When is an Amp not an Amp??

[wallace]

I just received a Bravo Audio tube amp. SQ is fine,but no volume,sounds louder straight from the walkman.All i can think of ,is that the stock tube doesn't work with Grados.Can anybody help me with this,? otherwise i might just have got me an expensive desk ornament.

 

[miloxo]

Does the amp make your headphone sounds better?

Yes: Doing a good job
No: Doing a not so good job

Amping is not all about volume, but controlling the drivers.

If my DAC is set on '5' my AD700 can sound louder straight out the DAC, then from my receiver.

If that was not possible, you should get sound from your amp at zero(amp) volume

 

[FallenAngel]

How do you figure that the Bravo Audio amp has "no volume"? No volume control or not enough gain?

As for whether an amp is doing it's job by making headphones sound better - not necessarily, a good amp can make headphones sound worse.

 

[krmathis]

Does it accept signal level input and output headphone/speaker level?
* If YES, then it is an amplifier.
* If NO, then it most probably is not an amplifier...

 

[wallace]

Yes it does make the phones sound better,but with the volume control turned up full,it doesn't have any where near enough gain.Tantalizing really.I have never been able to turn an amp up full before.

 

[Stitch]

Is there a gain switch somewhere? What are the cans are you driving? It could be that the amp does not have enough power for them.

 

[wallace]

The amp doesn't have a gain switch.I was using 325is's,but it seems to do better with the MS-1's.I might have been a bit hasty complaining,after ten hours burn in it now sounds louder and have turned the volume down to 2 o'clock.I can live with this.I realy must get out more,and stay away from a certain online auction site.

Thanks all.