INTRODUCTION

From what I can see, the audiophile community remains pretty split on oBravo as a company. As far as I know, oBravo is mostly known within the 2-channel communities though has fostered a small but loyal fanbase within the IEM community. Though it’s easy to see why they had such a small outreach, considering that their most well-known products were priced far in excess of the layman’s budget.

I myself actually had experience with oBravo way back before I had gotten into the whole measurements game. It was back in e-earphone in Tokyo when I tried the ERIB-1a, one of the first planar-dynamic hybrids in the market at the time. To keep things short, it was one of the worst IEMs I had ever heard regardless of price, and it was £1,100.

On one hand, oBravo products still remain pretty well-received amongst those who own them, despite their sky-high prices that can go all the way up to 9,000 pounds sterling (exceeding 11,000 dollars for our Yanks). On the other hand, a few of their models have shown to display absolutely atrocious measurements, for instance the ERIB-5a and the notorious HAMT1. So given my own personal experiences with oBravo before and having looked at these data, it’s pretty understandable that my opinion of them as a company wasn’t very high going into this review.

The Cupids are oBravo’s departure from their usual “exclusive luxury” business model, retailing at 250 pounds and sporting their signature planar-dynamic hybrid setup. Expectedly, hype for the Cupids took off almost the moment it was released as the common man could finally have a taste of oBravo’s ever-elusive sound. And with the positive reviews flowing in, my expectations for the Cupids were cautiously high.

Product page: https://www.audioconcierge.co.uk/portfolio/obravo-cupid-planar-earphone/

MSRP: £250 (~$320)

Driver configuration: DD + Planar hybrid

The Cupids were originally loaned to me by Audio Concierge, but subsequent units were sent to me directly from oBravo (more details below).