advice on good cheap headphone amp?

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pellgarlic

New member
i am looking for a not-too-expensive, few-featured headphone amp, and hope that i can get some advice/recountance of experiences with headphone amps to help me make my decision.

basically, just now i have the rca outputs from my computer's sound card connected to the rca inputs of my denon hi-fi amp, which feeds my sony hi-fi speakers (which will be replaced at some point by proper monitors, but not yet). the problem is that the headphone socket on the denon amp doesn't work, so i'm unable to play back the guitar i just recorded, while recording vocals. (unless i just play it through the speakers - too loud and it picks up on the vocal recording, too quiet and i can't tell if i'm singing in tune and time).

so i need a simple, but fairly decent quality headphone amp to fill the gap. i'd like it to be pretty good sounding, cos i intend to check my mixes on it occassionally, but primarily it will just be for "reference" - i.e. so i can hear my recorded guitar while i'm recording my vocals. it just needs to have one headphone output, not the four or eight that a lot seem to have. also, i'm not sure whether it's best to split the signal from the sound-card output, feeding the headphone amp and the denon separately, or instead, to try to find a headphone amp with some kind of "direct source" so it can be connected in series. don't know if that's even possible in fact, especially in the budget i'll be working with, which is about £50 max (about $100 or so) although i'd rather spend less.

i've considered these so far:

Behringer MINIMON MON800 (http://www.behringer.com/MON800/index.cfm?lang=ENG)
Behringer MICROMON MA400 (http://www.behringer.com/MA400/index.cfm?lang=ENG)
Presonus HP4 (http://www.presonus.com/hp4.html)
Samson S-Monitor (http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1696)
Samson S-Amp (http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1698&brandID=2)

as i said, i'm not concerned with having multiple headphone outputs (although most of the available equipment seems to have it anyway - only a couple i found don't). i'm also not too bothered about getting any "extra features" - i just want a good solid piece of kit, that i can plug my headphones into (with a volume control of course) and will integrate into my existing setup with relative ease, and will allow me to switch between listening through the speakers or the headphones without having to do a major re-wiring job every time i do so.

anyone got any strong opinions either way on any of the afore-mentioned equipment? (or suggestions of alternatives...)
 
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I have teh 8 channel behri headphone amp. Isn't bad, looks nice in a rack and can run several pairs of headphones at high volumes. Does get a little noisey but it's totally useable.
 
I have the 4 ch Beri and it does the job. It is not in my recording chain so Im not really too bothered if it adds a little noise.
 
I have the 4ch one and I really like it.
Yeah, Behringer is crap. But the HA4700 is actually useful and I've had no problems with mine.
A cool feature it has is that onst of the in/out connection are on the front. So you can easily patch to it.
 
Symetrix made a now discontinued 4 channel half rack headphone amp (SX-204) that can be found pretty cheap used. I have one as a satellite unit. I think I paid about $40 for it off of e-bay. Make sure you get the right wallwart with it or that will cost you another $15 or so. Well built units. There are lots of other headphone amps that run about $100. I have an OZ HM-4 that works pretty well. Next step up is proabably a Rane HC-4 or HC-6 unit.
 
Have you thought about opening up your Dennon and Simply Fixing the Headphone jack?? It shouldn"t be verry difficult as it is most likely and Loose wire going to the Headphone jack......


Just a Thought!!!
 
Minion said:
Have you thought about opening up your Dennon and Simply Fixing the Headphone jack?? It shouldn"t be verry difficult as it is most likely and Loose wire going to the Headphone jack......


Just a Thought!!!
Click to expand...

yeah, i already had that thought - but i can't see any loose wires... perhaps a little more explanation: when i plug the headphones in, i only get a very weak signal through the headphones themselves, and the signal still comes through the speakers at full volume :) i had my boss look at it, who used to work for philips, and knows a fair bit about electronics, and he couldn't figure it out. he cleaned the contacts of the headphone socket a bit, which is what produced the weak signal in the headphones - before that, there was nothing through the headphones at all.

on the amp recommendations side - i notice that no-one has mentioned samson, which was in my list. should i take that as a subtle hint ;)

also, as a lot of the replies are fairly encouraging about behringer gear (at least in this context, where sound quality is not necessarily a prime factor), i was wondering if anyone had any particular opinions on the Behringer MICROMON MA400 that i mentioned, as it's the cheapest in my list ;) and if it does the job, there's no sense in me spending any more on something that i won't get any added benefit from.

also, i would ideally like a small unit - it's not going to go in a rack, it's just going to sit in the gap below the keyboard drawer on my computer desk. so the less space it takes up, the better.
 
the presonus is a little tiny bugger...and gives you good sound quality, where you say you dont need it...

but truthfully...sound quality in a headphone mix is a wonderful thing, and makes you play better
 
actually, to be precise, i said "sound quality is not necessarily a prime factor", although if i can get a piece of equipment that does sound good, all the better :) i would much prefer something that sounded good, but in essence, the main function of the device will be to let me listen back to a guitar recording on the headphones, so that i can record my vocals without picking up what i'm playing back.

the hp4 has been recommended to me on another thread (about a different issue) as well, so i'm getting quite interested in it.

looking at the diagram here: http://www.presonus.com/hp4.html where it says "monitor/thru".... does that mean i can plug the output of my sound-card into the hp4, then have the outputs connected to my denon amp? and if so, would that affect the quality of the signal reaching the denon amp? (i.e. would it "colour" it?).
 
pellgarlic said:
looking at the diagram here: http://www.presonus.com/hp4.html where it says "monitor/thru".... does that mean i can plug the output of my sound-card into the hp4, then have the outputs connected to my denon amp? and if so, would that affect the quality of the signal reaching the denon amp? (i.e. would it "colour" it?).
Click to expand...

Yes, you can connect it like that. In fact, that's what I do. The monitor connection only contains a passive volume attenuator, so it should not drastically affect your signal. I haven't noticed any significant coloration of the sound going through the hp4 vs. not.
 
orksnork said:
passive volume attenuation say wut~!!
Click to expand...

Meaning the "Monitor Level" knob does not add gain, it only adjusts the gain that is coming out of your soundcard (i.e. - the HP4 won't power passive monitors). Thus, it is theoretically a cleaner circuit than one which would include a gain stage.
 
Just one warning about the Presonus:

I think it sounds decent, but be aware that it is very susceptible to static electricity. If you have a carpeted studio, and shuffle across the rug and happen to touch the Presonus, that might be the last time you'll ever be able to use it. Their own tech guys admit that this is a problem.
 
scrubs said:
the "Monitor Level" knob does not add gain, it only adjusts the gain that is coming out of your soundcard (i.e. - the HP4 won't power passive monitors). Thus, it is theoretically a cleaner circuit than one which would include a gain stage.
Click to expand...

sounds good - that's exactly what i was looking for. obviously there is always the argument that anything you connect inbetween your audio source and your speakers is gonna "colour" the sound to an extent, but it seems like the presonus unit is as "monochrome" as it's possible to get if you do have to put something inbetween, and it's unlikely to make enough difference that it'll be audible to me anyway. plus, it's not in my "recording" chain, so it shouldn't be a problem. i also think the "mute" and "mono" functions seem very useful features to have.

sounds like a pretty convincing approval of the presonus then - most people have only positive opinions of it, with the exception of littledog's warning about static electricity... i've read about that a couple of times, and i am a little concerned about it - my "studio" is just my back room, which is indeed carpeted. i wonder if there is any way to connect a "ground" of some sort to the enclosure, to try to draw any static charge that it might attract away from the internal components? i can't see anywhere to attach something like that, unless i solder something onto the case itself...
 
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