Is the Bravo Ocean tube headphone amp worth buying?

Q: Is the Bravo Ocean tube headphone amp worth buying?

A: Probably not. Its not a real tube amp, but a class A hybrid. It features a meh design, cheap components, bottom-of-the-barrel stock tube (Shu Guang 12AU7, which is one of the truly god-awful sounding tubes out there), QC issues longer than Lindsay Lohan's arrest record, etc.

But having said this, what are your options if you want a cheap hybrid amp? Well there is the HifiMan EF2A, and it does have a built in USB dac, but that has such a high preset gain and noise floor it is essentially unusable with low impedance headphones.

And the xDuoo TA01, which is more unknown than an uncredited extra in the battle scene in a Peter Jackson movie (but at least it has adjustable gain).

And then there is the Bravo trio -- the v1 (best used as a paperweight), the v2 (which is just as meh as the Ocean, mainly because, well, it is pretty much the Ocean, except naked, which means you are more likely to electrocute yourself on the amp) and the v3, which oddly has an equlaizer which is as useful as a third nipple on a dude.

So where does the enthusiast with a desire for tube sound but no money in their wallet go to get their tube fix?

Well the Little Dot Mk 1+ is probably the best choice, if you can get past the lack of customer support and huge expense shipping it back to LD if you get a lemon.

There's the Hifiman EF3, which is basically the EF2A without the DAC and with a gain switch. But tube rolling paired tubes can be expensive, especially if you go NOS.

Or there is the Bravo v2 or Ocean. The Ocean gives you an enclosure and thus better heat dissipation (Bravo uses the enclosure as a heat sink), and you could get a decent 12AU7 tube for cheaper than a pair of 6AK7s for the EF3.

So in sum, its not very good, but one of the cheapest options for getting into hybrid amps.

In the country of the blind, the one-eyed hybrid tube amp is king.

Some thoughts about the Beyerdynamic A20 amp

The Beyerdynamic A20 is a straightforward headphone amp with RCA in, and 2 1/4 inch Neutrik headphone jacks out. It has a very clean Teutonic design reminiscent of the Beyerdynamic A1, features quality components (with a very smooth Alps pot) and has RCA out that is hot (when the input is active) even when the device is turned off.

It puts out 170 mW at 250 ohms and 100 mW at 600 ohm, so not a slouch powering higher impedance headphones. It is worth noting though that the rated output impedance is a whopping 100 ohms.

Looks wise, it is very pretty, and reminds me a lot of the Burson Soloist (in terms of the quality of construction and the solidly manufactured aluminum enclosure.)

What does it sound like?

Sound wise, it is transparent and neutral. A great pairing with Beyer headphones (after all Beyer designed the amp), but it does struggle with power hungry planars. I did not have the opportunity to hear the A20 with IEMs but from what I have read the pairing is hit-or-miss.

What's the competition?

The Burson Soloist SL has a brighter, more forceful sound overall, and also has gain selection. Keep in mind that the Soloist SL puts out 2W at 16 ohms, so it is much more suited for higher end orthos. In the head-to-head between the two the Soloist SL wins, unless you are looking for a transparent amp.

The Schiit Asgard 2 isn't in the same league, and at its usual $250 price point, is clearly the more value-rich selection from a price-performance perspective.

The most favorable matchup for the A20 is the Violectric V90. Both have pre outs, dual headphone jacks, and similar sound profiles. The V90 does have a price disadvantage, though, compared to the A20 on sale.

The best way to think of the A20 is probably to consider it to be a sophisticated version of the Objective O2 amp. Is it worth the money over the O2? It depends if you have the discretionary income to throw on an amp that isn't feature rich. In sum, if you are assembling a neutral setup you need to take a look at the A20, especially if it is on sale. But from a purely price-performance perspective, you may want to take an equally close look at the O2.

My favorite sub-$1000 setup

Q: What's your personal all-time favorite setup under $1000?

This one.

From a price-performance perspective, the  combination of the Pro-ject Box DAC S FL -> Little Dot Mk 3 with NOS Mullard M8100s -> Sennheiser HD650 really shines. This setup projects an analog-ey gooey tube sound and affords a maximally euphoric listening experience for under $900. It makes every genre I am into sound good, and that is saying something. The best aspect of this combination is that almost anyone can afford this setup, and the only folks who will hate it are those who worship the gods of transparency.

To break the components down:

The Box dac DAC S FL is, in my opinion, the best price-performance NOS dac you can buy. It has a very different sound than typical sigma delta DACs. Its analog-ey distortion makes digital files sound like vinyl. Having said that, I would suggest NOT buying an NOS DAC as your very first DAC, though.

The Little Dot Mk 3 is probably the best price-performance OTL tube amp you can buy, especially ebcause your choice for the tube amp selection is determined to a considerable extent by the degree of synergy between amp + headphones.  I would suggest that you NOT get an OTL tube amp (or any tube amp, for that matter) as your first amp.

Mullard NOS M8100 tubes have a super warm profile with gooey tube distortion, and if I had to describe Mullard sound in one word I would say "treacle", to borrow a word from my friends across the pond. They are a wonderful representation of what tube sound is all about. I would suggest NOT getting reissue Mullards, they are not the same as the real deal.

The Sennheiser HD650 has a wonderfully dark and comfortable sound. They are not neutral, sure, but their forgiving nature sets them apart. They excel at representing instruments realistically, add intimacy to vocals, and work for every genre from EDM to classical. Some have described them as "laid back", but they are certainly not boring. Their pairing with OTL tube amps is magical. I would suggest that you NOT get them if you want a neutral or bright sound profile, or if you plan to run them off portable devices.

And did I mention, the best part of this combination is the sub $1k budget? That leaves plenty of change left over to subscribe to Spotify or Tidal.

 And that should make you smile for a long time.

Again, I do want to emphasize, a NOS DAC + tube amp combo probably isn't the best idea if you are new to the world of personal audio and just getting your toes wet with the hobby. You will probably be better off in the long run easing into tube sound / vintage DACs gradually rather than starting with them.

Some thoughts about the Fiio E18

The E18 Kunlun (whats with Fiio naming products after mountains, eh?) works as a headphone amp that pairs to android phones via USB using an OTG cable, a 24/96 USB DAC (it has a Tenor TE7022L chip to receive USB and a Burr Brown PCM1798 DAC chip), as a standalone headphone amp, as an external DAC for your computer, and even as a coax out source.

The coolest (if spotty) feature it offers is the ability to play/pause the song on your phone using a button on the E18.

Plus it has a volume potentiometer! And in a pinch it can charge your phone.

It's regular price of $150-160 is a bit steep, but when it's on sale at the $120-130 price point it looks very attractive from a price-performance perspective.

A criticism that has been leveled against the E18 on more than one occasion is that it exhibits electromagnetic interference (EMI) when paired with a GSM smartphone. GSM buzz is an issue with most electronic equipment. It is an unfortunate side effect of the frequencies GSM uses and fact that GSM phones use the TDMA channel access protocol to sync to towers. Usually EMI is worst when the phone uses the EDGE data system. Since newer GSM technologies are less prone to GSM buzz, it may be worth disabling EDGE service on your phone if possible. Of course your mileage maay vary because there are other causes for interference too.

Of course we could eliminate GSM buzz altogether if everyone switched to verizon, but that would be a pretty terrible solution too.

Burson Soloist SL vs Schiit Asgard 2 for the HiFiMan HE500

Q: I own the HifiMan HE500. Which is a better amp for it, the Burson Soloist SL or would a cheaper amp like the Schiit Asgard 2 get the job done?

A: I would pick the Soloist SL over the Asgard2. Mainly because it puts out 2W at low resistance, as opposed to the Asgard's 1W, which would be better for the HE500. But also from a purely subjective perspective, really. I just like the design, execution and sound of the Soloist SL better than Asgard2. The variable output stage is IMO particularly well done. Plus the Soloist SL just looks better.

United we stand, divided we....stand?

Q: Should I buy a standalone headphone amplifier + a standalone DAC or an amp + DAC combination unit?

A: If you buy a amp+dac combo unit (a single enclosure holds both the ehadphone amplifier as well as the DAC) and think you will be using the amp alone or the DAC alone at some point, then the key is to buy a combo that allows DAC output as line out without involving the amplifier circuit (i.e. the DAC output from the combo can bypass the amp) so that you don't end up double amping. So for example if you have an amp/dac combo and want to buy a better standalone amp, you don't want to run the signal through two amplifier circuits in tandem, in this case the amp in the amp/DAC and then the standalone amp, since you will introduce additional distortion into the signal.

Some combos (e.g. the Audioengine D1) will not allow you to decouple the DAC output from the amp which makes them inferior as standalone DACs. If you are planning to own multiple amps and/or DACs, getting separate units (such as the O2 and ODAC individually) as opposed to a combo (such as the O2 and ODAC in a single unit) makes much more sense because you can swap out the DAC or amp to something different.

However if you have decided that your purchase will be endgame 9at least for a while) then getting a single unit makes more sense because it is more convenient + less clutter.

Tube versus solid state amps (the cheap ones!)

Q: How does a cheap tube amp like the Darkvoice 336SE compare to a cheap solid state amp like the Schiit Magni?

A: You cant really compare solid state and tube amps, since their sound profiles are entirely different.

If you want neutral sound (or relatively neutral sound), reliability, and true value for money I would say always go with solid state  (Magni, O2, etc.) over a tube amp.

If you want the warm tubey sound at a budget, then before you pull the trigger on a budget tube amp, you should probably also think about how much you will need to factor in for tube rolling. DarkVoice tubes are cheaper than, say those for McIntoshes, but keep in mind that something like a Shuguang Treasure CV181 will cost you upwards of $100 so after swapping the stock tubes you may be really looking at closer to $350-500 than $250. At that price point, Magni isn't really a comparable amp anymore from a price perspective, IMO you should now be looking at a totally different tier of solid state amps.

If you just want to get into tube amps for the rolling experience more than anything else, tube rolling for a Little Dot mk3 works out better than a DarkVoice 336SE because tubes are relatively cheaper and you have more variety.

Q: But doesn't a tube amp better than a solid state amp? After all, tube amps have variations in their sound when you put in different tubes but all solid state amps pretty much sound the same?

A: I don't know if tube amps are better or worse than solid state amps, just that they are different.

There is a lot to be said for solid state amps, for example: quality solid state components cost much less than quality tube components, solid state components are more reliable than tubes, and they are more efficient. If you are buying your first amp, you should probably get a solid state instead of a tube amp unless you are very sure that you want tube sound.

If you are a "purist", i.e. what you want to hear is the source file without coloration or added tonality, then you should not go down the tube route since you are sure to be disappointed. If you want the coloration, tubes give you pleasing distortion and the ability to "tune" that distortion by swapping tubes.

"Better solid state" is not necessarily "the same sound, just better". The quality of solid state components do make a difference acoustically, to some degree (like noise floor, THD, etc.) But you are right that the difference between, say a Magni and an O2 is not as vast as the difference between, say a Schiit Valhalla and a Little Dot.

Veni's Three Laws Of Cheap (But Good) Personal Audio

Q: Whats the easiest way to improve my listening experience on a low budget?

A: There are three components that folks typically consider when they talk about personal audio -- [1] headphones, [2] amplifiers, and [3] DACs (digital to analog converters).

Veni's Three Laws Of Cheap (But Good) Personal Audio are:

Law 1: in general better headphones improves your sound the most, more than upgrading your amp, which in turn offers more enhancement than improving your dac.

Law 2: not all headphones need a dedicated amp or DAC.

And finally Law 3: if your amp or DAC costs more than your headphones, you are probably doing something wrong.