I have heard that the Little Bear isn't that great unless you change from the stock opamps. Though I can't confirm this, as I have not heard it personally. YMMV!
Thank you, will look into it! Nobsound NS-08E look great, not too powerful and great for earbuds and iems. Xduoo MT 602 also pique my interest, although I hear hybrid does not provide the best tube listening experience.
I prefer using a vacuum tube amp with my earbuds. My amplifier in the photo just below was specifically made for headphones, especially earbuds with an impedance of over 64Ω though it has played nicely with earbuds as low as 16Ω with no issues at all.
BRAND: SACThailand
MODEL: Classic 45 SE Silk Vacuum Tube Amplifier; Headphone Edition
CLASS: Single-Ended Triode; Pure Class A
CIRCUIT: Zero Feedback; Auto Cathode Bias; Full P2P Wiring
TUBE COMPLEMENT: 1 x 5Y3GT Input; 2 x 6SN7 Driver; 2 x 45 Output
POWER OUTPUT: 1.5W x 2 Channels
OUTPUT IMPEDANCE: Low = >10Ω; High = ~100Ω
GAIN: Low = 5.7x (15dB; ~3.5V); High = 14.5x (23dB; ~9.8V)
INPUT: 3 x Stereo RCA
OUTPUT: 1 x 6.3mm (1/4"); 1 x 4-Pin XLR
UNIT DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 36cm x 31cm x 20cm
UNIT WEIGHT: 14.5 kg / 32 lbs
You sir, always has the best setup!
Ah nice, I have a fellow earbuds user who exploring this earbuds + tube hobby together. I still not fully understands how tube amp works, and which are the best and budget friendly. But no rush for me, just exploring the journey at my own pace.The Little Bear B4-X is a hybrid tube / SS amp. The tubes arenot usedfor amplification. The tubes are used as "pre-amp" feeding SS op amps. As @samandhi alluded, people have had some good success after replacing the stock op amps with other higher quality op amps. The Little Bear B4-X is spec'd to drive headphones up to 300 Ohm, your earbuds are low impedance and will be driven easily. The Cayin N3 Pro DAP also has a hybrid tube / SS output arrangement similar to the B4-X. Meaning tube pre-amp stage and SS output stage. But as far as I know the Cayin can't be modified like the B4-X to accept different op amps. I have also been looking at the Little Bear for some fun tube sound lately, so it is quite a coincidence that you also are interested in the B4-X. BTW, I do have vintage tube gear at home so I can appreciate the sound a tube amp can produce.
Edit: I made a mistake about the tube amplification. The tubes are used as amplifiers which feed the op amps. The op amps are unity gain, meaning they do not amplify the signal, but follow the amplified input voltage swing (audio signal) and provide drive current to the load (earbuds/IEMs/headphones).