Brookstone Big Blue Bluetooth Amplifier (dac amp) - really?
Aug 3, 2017 at 2:30 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 47

MVDude

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Hi all. Long-time visitor, first-time poster. I have some information to contribute and then hopefully I can get some reaction.

Believe it or not, Brookstone sells a dac amp. It's called the Big Blue Bluetooth Amplifier. It has bluetooth features, but it also works as a USB dac amp. It caught my attention because it is being sold at a clearance discount right now: $20 instead of $100. (Availability comes and goes right now.)

Reviews about this unit are scarce. I've searched the forums here and have not seen it mentioned before. (Being Brookstone, it's probably not a device that audiophiles are clamoring to try.) However, I did some sleuthing, found the FCC page for the device, and did some more sleuthing on the chips shown in the FCC photos of the internals. I was expecting this to be junk, but it seems to have some quality components. In particular, it uses a PCM5102A dac like the Fiio E10k.

It's made for Brookstone by Taiwanese manufacturer Vence. It's overseas clone seems to be the Ampio G3 VD6880 or maybe VD6000. It's described in the trade press (thanks Google Translate) as being positioned to compete with TEAC HA-P50SE-B and Roland Mobile UA dac amps which are $200-ish price point devices.

Could this be a bargain basement gem? For $20 I took a chance. I'll report back here once it's in my hands. I'd appreciate any reaction anyone might have.

Here are the details:

FCC page (FCC ID matches Brookstone product manual):
https://fccid.io/VHVBTVD6000

Images of the internals are within FCC PDF documents.

Chips seen in photos:
Amazon Product Page:
https://www.amazon.com/Brookstone-Big-Blue-Bluetooth-Amplifier/dp/B01N9F3FYQ

Brookstone Product Page:
http://www.brookstone.com/pd/big-blue-bluetooth-amplifier/311665p.html
 
Aug 3, 2017 at 7:47 PM Post #3 of 47
Looks like it's sold out already. I tried to get a friend to get one too, and it's out of stock. I might have gotten the last one, lol.
 
Aug 3, 2017 at 7:59 PM Post #4 of 47
How can you go wrong for $20 paid that for a burger once.
 
Aug 3, 2017 at 8:32 PM Post #5 of 47
In-stock status has been bouncing up and down on both Amazon and Brookstone for the last couple days. Just keep an eye on it. May very well come back. :wink: (Note: on Amazon the seller needs to be Brookstone to get the clearance price. Other 3rd party sellers may have different prices.)
 
Last edited:
Aug 3, 2017 at 8:34 PM Post #6 of 47
It's 49.99 on Amazon.
 
Aug 4, 2017 at 4:35 PM Post #10 of 47
Back in stock from Brookstone
 
Aug 5, 2017 at 5:29 AM Post #12 of 47
Hi all. Long-time visitor, first-time poster. I have some information to contribute and then hopefully I can get some reaction.

Believe it or not, Brookstone sells a dac amp. It's called the Big Blue Bluetooth Amplifier. It has bluetooth features, but it also works as a USB dac amp. It caught my attention because it is being sold at a clearance discount right now: $20 instead of $100. (Availability comes and goes right now.)

Reviews about this unit are scarce. I've searched the forums here and have not seen it mentioned before. (Being Brookstone, it's probably not a device that audiophiles are clamoring to try.) However, I did some sleuthing, found the FCC page for the device, and did some more sleuthing on the chips shown in the FCC photos of the internals. I was expecting this to be junk, but it seems to have some quality components. In particular, it uses a PCM5102A dac like the Fiio E10k.

It's made for Brookstone by Taiwanese manufacturer Vence. It's overseas clone seems to be the Ampio G3 VD6880 or maybe VD6000. It's described in the trade press (thanks Google Translate) as being positioned to compete with TEAC HA-P50SE-B and Roland Mobile UA dac amps which are $200-ish price point devices.

Could this be a bargain basement gem? For $20 I took a chance. I'll report back here once it's in my hands. I'd appreciate any reaction anyone might have.

Here are the details:

FCC page (FCC ID matches Brookstone product manual):
https://fccid.io/VHVBTVD6000

Images of the internals are within FCC PDF documents.

Chips seen in photos:
Amazon Product Page:
https://www.amazon.com/Brookstone-Big-Blue-Bluetooth-Amplifier/dp/B01N9F3FYQ

Brookstone Product Page:
http://www.brookstone.com/pd/big-blue-bluetooth-amplifier/311665p.html


The pictures don't seem to show a couple of things that an amp would need.
Is there a user manual perhaps with specs?
 
Aug 5, 2017 at 5:30 AM Post #13 of 47
Hi all. Long-time visitor, first-time poster. I have some information to contribute and then hopefully I can get some reaction.

Believe it or not, Brookstone sells a dac amp. It's called the Big Blue Bluetooth Amplifier. It has bluetooth features, but it also works as a USB dac amp. It caught my attention because it is being sold at a clearance discount right now: $20 instead of $100. (Availability comes and goes right now.)

Reviews about this unit are scarce. I've searched the forums here and have not seen it mentioned before. (Being Brookstone, it's probably not a device that audiophiles are clamoring to try.) However, I did some sleuthing, found the FCC page for the device, and did some more sleuthing on the chips shown in the FCC photos of the internals. I was expecting this to be junk, but it seems to have some quality components. In particular, it uses a PCM5102A dac like the Fiio E10k.

It's made for Brookstone by Taiwanese manufacturer Vence. It's overseas clone seems to be the Ampio G3 VD6880 or maybe VD6000. It's described in the trade press (thanks Google Translate) as being positioned to compete with TEAC HA-P50SE-B and Roland Mobile UA dac amps which are $200-ish price point devices.

Could this be a bargain basement gem? For $20 I took a chance. I'll report back here once it's in my hands. I'd appreciate any reaction anyone might have.

Here are the details:

FCC page (FCC ID matches Brookstone product manual):
https://fccid.io/VHVBTVD6000

Images of the internals are within FCC PDF documents.

Chips seen in photos:
Amazon Product Page:
https://www.amazon.com/Brookstone-Big-Blue-Bluetooth-Amplifier/dp/B01N9F3FYQ

Brookstone Product Page:
http://www.brookstone.com/pd/big-blue-bluetooth-amplifier/311665p.html


The pictures don't seem to show a couple of things that an amp would need.
Is there a user manual perhaps with specs?
 
Aug 5, 2017 at 8:22 AM Post #14 of 47
Aug 5, 2017 at 9:58 AM Post #15 of 47
Oh boy. The manuals drawing on more questions than answers. Spdif and coaxial and no mention of distortion nor do I see any capacitors.
I didn't see the battery so I assumed a part of the amp was not photographed. Anyway at this point I can only assume the headphone jack is the line out.
Also bluetooth may not work with spdif because the selector separates the functions. Likewise usb and bluetooth may not work together. Only saving grace may be the aptx transmitter may work off the line in, which not too many devices can do that.

But at the end of the day this device opens up possibilities for other manufacturers to do stuff people would like to use.
 

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