[silverfishla]

So you guys think running the fiio A3 and Little bear B4 together wont benefit the sound by any means?

Why don't you just try it? Think of the Little Bear like a tube pre-amp to your other amp. I use it this way on my Denon stereo amplifier at home (Denon is a little cold sounding). It warms up the sound and makes it sound more full. I use a Sparkos or a Burson Opamp in the Little Bear. If you're going to "double amp", this one is not a bad one to do it with.

 

[rafaelo]

Why don't you just try it? Think of the Little Bear like a tube pre-amp to your other amp. I use it this way on my Denon stereo amplifier at home (Denon is a little cold sounding). It warms up the sound and makes it sound more full. I use a Sparkos or a Burson Opamp in the Little Bear. If you're going to "double amp", this one is not a bad one to do it with.

Oops you said the magic word...sparkos...

I was thinking to upgrade with burson opamp until I was brain washed by the katana dyi thread regarding sparkos superiority.

Can you elaborate a little bit further please? Provide some comparison and a link where to buy sparkos for little bear? Many thanks in advance.

 

[silverfishla]

Oops you said the magic word...sparkos...

I was thinking to upgrade with burson opamp until I was brain washed by the katana dyi thread regarding sparkos superiority.

Can you elaborate a little bit further please? Provide some comparison and a link where to buy sparkos for little bear? Many thanks in advance.

I bought my Sparkos Labs dual opamp off of eBay here in America. It’s actually Sparkos Labs that does the listings. I think your best bet is to go straight to their webpage unless you can access that listing off of UK eBay.
The Sparkos just makes the Little Bear very coherent. Brings up all the levels from highs to bass and has a big spacious and upfront sound. The Burson is more delicate. Spacious and emotional (the vocals are great).

 

[rafaelo]

I bought my Sparkos Labs dual opamp off of eBay here in America. It’s actually Sparkos Labs that does the listings. I think your best bet is to go straight to their webpage unless you can access that listing off of UK eBay.
The Sparkos just makes the Little Bear very coherent. Brings up all the levels from highs to bass and has a big spacious and upfront sound. The Burson is more delicate. Spacious and emotional (the vocals are great).

Thanks so much for this useful info. I have no clue what dual opamp means though. Can I use a dual opamp in little bear?

I have seen also in eBay dual opamp for burson audio but I thought from the picture there are two opamps to place if you have two sockets available. Apologies in advance for my naive questions.

 

[frogmeat69]

There is one socket in the Little Bear B4, and it takes a dual op amp, so for Sparkos you would need the SS3602, and Burson you would probably stick with the V5i dual, since the V5 or V6 would not fit inside.
BTW, do these discrete op amps use any more power, so less play time on a charge? Haven't swapped in my V5i yet, just curious.

 

[silverfishla]

Thanks so much for this useful info. I have no clue what dual opamp means though. Can I use a dual opamp in little bear?

I have seen also in eBay dual opamp for burson audio but I thought from the picture there are two opamps to place if you have two sockets available. Apologies in advance for my naive questions.

Yes, you'll want the dual opamp not the single type opamps.

There is one socket in the Little Bear B4, and it takes a dual op amp, so for Sparkos you would need the SS3602, and Burson you would probably stick with the V5i dual, since the V5 or V6 would not fit inside.
BTW, do these discrete op amps use any more power, so less play time on a charge? Haven't swapped in my V5i yet, just curious.

Yes, the discrete opamps use a little more power. I know this because it is apparent when using them in a Zishan Z3, but I'm not sure how much it really affects the Little Bear. I haven't done a comparison with that amp and the discrete opamps. I've never bled out a battery on a listening session so far, but sorry, I can't tell you specifics.

 

[rafaelo]

There is one socket in the Little Bear B4, and it takes a dual op amp, so for Sparkos you would need the SS3602, and Burson you would probably stick with the V5i dual, since the V5 or V6 would not fit inside.
BTW, do these discrete op amps use any more power, so less play time on a charge? Haven't swapped in my V5i yet, just curious.

Superb information, thanks so much!!!

 

[anorphirith]

I just got my B4 and love it so far, I sometimes even use it at home to smoothen the sound from my SS desktop amp
I did have a couple questions:
-Is there any way that they could fail and damage my headphones ? (40ohm abyss diana)
-Anyone has the circuit diagram
-I'm thinking of removing the plastic window and putting a burson V6 vivid oAmp in it. does anyone makes an angled connector so I could keep the window on?
-Any other parts I could upgrade besides the oamp ?

 

[frogmeat69]

Burson sell an extension on their website that is flexible, you will find it under accessories, 2 for $20 plus shipping, order them with your op amp, not sure about the V6 flopping around in there, something to think about, https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/supreme-sound-opamp-v5/


Or something like this?? https://www.digikey.com/product-det...g-corp/299-93-308-10-001000/ED58408-ND/248999

 

[anorphirith]

Or something like this?? https://www.digikey.com/product-det...g-corp/299-93-308-10-001000/ED58408-ND/248999

that's perfect !
that's the best I could find on mouser
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetai...=sGAEpiMZZMs/Sh/kjph1tvt1/mEPT/XoFM84z5JrlW4=

 

[anorphirith]

anyone tried the muses opamps ?
https://www.njr.com/MUSES/index.html

 

[Wiljen]

I have the muses02 and find it to be on par with the best of the customs, but it ought to be at the price point. I did a compare and contrast of the burson v5i, and V6c/V6v vs the Muses in my review of the Burson products awhile back.
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/burson-op-amps.22984/reviews#review-20028
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/burson-op-amps.22984/reviews#review-20028

 

[rafaelo]

Hi guys,

I just received my burson audio V5i dual and I want to install it. Do I need a torx T5 or T6 or a hex (number ?) screwdriver ? Or something else?

Thanks very much in advance for your valuable help.

 

[rafaelo]

For anyone considering it, just do it. The difference is insane, super easy to fit too. Just b

Thanks so much for your picture. Made my change much much more easier . I will start testing the new opamp from today.

 

[rafaelo]

I will write a review for the Burson Audio V5i dual opamp in the related thread when I fully complete the testing however it does not take more than one day to realise that in comparison with the shipped opamp of the little bear the Burson Audio is a game changer regarding the sound quality.

So I totally agree with other people in this thread that already said that they find the change of the op amp as a must. It is a real game changer.

Only negative thing is that in my (our) case, yes the battery life is shorter when this opamp is used with the little bear. But this is related to a specific case and thus I cannot deduce points from V5i because of this.

I experienced a lot of dramatic improvements lately with one being using balanced cables in combination with my Radsone es100 Bluetooth adapter instead of regular cables. The improvement in sound quality was dramatic not because of the balanced cable per se but because of this particular device working so much better in the balanced mode. However, using the same cable with a small adaptor that converts balanced to unbalanced in order to be used with little bear, the change in sound was even more dramatic with the new opamp from burson audio installed. This new opamp drastically transformed the sound after one day that was being installed. It was simply like I was changing amplifier in my main system.

Similarly, going from a crappy AV onkyo budget amplifier to my Marantz 6005 pm in my main system I noticed the same improvement with this new opamp. Or is like going from a budget Marantz stereo amp to using a Hegel amplifier. The reviewers before me were really spot on when they describe that the most notable improvement is associated with the clarity in the guitars and in musical instruments in general. Separation and analysis is on another level.

But I have to say that I feel that the little bear is not exploiting fully the dual V5i. Currently, I am wondering in which device I could place this opamp which also would use a linear power supply in order to exploit fully the dynamics of this opamp. I have the intuitive feeling that it needs more power to further shine.

Obviously, my limitations as a reviewer is that I do not have other opamps to compare. I was looking at sparkos before but personally I would NOT pay around 80$ for an opamp for the little bear. The price of Burson Audio seems very reasonable in comparison. Also, the Burson audio has a nice beautiful silver cap that helps also with the orientation in installation that I think sparkos does not have. So I already did my choice before receiving this unit and from the point of view of a "customer reviewer" I believe that V5i is a no brainer for someone that has already the little bear b4 and as far the sound quality is conserned.

I have no xDSD in at the moment for testing to compare with the little bear + Burson audio opamp but this might change in the future. That would be really an interesting comparison since I have in such high esteem the xDSD and ifi audio products in general. However, although is quite early in my testing I would not exclude the possibility that a es100+little bear+burson audio V5i could be a giant killer when the cost is also put under consideration.

I am very grateful to Charles and the Burson Audio team for providing me this opportunity and I will write a proper review in the following weeks.

A final point I have to make is unrelated to this opamp and is that also to my big surprise the analogue cable connecting the little bear with my source makes a difference!!! Although, I was so happy having this small 10 cm cable provided I discovered that a budget 3m from Amazon circa 7£ improve the sound considerably. My point is not going crazy and spend money in audiophile expensive cables but if a cable is super super budget might influence the sound. And I believe not all of us we have the same generic cable provided. I just used by accident one budget Amazon 3m cable that I just happened to have and the sound was better even if I was going from a 10cm to 3m cable!!!