[benjaminhuypham]

Hi everyone, I just bought my AKG Q701 and have been looking for tube amp to leverage my gear to fully potential. My budget is not flat and I focus on two affortable tube amps: Little Dot I+ and Bravo Audio Ocean. Does anybody know which tube amp is better and which one I should go with? Any other recommendations on tube amps less than $150?
Thanks for your help !

 

[PurpleAngel]

I'm going to guess(?) they are about equal.
 
Try posting this question on the website Rockgrotto, in their head amp. section.
Guys on that website like to tinker with these little tube amps.

 

[RAZRr1275]

I'd give the edge to the little dot because of tube rolling flexibility. You can use 3 different families of tubes in it and you can roll opamps which changes the sound nicely as well. It pairs well with my k702s although I'm looking to sell it now for an upgrade but its a great amp that swings above its price point. I've also heard about some reliability concern with some bravo products and they don't publish the specs of how much power it gives at a certain impedance so I'm not sure how much it gives to the K702s. The LD gives 800 mw into 32 ohms while the k702s have a 64 ohm impedance - long story sort they'll be powered fairly well for the price. 

 

[Focker]

When I had some Q702s I was using them with my Little Dot I+ and it was a pretty nice match for them.

 

[walls]

I would go the LittleDot as well. Davids customer service is really good and tube rolling is a plus.

 

[benjaminhuypham]

Thanks for great advice everyone. Someone mentions that Little dot I+ performs better for low end headphones under 32 Ohms. Little dot MKII performs better for high end headphones. My concern is whether my AKG Q701 62 Ohms can be driven well with Little dot MKII. Which one can drive my gear better?

 

[RAZRr1275]

The I+ would be the better option for your q701. If you look at the mkii's power specs here 
 
200mW into 120 ohms 
100mW into 32 ohms
 
 
It delivers much less power into that impedance range than the I+ would
 
Specs for both amps pulled form here btw
 
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=816
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=819

 

[Focker]

Quote:

Thanks for great advice everyone. Someone mentions that Little dot I+ performs better for low end headphones under 32 Ohms. Little dot MKII performs better for high end headphones. My concern is whether my AKG Q701 62 Ohms can be driven well with Little dot MKII. Which one can drive my gear better?

 
If you shoot an email off to David, the owner, he'll be happy to give you some feedback. There are also forums on the Little Dot site that are very helpful. 

 

[HPiper]

I am using a LD MkIII with my Grado's that are lower impedance than your phones and it works fine. Sometimes I think people put a little to much into the impedance matching thing, or maybe some amps are bothered by it more than others, but the LD amps seems pretty stable over a wide range of loads.