Free Standard Shipping in the US on orders over $99

Bravo Audio V1 Headphone Amp

overview

details

reviews14

photos4

discussions60

01 / 05

ALL PRODUCTS / AUDIOPHILE / BRAVO

Bravo Audio V1 Headphone Amp

Name: Bravo Audio V1 Headphone Amp
Brand: Bravo
SKU: bravo-audio-v1-headphone-amp
Price: 45 USD
Availability: OutOfStock
Rating: 4.142857 (14 reviews)

Where's the price?

To negotiate the best possible price for our customers, we agree to hide prices prior to logging in.

139 requests

103 Sold

Product Description

Audiophiles across the world agree: There’s nothing quite like the sound of a tube amp. Looking to listen for yourself? Read More

Customer Reviews

4.1

(14 reviews)

(7)

(5)

(0)

(1)

75% would recommend to a friend

Images

Sort by: Top Reviews

swpshadow

Jun 19, 2020

Verified Buyer

Can't beat it for 40 bucks

Just got this, so this is my very first impressions. My setup: Grace Design SDAC, JDS Labs Atom, HE-400i The amp seems to color the sound slightly, making the lows and highs a little stronger. With my 400i's it just makes them a little more fun. There isn't any noticeable background hissing or static. The amp puts out quite a bit of power; I only listen at about 8 o'clock while 7 o'clock is off. This would be awful for low impedance IEMs, but this is strictly for use at my desktop with full size headphones, so it doesn't really bother me. pros: pretty good sound that is more fun than a transparent solid state, two inputs, lots of power, cool design. cons: gets kinda hot, no low gain setting. I paid $42, which really just can't be beat. It's definitely not technically as good as the Atom but it is fun and a great cheap choice to add variety to my setup. I will probably switch back and forth between the two amps depending on how I feel. I don't think a solid state amp could be found for this price that would beat or equal this. Overall, I agree with everything in the review below/above by Qwervy. inputs: 3.5mm on the front, RCA on the side output: 1/4" on the front.

Recommends this product? Yes

Was this helpful?

spadilla

Jul 10, 2020

Verified Buyer

Really great sound connected to a PC

I was gifted a pair of the Drop-HiFiMan HE-4XX headphones and was totally stoked. With the plague in full effect, working at home and the kids at school online they were primed for heavy use. While my Fiio X3 works great with them, my laptop didn't drive them very well. It took a couple months to arrive after they were ordered, however, the Bravo V1 is exactly what I needed. Instant sound upgrade. They elevate sound in a way that is worthy of the HE-4XX headphones.

Recommends this product? Yes

Was this helpful?

Vote

Qwervy

464

May 27, 2020

Verified Buyer

Woah pretty...

Accessories: Came in a pretty plain box, power supply and troubleshooting card which is nice. The actual amp itself came in a nice perfectly molded foam block which is a really nice touch and provides the necessary protection and structural integrity to the box. The power adapter and cord were pretty average and to be expected at this price. Also came with a gold plated 1/4 inch adaptor which is good, can never have too many of those. Build: This is the main aspect that surprised me. Very nicely built for price, the capacitors are a decent brand (rubycon), everything is through-hole soldered and seems very firmly attached. Overall, the weight + look in real life make it look much less DIY than the pictures in drop depict it to be. Sound: Not super tuby sounding with the stock tube but definitely noticeable. Warmth increase, sweetening the highs and blooming the lows even though the tubes aren't for the output. The amp has a transistor output stage which makes it very powerful and have a lower impedance output. The noise floor is quite high compared to that of any half decent solid state amp which is too be expected but it is not annoying and is quite easily ignored unless being used with IEM's which leads me onto my next point. On IEM's the output is too loud, the noise floor is also too high there is also a fairly noticeable impedance matching issue on more sensitive IEM's and so I would definitely recommend an L-Pad with between 30 and 40 db's of attenuation to impedance match and attenuate. (I am waiting on a NOS Sylvania 6DJ8 tube which was highly recommended in headfi forums and will post an update once I receive that) Practicality:

Class-A design, plus tube. Gets hot quite fast quite easily. However, the heat itself comes from the transistors rather than the tube which just gets warm. Do not touch the heatsinks near the tube as those are the output transistors and can definitely give you a burn, the other heatsinks are less hot but still hot. The amplifier gets slightly warm to the touch after about half an hour.
Warm up time is something that is unavoidable with tube amps and means that you should probably time your listening sessions. It does take about 20 minutes to become adequately warm and for the volume balance to settle. It is usable after about 5 minutes though, but I personally would leave it longer
The trim pots are useful and can help to fine tune things. As a person that likes fiddling around with settings, this tweak-ability appeals to me. However, it would be nice to receive a schematic of what the purpose of the knobs is.

Random minor complaints:

The volume knob is weirdly textured and feels like its textured in the wrong direction so that rather than gripping your fingers as you turn it, it grips your fingers as you pull them away.
It's a slight pain to adjust those little trim pots because you have to undo four nuts.
the blue LED stays on until the capacitors are discharged which I think is super cool even if its unintentional. This does mean however that there is something discharging the capacitors which is a plus.
Volume knob is pretty close to the headphone output which means that the headphone output gets in the way slightly.

TLDR:

Great first tube amp as long as you know what you should be expecting with tubes.
Definitely adds some tuby-ness to your sound.
Not for IEM's without proper attenuation
Well built and prettier in life than in pictures

Recommends this product? Yes

Was this helpful?

tjienz

Jul 7, 2020

Verified Buyer

Great. Small in size but big in power.

I've been using NuForce UDAC 2 for the last 8 years and so before deciding to try somethingnew. This is my first hybrid/tube amp and what a big improvement from the NuForce. The sound coming out of this amp has more depth, soundstage is wider and the bass is tighter/punchier. For the price that I paid for, this is well worth it. Having heard this, I can see myself buying the darkvoice tube amp in the future.

Recommends this product? Yes

Was this helpful?

Vote

Wolframme

Apr 3, 2021

Verified Buyer

Works well as an amp and powers my Sennheiser 6xx's very well. There was a bit of warmth that came with it being a hybrid tube amp, but there is not as much there as other non-hybrid amps have. But hey, its a great price for someone looking into something that can just power headphones well. I have to say though that because its an open case and I have a pet, I was afraid of hair or fur getting into some of the exposed components since it doesn't come in an enclosed case. And I think that did happen because a few times I heard something like frying in my audio which went away when I blew on the amp enough for whatever hairs to blow off. So, if you got a lot of fur or dust in your house I'd say maybe skip to the v2 or something :/.

Was this helpful?

Vote

audioguy1225

Oct 9, 2020

Verified Buyer

mehhhh

It was very under whelming and overall ok...

Recommends this product? No

Was this helpful?

Vote

allage

Aug 13, 2020

Verified Buyer

pretty cool

1st tube experience, probably not into tubes outside of this experience but for so cheap i at least know now tube sound is not for me.

Recommends this product? Yes

Was this helpful?

Vote

Cleveland

Aug 5, 2020

Verified Buyer

Used only for about one (1) month, does not power up anymore.

Loved the size, but the open design causes too many particles to get in to damage the electronics

Recommends this product? No

Was this helpful?

Vote

nimiz

Jul 9, 2020

Verified Buyer

Very solid build, very good sound

It has a worm open sound, I like it's tube but on high (very high) volume you can hear a little distortion. Over all - I love using it with my HiFiMan Headphones.

Recommends this product? Yes

Was this helpful?

Vote