This is a review written by Terry Ellis March 2025.

For my video review please see my YouTube channel link here

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The search for..

I set out this year to explore as many different pre and power amplifiers as I possibly could, mostly I have been interested to experience different preamplifiers.  Why you might ask, I was keen to know if there is something I have been missing by listening to mostly integrated amplifiers. My motivation to do this came from changes I made to my reference review system, really the vinyl side of the system where the phono stage has a better balanced output leading me to need two balanced inputs on an amplifier setup ideally.  I made a whole video about this with some technical differences and benefits to pre powers compared to integrated’s. Link to that video here.

One of the companies I spoke to for the technical details for that video was Vinnie Rossi. I knew they made a seriously high end limited range of amplification products called the BRAMA line. The BRAMA preamplifier is a one of a kind valve preamplifier, or at least I have never seen anything like it before in terms of its design.  I reached out to Vinnie and asked to review the preamplifier and within a matter of a few weeks the BRAMA was here and in my system so I could answer the important question. Had I been missing out and are there new musical experiences still for me to discover and the answer was a simple yes.

Built different

The BRAMA is a 300B based valve preamplifier which is pretty rare in itself, but it uses not just any old 300B.  It uses the OG 300B, newly built by Western Electric in Rossville USA and I didn’t know much about the 300B’s history but it seems its a valve that was invented by Western Electric in 1938. The new one is said to be made with the same characteristics as the original.

However you would never know any of this as the BRAMA is very modern on the outside with the valves being hidden in a way inside for a super minimalist aesthetic. The industrial design is very nice and of course your eye is dominated by the super lovely and modern I think VU meter that is a cool feature. It is an exceptionally nicely done VU meter too with a smooth but also purposeful motion at all times. There is a little bit of retro to the VU meter that you notice when you dim the lights as its illuminated warm in colour.  You might expect a more blue light for the white background to pop in the dark but I see the warm glow as a hint to the retro valve aspect to the preamplifiers design, it’s a like a little clue to it.

The chassis is built extremely well, its amplifier like heavy with curved corners and subtle details and it has a soft finish to it visually, its not shiny. This is all impressive considering its made from a single solid block of aluminium crafted into this shape on a 5 axis CNC machine and you see the intricacy of this better when you remove the lid, or the base actually to look inside.

I do like how the little spikes you see on the corners are levelling spikes similar to a speaker, I like being able to level the BRAMA to sit rock solid on the rack surface. The spikes wont damage your expensive furniture as they are rounded off and that is important because the BRAMA is amplifier heavy at over 20Kg and it has a dead weight to it. I found the weight surprising as its not huge in overall size, so its dense in your hands but the BRAMA is still very accommodating for modern living.

Round the back and inside

Round the back is all business with a lot of balanced connections,  five in and three out which is great for me but adaptors for an RCA connection are included too. One of the inputs can be made into a home theatre bypass and I was surprised to see that on a HiFi product of this type but I assume Vinnie Rossi customers have asked for this so it’s great for those running dual HiFi and AV systems in the same room.

I was extremely keen to see inside and see the valves and to do so you have to turn the BRAMA upside down and remove the base that is very thick and very heavy. Inside there is a lot and not a lot to see because the bulk of the preamp is hidden inside another series of enclosures and I was not going to remove the lids of these just in case. In the enclosed sections I am told is a custom designed switch mode power supply that adapts to the mains voltage with a separate power supply being used for the front panel circuitry so its isolated from the audio circuitry. The BRAMA uses patented Belleson linear super regulators to power the left and right channels and the valves.

It’s the WE300B I wanted to see and I had planned to get one out so I could get some better video shots of them but when I saw how they are installed into a bracket system that I assume helps to support their weight and stop any vibration I decided to leave them well alone, again just in case. The bracket was another surprise to see given how inert the chassis is, its dead when you tap it with your knuckles. I did get some video shots of the valves installed and they are very cool looking valves, they look incredible actually compared to others I have seen.

I think the BRAMA is designed this way so the 300B can be just cm away from the inputs and outputs, they are operating in pure class a for the voltage gain with the volume being controlled by a resistor ladder, one for each channel and it’s a fully balanced design. With other impressive things going on such as 8 layer PCBs, sealed and shielded bits and more.

Not cheap enough for me

I need to mention the remote control because its also I believe a one of a HiFi kind that has its own very impressive screen where the text almost seems to float almost holographic.  The screen allows you to access the BRAMA menu system to adjust important settings such as the gain for each individual input, this is very useful and there is also a balance control and more. Its an exceptionally nice remote control that communicates two way so if you change the volume on the preamplifier it also changes on the remote control screen.

So this is a stunning looking, solid built, unique designed and very “I want it in my system” preamp, but it does come with an eye watering price tag of just shy of $39000 which is of course a huge amount of money and therefore the BRAMA is not for everyone. The high price meant my expectations were of course equally high with the question, what does a $40k preamp sound like?

Sound hit the lofty expectation?

Lets cover some sound quality basics, the BRAMA is a silent preamp, you don’t know its in your system. There is no hiss or hum or anything like that its super quiet even though it’s a 300B valve preamp. I also didn’t notice any bleed through the channels if more than one source is playing and you might shout “of course Terry” at me given the price however I think its important to cover off these basics.

For the BRAMA’s general sound character I would say its sounds modern and clean with depth and soul. To explain that listening to it a lot what I found is at first I wasn’t sure how I felt about its sound but after maybe two hours of music, once I had relaxed and settled into the session the BRAMA had gradually been alluring me into the music with the depth of the music quality.  By this I mean there was always something stand out and special about the music but it depended on the music. With one album it could be the sound stage layering that was very cleanly organised, fast and clear but with a nice organic character too. Where each instrument or element to the music sounded very specific but with a satisfying organic tonality and that got me for that piece music. Maybe in some other albums it could be the vocal palpability or the bass bop and bounce, I always found something that stood out, something that was great about each track I listened to, that got me and made me want to listen to the next and so on and through the listening session I was pulled in more and more still.

I listened at lower volumes and higher volumes and higher seemed a little better but not so drastically different that I would say lower was much different or worse and that is very important to a lot of people. But the BRAMA definitely has more of a modern sound than you might expect for a valve preamplifier. I say this because its sound is more about staying clean and clear rather than adding lots of tonality or fullness or softness or pleasing distortion to the music. It maybe sounds a touch leaner in its delivery when comparing to others however in isolation I didn’t really notice that, in fact combined with the big Canton Reference 2 speakers in my smaller room the overall balance with the Esoteric S03 power amp has been fantastic. I listened to probably a hundred hours of music with this setup and loved it all, I have been loving the sound of this system as its been balanced really nicely.

I have also been super happy with the general smoothness of the sound, there has not been one harsh note with the BRAMA in the system although that is a stand out characteristic of the Canton speakers, but it was also true when listening to the Audio Solutions Figaro M2. I do think there is a little bit of music filtering going on with the BRAMA, just a little bit of smoothing of the sound which is likely the effect of the 300B.

What I think we have here is a typical HiFi design seesaw where at one end there is a super modern, super fast, clean, clear precise SMPS power supply balancing with a 300B, a valve famed for its tonality and vocal organic qualities. I think the overall balance of these two polar opposites ends up somewhere in the middle with some of the benefits of both technologies but not going too much one way or the other. However if your used to or are looking for a valve pre that wants to add a lot of the “valve” sound to the music the BRAMA is not really that. I think its looking to be far more honest than that, more modern sounding than that and what would be the appeal of another “typical” tube preamp that does that. I can see why they are trying to push beyond that.

Devil is in the details

How I came to this conclusion was comparing my vinyl setup to the digital setup of my review system. I have done a lot with the vinyl setup recently, especially with the phono stage, that now has some 1960s NOS valves in it and they have a certain clean but thicker old fashioned sound character about them.  I like this for vinyl, I think it adds to the character of the music and I want character when listening to records and I was hearing all of this with the BRAMA in the system. My good records were sounding particularly good and the character meant I was enjoying them more than the less characterful digital music and I think had the BRAMA also added a lot of its own character it would do it to everything and it could be too much of a good thing.  I think each individual has to choose do they want that from a preamp or do they not, do you want character there or neutrality.

For specifics in this system I have had a really clean and detailed realistic sounding treble with some lovely subtle details and nuances coming through with real authenticity about them. The treble has not sounded dulled down or rolled off like maybe you expect from a valve preamp. There is still possibly a touch of sweetness with the treble but its far from syrupy and losing attack and detail or worse becoming splashy or zingy, the BRAMA delivers treble light years beyond that.

Vocals have sounded very clear and quite crisp at times however I have been very happy with the tonal qualities of both male and female from soul to opera and that has moved into instruments tonality.  The BRAMA delivers a “neutral” presentation but one with soul and music depending its delivered a lovely combination of vivid details with character. One album in particular showed me this,  Julien Chauvin, Vivaldi” Concerti per violino,  classical violin is not normally my thing, but this was great on the BRAMA because of its speed and great tonal quality meant I could hear all the details without the music becoming overly strident and unpleasant. I find intense strings, even as well recorded as on this album can be difficult for HiFi systems to do this well or at least make it a visceral but organic pleasing experience.

Then the bass has been great, big and bold when I want it to be with powerful electronic or dub or drum and bass or reggae and I listen to a lot of these genre of music.  I also again enjoyed the speed for fast and detailed fingers on bass strings and I have not felt short changed at all. I have been so very happy listening to the BRAMA in this system for both my analytical audiophile mind and the emotional Terry, I dont always get both this well satisfied.

In a way that has been a problem for me, I have been enjoying everything about the BRAMA’s sound and its been very hard me for to find fault or flaw or the less good aspect of its sound delivery and nothing is perfect. The problem lies in I didn’t have access to other preamps around the same price to compare it to and this is a review, meaning it’s a critique and I knew I needed to do better.

How do I find a comparison for this

Luckily I know a man who has a much better system than me and I was able to take the BRAMA to his home to compare it to his nearly twice as expensive TAD C700 preamplifier on a biblical ultra high end level system.  Some of you will remember Michael from this video I made a couple of years ago, Michaels system is insane high end featuring the best from Esoteric, Gryphon, REL Acoustics and some other brands. Its a system that is about as good as it gets in its own right.

Listening between the BRAMA and the TAD Preamp’s was super interesting. The BRAMA sounded a little faster, lighter on its feet, it produced a sound that was a little more forward with a more crisp edge to the music. The sound stage was taller with a crystal clean, clear and super organised precise delivery.  It sounded fantastic even through Michael’s crazy uber revealing system, there was nothing specific to complain about it was all very good. However the TAD preamp sounded more full bodied and more solid in each piece of music, at the same time with a greater sense of presence to the instruments. It definitely delivered a more big scale dynamic whole room filling sound, it filled the large space better but also had more micro-dynamic contrasts so you could hear more into the playing of instruments. For me the most impressive difference was the way the musicians did what I call “a peeling off” of the speakers to play in the own 3D space in the room. It was a very big difference between the preamps maybe or maybe not justified by the more than thirty thousand pound price difference, the TAD costs just under £70,000. Some will see these prices as crazy and I can understand why however its amazing how HiFi can seem to have no limits if your pockets are deep enough and the rest of the system and space and the music is good enough to open the window this wide and clear.

Final Thoughts

In summary, the Vinnie Rossi BRAMA Preamplifier is a lovely built, lovely looking, just great and easy to live with HiFi preamplifier. It is a joy to have in your system and in your home. The VU meter on the front is a lovely visual touch, as is the remote control and it certainly delivers a massive sense of pride of ownership.

Sonically its great as well, its exceptionally clean, clear, fast and dynamic sounding and for little old me its given me some listening sessions where I have been emotional beyond where I normally am with music. That sounds cliché I know but sometimes the truth does. I am struggling to find fault in what I have heard from it in some ways its taken my listening experiences forward which is why I wanted to do this review.  You can’t know what good sound is until you have experienced it and its certainly added fuel to my fire for continuing to explore the sonic possibilities from preamplifiers and separates HiFi.

I want to end this review with a general thought, I know some people try and decide on what HiFi to purchase from looking at specs and measurements. That is fine and sensible to do to a point however you also need to go out and listen too to as much HiFi as you can because some of it will surprise you. Some sounds nothing like what you think it will, especially in the context of a full system.

Do I recommend someone check out the BRAMA if they are shopping for a modern sounding preamplifier with something extra about it, at this price level, yes of course I do.

An Essential Audition Award is granted in recognition of a products high performance but with a certain uniqueness that makes auditioning even more essential.

For the full specification of the Vinnie Rossi BRAMA see their website linked here