Hehe, the openings are needed for the tubes and they are hot, (MOSFET inside don't like hi temp ) come to think of it..really 像小瓦斯爐 . Also, need to holes anyway because of this a low profile unit, or it would be much thicker.
Headphone amps are required if you wanna use headphones, not necessary 超級發燒友. There are low price ones available too. It was build-in back in the old days. You can get a headphone amp kit for $20 USD, or a complete unit for less than $100 USD easy and reasonably good quality to everyday users.
$19.50 USD Headphone/Pre-amp kit