I consider myself a music enthusiast, meaning I am someone who appreciates the efforts of those that really know their stuff. I have invested in and surveyed enough music and music equipment to know there is a difference in the music that satisfies 98% of the public and those that have the knowledge to identify and discern the details of quality music. I'm a 50+ year old, freshman learner.
Living in a modest house, and with other people, does not allow me to listen to my audio equipment through my speakers as often as I wish. Historically, I do not like the inconvenience and limitations of headphones, but I still miss listening to many music tracks because of the time of day (my walls are not soundproof) or acknowledging the sound "bleed" of my music to the rest of the house. The result has been a fairly recent turn to the dreaded headphones. My headphone experiences were from decades ago as a broke college student, which I now know is not fair reflection of current technology.
My initial step was the purchase of semi-decent headphones. I selected the Audio Technica ATHESW9A because one of my headphone nightmares was the heat generated by the large "earmuffs" that surrounded my ears. The Audio Technica ATHESW9A are on-ear style headphones that are relatively small, lightweight, closed-back, and are fairly low power cans. I like them.
After some reading, I decided the use of a headphone amplifier was the next step. I tried a couple other amplifiers, that were solid-state and I have since returned, before ordering the Bravo Ocean. The Bravo Ocean is a tube amp that I consider a budget amplifier. Others are much more qualified to provide a technical review of the sound quality, however I can provide you with a definite recommendation stating that the sound quality is absolutely better with this amplifier. There is much better definition of the instrumentation and vocals with almost every recording I have listen to date.
As stated above, I will not comment on the details of this amplifier, but I am eager to learn more about the available tube options and how they may affect the sound output. Since this is my first tube component, I am curious about the life of the tube and whether the input power quality is critical. I'm still learning. Another reviewer mentioned he changed his tube to a Genalex Gold Lion 12AU7, which I read is an audiophile quality tube. This is a $50 tube, but it may be worth the additional investment.
The two negatives associated with the Bravo Ocean is the heat, mentioned by other reviewers, and the very bright, red, power LED light. I prefer to listen to my music in subdued lighting, so when I use the amplifier, it's power indicator light is like a laser through the room. I now turn the amplifier face towards the wall. I'll need to find a way to shade the intensity of the light.
Bottom line . . . I do not regret this purchase and do recommend this to my friends. It would be very hard for me to believe that there is another product in this price range that compares to the results I have heard through the Bravo Ocean. This discovery will now allow me to explore additional headphone options.
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Compare with similar items
This Item  Bravo Audio Ocean Mini Valve Class A Tube Headphone Amplifier |  |  |  | |
| Price | Currently unavailable. | -32% $99.00 List: $145.00 | -17% $149.00 List: $179.00 | -29% $99.00 List: $139.00 |
| Delivery | — | Get it as soon as Thursday, May 16 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 17 | Get it as soon as Thursday, May 16 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||
| Sound quality | ||||
| Volume control | ||||
| Quality of material | ||||
| Sold By | — | Schiit Audio | Schiit Audio | Schiit Audio |
| power source | Corded Electric | AC | Corded Electric | AC |
| amplifier type | Tube | Transistor | Hybrid | Operational |
| output wattage | — | — | 2 watts | 2400 watts |
| connector type | RCA | RCA, 6.35mm Jack | — | RCA, 6.35mm Jack |
| weight | 1.5 pounds | — | 2 pounds | — |
Reviews with images
Needs at least a 20 ohm attenuator on the output.
I have both the Bravo Audio V2 and Ocean Mini, and love them, but only because I went to the trouble of making an attenuator cable. I work in a noisy office, and have my headphones on for about six hours each day. I use a stereo component CD player with an RCA cable, and usually listen with ATH-M50x (38 Ohm) headphones, but I have also tried DT-770 (250ohm) headphones with both of these amps. Without the attenuator, the volume is way too sensitive--the entire reasonable volume range seems to be within the first 1/16th of the dial. I used to struggle getting it just high enough so that both channels were playing, while yet still keeping it from being too loud. Also, there is a constant volume quiet hiss/buzz when not playing any audio. This hiss is always present, and sometimes more noticeable when touching the headphone cable or the case. Since the noise is at a constant low volume, music usually drowns it out. Anyway, the hiss and volume issues were fatiguing, and while looking for a replacement amp, I found some instructions for making an L-pad attenuator on the Internet. The resister values vary depending on the amount of attenuation desired. In my case, I used a 36 ohm resister in series and a 2.4 ohm resister in parallel for each channel. The attenuator drops the output volume enough so that the hiss goes away, and it moves the reasonable listening volumes to about the 50% point on the dial. That said, I liked the V2 so much that I bought the Ocean Mini. The Ocean mini's heat sink case and front power switch make for nice improvements, and the fit and finish are also better.
