Maybe it’s my engineer brain or maybe I bumped my head too many times as a kid, maybe both, but I like complexity, nuance, details. That’s probably why most of my hobbies are complicated. Being an audiophile is not about just listening to the music and enjoying it for what it is – there’s the gear, the listening room, the recording, et al, ad nauseum – it’s complicated. Viva la complexity! I came across the slogan “Simpler, not simple” in another of my hobbies. Yes it’s a departure from what normally gets me excited about gear, but that’s kinda how I feel about the Gold Note IS-10 all-in-one. Simpler, not simple.
Words and Photos by Graig Neville
So how does a guy who unabashedly likes complexity, is a gear slut, and gets excited about changing cables appreciate something simpler? Read on and I’ll explain in my rambling prose below.
The Gold Note product line is complicated. Gold Note offers just about the whole enchilada when it comes to products, which includes turntables, cartridges, speakers, phono stages, amplifiers, power supplies, digital, and all-in-one media streamers. They even sell racks and cables! There isn’t much that you can’t find in the Gold Note product catalog. The Gold Note IS-10 is somewhat entry level for the company, or at least focuses on a simpler system than the separate components the rest of the catalog has to offer.
The all-in-one integrated space is a fast growing market segment. Everyone seems to be pushing product into the market and Gold Note has jumped in with two models of their own. The Gold Note IS-10 reviewed here, as well as the IS-1000 MkII. In this era of tight spaces, component bloat and universal remotes the size of a phone book, the idea of an all-in-one, especially a diminutive one for the office, has a strong appeal. A box and two speakers has a decidedly uncomplex appeal – simpler, not simple.
So why would I say simpler? An all-in-one system is a purposely complex piece of gear that is definitely not simple from a design perspective. Stuffing an amp, preamp, DAC, and music streamer into one box takes engineering acumen – there’s a lot of tech to unpack here. But as a user interface you get one box and one remote, certainly that’s simpler right? Right?
Inside the Gold Note IS-10
I’ve seen Gold Note at AXPONA a few times now and that Italian casework just oozes Italiano. Gold Note harkens from the Florence, Italy area, and the Italians know a thing or two about good design. The Italians were tapped for coachworks for some of my favorite all-time classic car designs and the Gold Note IS-10 casework is gorgeous in my opinion and follows in that Italian vein. It begs to be looked it and admired, but it’s not ostentatious or overdone. It’s a simple elegance. The Gold Note IS-10 comes in three finishes, black, silver (my review sample), or gold. I’ve seen all three finishes at shows and the gold, besides being the company namesake, really shines – ahem. The gold is the only color worth owning in my opinion, but tastes may vary.
The Gold Note IS-10 has so many features that it’s bewildering to start describing all this little box can do–definitely not simple. I’ll try not to bore you with the details, but here goes. First off, the Gold Note IS-10 is an amp with 90 watts in 8Ω and 140 watts in 4Ω. This should be plenty for most folks to drive anything but the most inefficient speakers, but if you really need the POWA you can add a Gold Note PA-10 EVO and run the IS-10 as a monoblock that bumps power to 280 watts into 8Ω.
The IS-10 is ready for Roon, AirPlay, Tidal Connect, MQA, Qobuz, Spotify Connect, vTuner, Deezer, and the rest of the alphabet of Wi-Fi and streaming; you get flexibility. In addition to the above, Bluetooth and a USB flash drive (up to 32Gb) are also supported. Gold Note offers its own custom software called GN Control that can run the IS-10 from any iOS or Android device. I used both my iPhone and iPad with good results. I’ll dig deeper into GN Control later.
Internally the IS-10 uses the AKM AK4493 chip for digital conversion. Digital inputs are also accepted via TOSlink, coaxial, and USB-A. Analog is two pairs of RCA inputs. Speaker binding posts, a Wi-Fi antenna, and an Ethernet connection complete the back side of the IS-10. A USB-C connection is for firmware updates, which can also be done via Wi-Fi. Firmware updates were simple and took a few minutes via wi-fi.
The front face has a digital LED screen and a knob – that’s all folks, simpler. The knob is a push button, a selector, and volume control all built in together. It’s pretty slick and intuitive to use and has great knob feel for you touchy-feely types. Gold Note calls the knob Single Knob Control (SKC). Push and hold briefly to turn on or off the Gold Note IS-10. Push and release the SKC and it takes you to the screen selector menu, which allows you to turn the knob to cycle through menu options highlighted on the display screen. Push again to select. It took me about 30 seconds to figure it all out and a few minutes to get used to how it navigates without making any accidental button pushes. All these functions are also accessible via the remote control and function similarly. Overall the IS-10 basic ergonomics and functions were good. Adjusting volume, selecting modes, and turning the unit on and off were simple processes.
Set-Up
Getting the GN Control app and Wi-Fi interface was a little more challenging. I’m not old enough that I need grandkids to setup my Wi-Fi, but I’m also not a computer expert. It took some cajoling to make the connection to my Wi-Fi network, but not any more so than the Roon setup I have at home. One thing I have noticed is that once the Wi-Fi is setup, the app is working, and music is playing it works flawlessly until the network goes down, you disconnect the device, or otherwise muck about with the connection. Then all bets are off and you run into problems.
My iPad and iPhone go with me most places and reestablishing connectivity proved challenging. I had to nearly start over a few times to get the Gold Note IS-10 to work. But I have the same issue with my Roon system at home, so I think that’s more a me problem. If you have a dedicated tablet running the GN Control app it should be a setup once endeavor. The user manual has clear instructions on how to setup the system and like I said, with a little fiddling I had the system working as intended. Follow the steps in the manual and you will more than likely get it right the first or at least second try.
The GN Control app wasn’t too different than what I’m used to for the Roon interface. There are definitely differences in how the player works, but Gold Note seems to have done their homework in making an app that functions reliably with the IS-10. Outside my naggles noted above there were a few observations that came up during my review.
First the volume control on the app is sensitive, really sensitive. I accidentally cranked the volume WAY up, like maxed out, with an erroneous swipe of my thumb while playing around with the app. The volume control lags a little bit on the app, so it came as a shock when I got the blast of sound. I turned it down to zero just as quick and avoided using the app volume thereafter.
The other issue I had, and perhaps this was just due to my iPhone, but the song track time bar blocks the upper part of the album artwork. It’s a minor thing, but there seemed to be enough screen real estate to not have those overlap. Otherwise the app worked fine, not anything earth shattering, but the app did what it needed to do relatively simply, which was play music. Overall I was impressed with the app that Gold Note put together. Developing software can be a tricky business and continued support even more so – hats off to Gold Note for the effort.
I also used the Bluetooth and Airplay functions. The Bluetooth was simplicity itself to use and get music playing. For the office it was fine and I didn’t notice any dramatic degradation of music quality. Simple! The Airplay proved more fiddly, but I chalk a good chunk of that up to user error as I don’t use it that often. Once I got the Airplay icon up on my iPhone bam it worked, simple!
Though the literature doesn’t say what amplification is used I’m pretty sure this is a Class D amplifier. As, I’ve been listening to a variety of Class D amps lately I was curious what implementation the Gold Note IS-10 used. I put the IS-10 in both the home rig and my office system. The sonic characteristics were similar in both systems. The IS-10’s price of $3,499 seemed like a good price point for the amount of convenience, tech, and sonics. It had a very different character than my Schiit Ragnarok 2 and Modi Multibit of my office system, but I felt the sonics were better.
Gold Note IS-10 Sound
The Gold Note IS-10 played clear and crisp, with a good sparkly top end and solid imaging. The imaging was pretty two dimensional with good side-to-side definition, which I expect from modest priced solid state gear. Bass was thinner than I would have liked, but it was punchy and fast. Bass decay felt a bit rushed, but it has enough power to play larger speakers to loud levels. Perhaps bridged mono would add some weight and authority.
Rhythm and pace were excellent. The Gold Note IS-10 is a fast amp, which is what I’ve experienced with many Class D designs. The character of this all-in-one really lent itself to pop and heavy metal. Dynamic, fast, punchy, and a bit sparkly up top were all a recipe for excitement. It will even give you some airiness when the recording requests it. I especially enjoyed Metallica with the IS-10.
The Gold Note IS-10 can punch well above its weight. For example, on Suzanne Vega’s 99.9F°, several of the tracks have her speaking/singing and the IS-10 gave an intimate almost ASMR vibe that blew me away. Her vocal textures had so much body and richness it was almost like she was in the room whispering in your ear.
I did try the RCA inputs with an external turntable and phono preamp. With my Rega P3 the vinyl experience just didn’t do it for me with the Gold Note IS-10. It felt a bit thin and lost that richness that I’ve come to enjoy with analog. The IS-10, from the ground up, is a digital product, and a darn tooting great one to boot. Unless you really need to use the RCA line-ins stick to the internal digital, it’s just so much better. Simpler.
Gold Note IS-10 Conclusions
Circling back to simpler, not simple: the Gold Note IS-10 had a mix of things it did great, and things it didn’t do as well. At this price point I don’t expect a perfect product. What you do get is a diminutive and attractive all-in-one box that can be a central brain of a great digital system.
When I first started my audiophile journey CDs were just coming into the market and I made the digital choice. At that time if a product like the Gold Note IS-10 had been on the market I would have been hooked. Sure smokes that Technics integrated I had in college. The IS-10 does have expansion capabilities with the PA-10 EVO if you need more watts in the future. If your focus is predominately in the digital domain the IS-10 will serve you well. With smoking hot good looks and enough power to run floor standers but small enough to rest on a small shelf or desktop and drive bookshelves the IS-10 embodies the mantra simpler, not simple. Definitely check it out.
I bought a IS-10 for my living room but tested it out on the DeVore O/96 speakers in my main listening room. I was actually impressed at how good a job it did playing music on those speakers. Sometimes less is more and it made me wonder if it is really necessary having all of this gear when an all-in-one can reproduce music at 80% or 90% of the same quality. I’ve had the IS-10 since November and I highly recommend it for someone looking for a simple all in one solution.