets, as well as T2 and Pentaconn ear loops, can be purchased from iFi.  

Here are some comparison shots with the GO pod Air. I think the Max looks stunning and high-end, especially when placed next to the Air:

The charging case, while looking similar in shape and design to the original GO pod’s case, is slightly taller and has a much nicer and more luxurious-looking finish to it. There are aluminum panels on the top now, which give it a sort of jewelry box or watch box look, which I personally like. The Max’s charging case also has a two-toned texture to the plastic, with the lid part having a slightly rougher texture and pattern, and the bottom having a smoother finish. The opening on the front where you lift the lid also has small aluminum panels, a very nice touch that iFi added that further solidifies the GO pod Max as a premium product.

The left side of the case has charging light indicators, and the back of the case has a USB-C port for charging. There’s also support for Qi wireless charging. Inside the case is mostly a soft, thin felt material, and a light above each pod that lights up once the case is opened. There are also UVC lights inside the case used to sterilize the pods and earphones when not in use, which are located on the very bottom, at the back of the case. The case is very roomy, which allows you to keep your IEMs connected to each pod when you put them back in the case to charge.

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Since the GO pod Max works exactly the same as the Air and original GO pod, there won’t be anything new in terms of practical functionality for owners of the previous pods. For those of you who are new to the concept of wireless IEMs, the GO pod Max uses ear loops to connect to your IEMs and basically makes them True Wireless earbuds. Which means, all you have to do is pair them to your smartphone, laptop, or digital audio player (DAP), and you’re good to go!

The GO pods Max includes ear loop connectors to the two most popular IEM connections: 0.78mm 2-pin and MMCX. I have over a dozen IEMs that use the 0.78mm 2-pin connection, and a few that use MMCX. They all worked well with the provided ear loops, and I encountered issues with fit or loose connections. Literally just plug and play, which is great. Even IEMs that have a recessed connection worked perfectly.

The pairing process is simple: hold the capacitive buttons for a few seconds until the LED light on the outside of each pod begins to flash red and blue, then go into your device’s Bluetooth settings, select GO pod Max, and pair. I was even able to easily pair it with my laptop and Bluetooth dongles such as the Sennheiser BTD 700 and FiiO BT11.

Once you’ve got the GO pod Max paired with a device, the codec used is narrated to you, which is a nice touch. You can control playback with a capacitive button that is located on the bottom portion of each pod. I will be honest, I hate capacitive buttons. They are always too easy to accidentally activate, and you get no physical feedback when pressing it, only an audible beep in your ear for whichever pod’s button you pressed. You also cannot customize the button combinations used, so you are stuck with what iFi has implemented. A single tap for play/pause/answer call, two taps for next track/decline call/hang up call, three taps for previous track, and four taps for disabling or enabling the touch controls. You can also increase the volume by holding the button on the right pod, and decrease volume by holding the button on the left pod.

All of these button combinations work well and are responsive, but again, capacitive buttons are far too easy to accidentally activate, provide no physical feedback when pressed, and lack any customization.

In any event, listening using the GO pods Max is an effortless experience, as it should be. Using IEMs in general is effortless, so why make it complicated, right? Which is a relief that the GO pods Max just work as a plug-and-play solution for your own IEMs. If you’re just letting it decide which Bluetooth codec to use by default, everything honestly works so well that you’ll never want to go back to using a cable for IEMs again. Connecting the Simgot EA1000 IEMs to the GO pod Max, and then pairing it with my Samsung Galaxy Fold 7, I was able to walk around my apartment, and even outside, enjoying one of my favorite IEMs for listening to my own, curated playlists in USB Audio Player Pro. Life doesn’t get better than this.

iFi has been slowly updating and improving their new(ish) app, iFi Nexis. It’s in a really good place right now and works well, is fast and easy to use, and does all the basic things you need it to do. I’ll post screenshots below of the interface and various screens and options, but one thing I want to highlight is the Statistics section. From here, you can see the current bitrate, codec, and connection quality. It helps immensely for two reasons. The first is to verify you are actually getting the bitrate and quality you’re expecting with the codec you selected to use. The second is for troubleshooting connection quality issues, such as when you are using a higher bitrate LDAC mode that your device seemingly cannot handle very well.

I’d really like to see the ability to customize the button controls from here as well, but maybe that will come in the future.

I tested every single codec that the GO pod Max supports. SBC, AAC, aptX Classic, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, and LHDC (HWA) all worked absolutely perfectly. For LHDC, I tested all available modes (900kbps, 500kbps, 400kbps, and 256kbps). All sounded flawless on my FiiO JM21 DAP, which is the only device I have that supports LHDC.

It should also be noted that, despite the marketing material and even the Nexis app indicating this, the GO pod Max (as well as the Air and original GO pod) does not support aptX HD.

aptX Lossless, which is arguably the biggest draw for most people to look into getting the GO pod Max, was rock solid in my testing. I used both the Sennheiser BTD 700 and FiiO BT11 Bluetooth dongles for this testing. The BT11 is, well, not a perfect device, but for testing purposes, it works well enough and allows me to use aptX Lossless with the GO pod Max. The BTD 700 is a much, much better device and offers a more reliable listening experience compared to the BT11. aptX Lossless with both dongles worked absolutely flawlessly, and being able to plug the BTD 700 into my Sony NW-WM1AM2 DAP and use the GO pods Max with it was just a wonderful listening experience.

LDAC, as has been on previous GO pods, is a mixed experience. To get it to work consistently on the highest mode (Optimized for Audio – 990kbps) was an effort in frustration. The reason for this is that iFi is using a Qualcomm chipset for Bluetooth, and unless your audio device also has a Qualcomm chipset with LDAC support and has the Snapdragon Sound badge, you will be hard-pressed to get a consistent experience with the 990kbps mode. Still, it performed better than the GO pod Air after a recent firmware update.

I tested LDAC on multiple devices, and here are the performance results:

FiiO JM21 – Optimized for Audio (990kbps) works great, very consistent, and no stuttering or dropouts. All LDAC modes work perfectly.

HiBy R3Pro II – Optimized for Audio (990kbps) is extremely choppy and stuttery, essentially unplayable. Need to use Balanced (660kbps) for smooth playback, but I recommend using Best Effort.

HiBy R4 – Optimized for Audio (990kbps) is extremely choppy and stuttery, essentially unplayable. Balanced (660kbps) is better but some stutters. Use Best Effort for the best experience.

Samsung Galaxy Fold 7 – Optimized for Audio (990kbps) works mostly great when inside. Outside or in a busy environment (coffee shop, etc) need to use Balanced (660kbps) for smooth playback. Best Effort allows the connection to go above 660kbps sometimes, and this is what I recommend using here.

Shanling M1 Plus – Optimized for Audio (990kbps) works great, very consistent, and no stuttering or dropouts. All LDAC modes work perfectly.

Sony NW-A306 – Optimized for Audio (990kbps) is extremely choppy and stuttery, essentially unplayable. Need to use Balanced (660kbps) for smooth playback, but I recommend using Best Effort.

Sony NW-ZX707 – Optimized for Audio (990kbps) is extremely choppy and stuttery, essentially unplayable. Need to use Balanced (660kbps) for smooth playback, but I recommend using Best Effort.

Sony NW-WM1AM2 – Optimized for Audio (990kbps) works perfectly about 90% of the time, with the odd stutter happening. I recommend using Best Effort for the most reliable experience.’

Windows 11 PC – Optimized for Audio (990kbps) works great, very consistent, and no stuttering or dropouts. All LDAC modes work perfectly. This was done using the Alternative A2DP Driver.

If we ignore LDAC for the moment, then Bluetooth performance is generally excellent, and the star of the show, aptX Lossless, does exactly what it promises to do in that it gives you a higher bitrate than LDAC, with a solid and reliable connection.

Just like with the original GO pod, iFi is promising 7 hours of usage with the pods, and an additional 35 hours when using the charging case. Yes, these number are indeed accurate. Depending on your listening usage, you could go more than a week without having to charge the charging case, which I think is what most listeners will experience. With heavy listening usage (about 5 hours per day) my charging case lasted almost a full 7 days before needing to be charged. This is great to see, as you want to the pods charged and ready to go when you pull them out of the case.

There is an LED lighting system on the left side of the charging case to hep indicate the current battery level of the case. When you open the lid, the lights will flash and show the charge level for a few seconds (4 lights lit up means >75%, whereas 1 light lit up means less than 25% battery remaining).

The GO pod Max features the same specifications and overall guts as the original GO pod. True Balance amp stage with auto impedance matching, Master HiFi circuity from Cirrus Logic, and separate stages for the Bluetooth, DAC, and Amp components are still featured here. aptX Lossless and JVCKENWOOD’s K2/K2HD technology are the big additions here.

To test all this, I assembled some select IEMs from my collection to really see how much I could push the GO pod Max. I’ve had the GO pod Max for almost a month now, and in that month, I extensively tested the following IEMs that feature either the 0.78mm 2-pin connector or the MMCX connector:

• 64 Audio Solo – 14.2mm Planar Magnetic Driver with two Helmholtz Resonators, (0.78mm 2-pin connection)
• Simgot EA1000 Fermat – 10mm Dynamic Driver (DD) with Passive Radiator, (0.78mm 2-pin connection)
• KBEAR Cepheus KB16 –  1x 6mm Dynamic Driver (DD), 1x 10mm Dynamic Driver (DD), 6 x custom Balanced Armature (BA) drivers, (0.78mm 2-pin connection)
• 7Hz Timeless II – 14.5mm Planar Magnetic Driver, (0.78mm 2-pin connection)
• TINHIFI T7 – 10mm Gold-plated Dynamic Driver (DD), (MMCX connection)
• Twistura Woodnote – 10mm Dynamic Driver (DD), (0.78mm 2-pin connection)
• BASN Bmaster5 – 1x 10mm DLC Dynamic Driver (DD), 4 x Balanced Armatures (BA) drivers, (MMCX connector)
• Simgot SuperMix 4 – 1 x 10mm Dynamic Driver (DD), 1 x Balanced Armatures (BA), 1 x Planar, 1 x Piezoelectric (PZT), (0.78mm 2-pin connection)
• Juzear x Z Reviews Defiant – 1x 10mm Dynamic Driver (DD), 3x Balanced Armature (BA) drivers, (0.78mm 2-pin connection)

Power and Volume

With all my IEMs I tested, I had no issues getting the GO pod Max to drive them properly, and had plenty of volume overhead. With IEMs such as the 64 Audio Solo, Simgot EA1000, and KBEAR Cepheus KB16, there was no background hiss, noise, or distortion. It’s safe to say there should be no issues using the GO pod Max with the vast majority of IEMs out there.

Sound Profile

The core sound profile of the iFi GO pod Max is relatively unchanged from the GO pod Air, as well as the original GO pod. They are extremely transparent and preserve the sound signature of the IEM being used, while adding just the slightest warmth in the bass region. This adds some musicality without changing the overall sound.

The 64 Audio Solo has excellent synergy with the GO pod Max in my opinion. The planar driver doesn’t sound limited in any way, and I get a clean, clear, detailed sound with excellent bass response, which is exactly how they sound when I use their stock cable.

So while there’s nothing really left to talk about in regards to sound quality, the good thing is there are some excellent enhancements added to the GO pod Max that can, in fact, affect the sound, which I’ll be getting into next.

Filters, K2, and K2HD

As with the other GO pod models, you can select Fast or Slow Roll-off filters with either a minimum or Linear Phase. If you prefer instead to have no filter applied and use Bit-Perfect, you also have that option. All of them sound excellent, and their use will be of personal preference. For me, bit-perfect sounded the best.

Two additional filters, which may be just the main reason for some to consider the GO pod Max over the Air or original, are the implementation of JVCKENWOOD’s K2 and K2HD technology.

Essentially, this technology is “designed to enhance sound quality by restoring altered or degraded digital audio. This processing brings the sound closer to the quality of the original master recording.”

The actual effect of just the K2 mode is subtle, but it was noticeable on a large variety of rock music I have, such as non-Hi-Res Led Zeppelin tracks, or tracks that sound slightly compressed, such as the entirety of Deftones’ White Pony album. The K2 filter seems to take off the slight edge that I can hear and smooths it out. To be honest, though, it is not something that I found myself leaving on, since the effect was mostly subtle to non-existent.

The K2HD filter is where things sounded more interesting to me. From iFi’s provided material, the K2HD filter will “Upsample the audio file to 88.2/96kHz, then apply the selected K2 Technology parameter for waveform correction, extend the high frequency, restore the altered or degraded digital audio file to improve the sound quality, and make the sound closer to the original master tape quality”.

Sounds very similar to Sony’s DSEE upscaling technology, which I’m quite fond of. On my MP3 files, the K2HD filter has a rather noticeable effect, smoothing out details and adding some clarity to sounds that you can hear are a little bit compressed, or getting lost in the mix. I found this really benefited live albums, Alice in Chains Unplugged, adding a slightly more airy soundstage and more lively dynamics. I found I enjoyed the sound with the K2HD filter more than just having the K2 filter enabled, and in the end, I would listen to whole albums and playlists with it on. This really works best with CD quality files (16-bit/44.1kHz) and lower, and in my opinion, really differentiates the GO pod Max, in a very positive way,  not only from the GO pod Air and original GO pod, but from any competing products as well.

I do have to note something here that I have experienced in certain situations when using the K2 and K2HD filters. With specific albums, in the format of local FLAC files, as well as if the album is on streaming services like Apple Music and Tidal, I get a popping or static sound that kind of sounds like the audio is clipping. I can recreate the issue regardless of codec, dongle, or device used. The only exception is the Shanling M1 Plus, which, for some reason, seems to be immune to this issue. Also, if I use Poweramp on my Galaxy Fold 7 instead of UAPP, the issue is gone. I only mention it here in case anyone experiences anything similar and is looking for an explanation. I don’t actually have an explanation, just observations. If you want to hear what I’m talking about, the link below contains audio files recorded from the GO pod Max, where you can hear the popping sounds either consistently throughout the track or at certain moments when the track gets busier:

https://1drv.ms/f/c/2c293010ff4f0035/Eqi8XMm538hHiiuTcmealR4Bgo4FbJYM_fJU3nKMc2et3Q?e=ezS9AG

Gaming and Media Consumption

There is no low-latency mode or game mode setting here, so I’m going to come out and say that you will not be using these for movie watching or for playing games. Unless, that is, you are using a Bluetooth dongle that has its own game mode. Something like the Sennheiser BTD 700. The Game Mode on the BTD 700 is absolutely fantastic (see my review of it for more info) and enabled me to use the aptX Adaptive codec with the GO pod Max to watch movies and play video games. With both products paired together, you can enjoy using your favorite IEMs with essentially no audio/video latency.

The iFi GO pod Max uses the same microphone technology as the other GO pod models, which is a good thing as it works and sounds excellent. There is a decent amount of background noise suppression during conversations, and the other person was able to hear my voice clearly at all times, except when a firetruck went by me with sirens on, but that’s pretty much expected.

With a lot of construction and traffic noise, the GO pod Max does struggle a bit with voice isolation, but it does a good enough job. You’re probably not going to want to listen to your IEMs in that kind of environment anyway.

iFi has a nice chart on the product page for the GO pod Max that shows the key specs and differences between the three different models, so I won’t go through everything here. Again, note that aptX HD is not supported on any of the GO pod models, this is an error, and hopefully iFi will fix that.

Compared to the Air, the biggest advantages the Max has are the nice aluminum shell design, K2HD technology, aptX Lossless support, and the ability to drive more power-hungry IEMs. If you really don’t care about any of that stuff, or if you really want the lightest possible pod, save yourself $350 and get the GO pod Air.

Compared to the original GO pod, the biggest advantages the Max has are the nice aluminum shell design, K2HD technology, and aptX Lossless support. They both have the same power output and battery life. There’s a $200 difference between them, and I think if you are considering purchasing the original GO pods at their current price ($399), I’d encourage you to spend that extra bit and go with the GO pod Max. The additions to the Max are, in my opinion, well worth it.

The iFi GO pod Max is, in my opinion, the ultimate way to free your IEMs from the constraints of cables. It does exactly what it says it does, and does not take anything away from using your IEMs. The sound quality, as you would expect for the price, is excellent, with filters and K2HD technology to give you added value and additional listening options. The design is still fantastic, and the new aluminum shell really makes it feel like a luxury product.

I still do not like the capacitive touch controls, as well as the inability to customize them. LDAC performance can be disappointing, mostly if you’re expecting to use the Audio Quality 990kbps mode, but at this point, it’s also expected. aptX Lossless essentially replaces it, and hopefully, we will see more devices implement aptX Lossless support in the future.

If you’re searching for the ultimate way to make your IEMs wireless, I think there is no other choice than the iFi GO pod Max. Yes, it’s on the pricier side, but the value is there, and it really does work well as a plug-and-play device.

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