[serman005]

Is anybody using their Ocean with an HD600 or 650? If so, how is it working out?

 

[looloopklopm]

So my V3 just recently started making a very subtle "pop" noice every 3-10 seconds. Sounds like it is mostly in my right ear. It isn't my phone causing the interference, and the volume knob doesn't seem to effect frequency of the pop or the volume. Music coming through still sounds excellent. I am wondering if anyone would know what would be causing this?

 

[serman005]

I'd love to hear from people how they feel the Ocean does on low-impedance headphones. Does it work?

 

[mariposastar]

Hi everybody. I just received a Bravo V3 today, with the EH6992. It is a nice little amplifier and feels more like a project than a final product, which is cool for a student like me. The one thing that is letting me down though is that I am experiencing a lot of noise through the output. This noise does not change in loudness when I play with the potentiometer. It also remains when I have unplugged any input source. I have done my best to remove all sources of background noise away from the amp to no avail.
 
I will try and use the amplifier in another location to verify if it is just an issue with my room, or if it is an issue with the electronics. I have not modified my V3 in any way yet. What would you suggest I look at to try and debug this? I am decently skilled with electronics so I will probably be able to make sense of any suggestions...
 
Thank you, hope all of you are enjoying your Bravo amps!

 

[Alejandro508]

It might be related to the power supply or input capacitor not being very good. Or, if you upgrade the tubes sometimes that helps. I've used my V2 in more than one location and I've noticed that some locations have a lot of noise so that could be another factor.

 

[serman005]

What is the output impedance of the Ocean? Anyone know?

 

[AirForceTeacher]

So, is the Bravo/Indeed able to be used as a tube preamp if I'm careful with the volume?  I want to put something between my Sonos and my receiver to try for a different sound.

 

[Alejandro508]

I mean you can try it, but there's better options out there for that. It will give it a warm tubey sound but without mods it will also degrade sound quality a little bit. It does sound musical no matter what, though. 

 

[Usarmyaircav]

Just got an Ocean over the weekend. So far loving it with the little bit of time I have on it. I am using DT 770 Pro 250ohm.

 

[BillsonChang007]

Is anybody using their Ocean with an HD600 or 650? If so, how is it working out?

It sound decent but you won't get the most out of it IMO. But its been a long time since I last auditioned the combo. If anything, it is ted too warm for me if I recall correctly. I like it with AKG K702/65 tho!

I'd love to hear from people how they feel the Ocean does on low-impedance headphones. Does it work?

Try not to use it with IEM. It will be too loud

Hope it helps! Or am I too late...

 

[UmustBKidn]

Ca you post a pic of the mods with specs of resistors?

Yeah, since no one seems to talk about it, I went ahead and threw in a 12BH7 and changed the fixed bias resistors to pots to accommodate. It doesn't even sound like the same amp anymore and it's a much better upgrade than spending a lot on rarer 12AU7 varieties. I am surprised more folks haven't messed with it, like wow.

 

[UmustBKidn]

Really loving the Bravo V2. I've owned it for over a year and it's really grown on me.
Most of the time it sat in my closest without being used much.
I never really liked it with the AKG Q701, but I realized it just takes the right tube for that headphone to sound good on this amp.
I actually was impressed with how good the HD-650 sounded on it.

A few days ago I bought an Electro Harmonix (new production) 12AU7 tube and it's easily the best one i've heard yet.
Sounds amazing with the Q701 and even still good with the HD-650. It might not be my first choice for the HD-650 though.
The mids are really very full sounding with this tube and there is no treble harshness at all to my ears.
I was reading some random reviews and some think this tube and all non-NOS tubes are junk, but I disagree. I love this tube!
Before this I bought a Genalex Gold Lion but it was a defect and I didn't want to risk it again.

I also have a JJ tube and it's pretty good too, but not great with the Q701. It actually is a somewhat warm sounding tube.
I have a NOS GE JG-5814A and it's absolutely horrible with the Q701.
It makes it's sound too bright and tinny sounding. Painful to listen to. My Q701 is never like that on anything! Not even the stock O2.

I also have a Nobsound NS-08e with upgrade tubes and it's pretty good, but not quite as good as this.
It's a steal at $50 though, but i've found the tubes too hard to find. I'm currently using some GE JAN-6688 tubes with it.
My NS-08E is a little warmer and more closed in sounding with every tube i've tried compared to the V2.

I also had the Little Dot 1+ for awhile with upgraded tubes and felt it wasn't really an upgrade over my Bravo V2. It was a pretty good amp though.
I really liked that with nearly everything. If I did not have the V2 I would have kept it.

So far the Bravo V2 has been an even better "all rounder" than the original Vali 1, but no surprise there.
I do wonder how the Vali 2 compares to the Bravo V2. Most people will automatically probably say it's better due to being more expensive

So anyway, I'm going to still try the Gold Lion and some new production Tung-Sol tubes (!). I really don't want to spent $60+ on a tube to be honest. Maybe i'll score a deal on a NOS Mullard tube, but not a high priority. RCA clear tops are on my radar too. Hopefully they're not as bright as the GE 5814A.

BTW I do wish I had gotten the Ocean instead just to have an enclosure. Yes, I like this amp that much..

Well I think you just proved the whole point of tube rolling ... its a game of matching amp performance to the response of your cans and ears. I had an old mil spec 5963 black plate in my stock V2 and it was sounding great, but the highs were a bit sharp. So I put a 50's vintage round getter Mullard 12AU7 in and Bingo - nice smooth sounding high end and a bit better bass response. The pins seem a bit flaky as it took some wiggling to get both channels working, but that seems typical for tubes as old as me...

You would in fact laugh at how many tubes I've bought just to play with these cheapie amps. Definitely spent more than $60 bucks on some .. and I have a couple big plastic component boxes full of these little tubes. In my defense, I keep telling myself my next amp will be a bottlehead crack... sooner or later. In the meantime, I remain amazed at how good these amps sound with a real vintage Mullard. I do swap those out for the cheaper NOS tubes just to experiment; invariably the black plated American tubes sound better to my ears, than any "new" tubes. To me the new ones sound thin and tinny on top. But that's just me.

I haven't posted here in some time, and both of my Bravo's are still running fine. The modded one doesn't actually need fan cooling, to address what someone else said. With the taller caps, I can't put the old cover on anyway, so its just open to the elements. If I have a very long listening session, I might turn the usb fan on.

 

[Sp12er3]

still in stock for mine... Maybe itd time to upgrade the tube as I find myself not using my k702 as much as I would like and thus refreshing it might be a good idea.

 

[mvneufeld]

Hi - I'm going to replace the MOSFETs with IRL510s or IRL530s in my Bravo Ocean. I read somewhere in another discussion thread that if you only do one mod to the Bravo, this is the one to do, and I'm not planning to do any other mods (other than replace the tube with this growing stock of NOS tubes I'm collecting).

I read (in a thread on Head-fi) that the IRL510 works just fine with stock heatsinks, but that writer was referring to the V2 and not the Ocean, and he wrote this just hours after doing the mod. I was just wondering of anyone had experience with the Bravo Ocean overheating after doing the MOSFET mod.

 

[Adide]

Hi all.

Has the output impedance of Bravo Audio Ocean been determined?
Can't seem to find this info either on head-fi or the internets.

I'm asking because I assume the listing in specs is wrong and "Output Impedance 20-600" actually refers to recommended load impedance (supported phone impedance) and not to the actual amplifier output impedance.
If I'd have to guess I'd expect this to be in the 1-10 Ohm range (comparing to similar amplifiers) but I'd like to know the actual value if someone knows it.

Thanks and sorry if it's been answered already - just point me in the right direction.