Bravo Audio V2 Tube Driven Headphone Amplifier Video Look

Headphone amplifiers are a great way to power personal listening devices that, like the Beyerdynamic 990Pro 250ohm headphones I recently picked up- require a bit of extra juice. The Bravo Audio V2 Tube Driven Headphone Amplifier is a rather unusual looking device that brings the old-school “tube amplifier” audio experience home at a low price. Here’s our video look.

When I was growing up my parents had a hi-fi in the livingroom that had a tube amplifier and a turntable that literally needed to be physically spun up in order for it to start working. Thanks to the tubes the amplifier looked pretty cool and offered a decent enough audio experience. Solid-state devices such as transistors all but put an end to the delicate tubes. There are, however, still people who swear by the “warmth” of the sound produced by a tube amplifier and many will spend a small fortune to get it. At under $70 the Bravo Audio V2 Tube Driven Headphone Amplifier lets you get both the visual and the audio tube amplifier experience. It looks pretty darn amazing sitting on your desk and, yes, it does a decent job at amplification.

My biggest concern with it was something that immediately brought me back to my childhood. Seriously… that glass tube looks awfully delicate doesn’t it?

Bravo Audio V2 Tube Driven Headphone Amplifier Video Look

Features:

• Affordable Price
• Powerful dynamic and sweet TUBE sound
• With Shu Guang 12AU7 TUBE
• Cute and Beautiful looking
• Pure Class A Tube amp, No op amp IC
• Low voltage, good safety
• Powerful for any Headphone

Specifications:

• Input Power: DC24V
• Input Sensitivity: 100mV
• Input Impedance: 100KOhm
• Out-Put Impedance: 20~600 Ohm
• Gain: 30dB
• Frequency response: 10Hz-60KHz +/- 0.25dB
• Signal/Noise Ratio: >90dB
• Dynamic range: 84.6dBA(300 ohm) 89.8dBA(33 ohm)
• THD: 0.016%(300 ohm) 0.45%(33 ohm)I
• MD + Noise: 0.045(300 ohm) 0.42(33ohm)
• Dimension: 79mm (D) X 79mm (W) X 44mm (H)
• Input : Stereo RCA x1, Stereo 3.5mm x1
• Output: Stereo 6.35mm x1

 

I have to do more testing of the Bravo Audio V2 amplifier with some of the various headphones I have on hand but my initial impressions are largely positive. I am overall satisfied with what this amplifier brings to the table right out of the box. Add in the fact that there are some reports that you can remove the tube that ships with it and replace it with something else and you have the ability to intimately change the sound quality offered by the amplifier. This is definitely something any audio tinkerer would love. Personally however I like the solid build and the ease-of-use of the FiiO E12 Headphone Amp I also picked up on Massdrop… But that is a post for another day.

The Bravo Audio V2 Tube Driven Headphone Amplifier was a personal purchase through Massdrop. Bravo Audio currently offers the V1 “Deluxe” Class A Tube Driven Headphone Amp for $79.88. See it here. See everything currently available on Massdrop here.