I am looking to buy a hybrid Tube headphone amplifier but don't know what to buy!!!

[Sam21]

I already own a Little Dot I+... but I want to sell it and get something else..

I am looking to buy a hybrid Tube headphone amp … my budget is $200 USD …

I have already considered the Alex Cavalli Tube Hybrid , but it gets a bad review at audiosciencereview...

Which one is objectively better, Little Dot I+ or Alex Cavalli Tube Hybrid ?

Are there any other good hybrid tube amps in this price range ?

 

[SnowRang3r]

Don’t worry about ASR, especially for tube amps…

CTH or Vali 2+ would be my choice.

 

[mikemuzak]

I already own a Little Dot I+... but I want to sell it and get something else..

I am looking to buy a hybrid Tube headphone amp … my budget is $200 USD …

I have already considered the Alex Cavalli Tube Hybrid , but it gets a bad review at audiosciencereview...

Which one is objectively better, Little Dot I+ or Alex Cavalli Tube Hybrid ?

Are there any other good hybrid tube amps in this price range ?

Little Dot MKII is $159. Xduoo, and darkvoice have some offerings as well however I am not sure that dv has any hybrid designs.

 

[Sam21]

how does Bellari HA540 MK2 compare to the CTH ?

 

[tomb]

I already own a Little Dot I+... but I want to sell it and get something else..

I am looking to buy a hybrid Tube headphone amp … my budget is $200 USD …

I have already considered the Alex Cavalli Tube Hybrid , but it gets a bad review at audiosciencereview...

Which one is objectively better, Little Dot I+ or Alex Cavalli Tube Hybrid ?

Are there any other good hybrid tube amps in this price range ?

Your budget is the issue. Expecting a "good" hybrid tube amp for that price is unrealistic. You're combining two technologies with different requirements. Tube amps alone are more expensive, simply because of the required power supplies - both high voltage for the plates and high-current/low voltage for the heaters. Add on solid state circuitry and you have a complication that requires higher cost simply from the different power supplies required. Yes, there are a few amps that advertise themselves as inexpensive tube hybrids, but they are woefully inadequate. In most cases, they combine a low-voltage tube circuit (for which the tubes were never designed) with an ultra-simple solid-state buffer, either an opamp/monolithic buffer chip or a single MOSFET output. Cavalli's design and the Starving Student use a single MOSFET output, whereas others like the Little Bear, Millett Hybrid, etc. use buffer chips. (Millett Hybrid MAXes are an exception and use a fully-developed, solid-state, discrete diamond buffer.)

None of that comes close to a legitimate tube hybrid amplifier.

 

[ThanatosVI]

With that Budget there isn't much around that's memorable.

I'd go for the Schiit Vali 3
https://www.schiit.com/products/vali-3

 

[chef8489]

With that Budget there isn't much around that's memorable.

I'd go for the Schiit Vali 3
https://www.schiit.com/products/vali-3

It's the Vali 2+ and yes that would be my recommendation.

 

[ThanatosVI]

It's the Vali 2+ and yes that would be my recommendation.

Yeah seems you're right, since the URL lists it as vali 3 I wasn't entirely sure anymore

 

[pbui44]

Take the full-tube leap with the highly-acclaimed-for-years Drop Darkvoice 336SE for $250:

https://drop.com/buy/dark-voice-366se

 

[chef8489]

Take the full-tube leap with the highly-acclaimed-for-years Drop Darkvoice 336SE for $250:

https://drop.com/buy/dark-voice-366se

If you have planars a full tube amp won't really work, otherwise I agree.