Headphone Amp

S

songsj

Member
Looking for a good and moderately priced headphone amp. Just enough to drive one or two sets. I do like it clear and loud. By the time I set my Tascam 16x08 USB interface to the proper recording levels I just don't get the monitoring I like. Maybe I'm missing something here. I can get the play back music loud as hell but with direct monitoring the mic level only increases with and increase of input gain or the headphone volume control which I have all the way up.
 
There's all kind of options...I mean, if you hit Google, you'll probably get plenty of choices at various price points.

One thing...if you have you recorded tracks cranked, then you can lower them and give the the direct monitoring more room...but if it's still way low, then an amp will help.
I only mention that because in my own setup, I encounter the same situation at times...where my recorded tracks are now pretty loud, and the live monitoring is lower...so I simply lower the recorded tracks enough to give me more room...and it works out fine.
 
Wow I looked on the internet anywhere from 49.95 to 4995.95, huge range. I have an older Harmon Kardon HK505 integrated amplifier that is 60 watts per channel that I may use. It works really well has a tone defeat button that defeats tone controls and can be run without a speaker load. It is kind of big but I can save some serious coin by using it.
 
Presonus HP60 is the one that I found to be most worthy in the mid price range. $300 I believe. Clarity and volume way better than the Behri HA one. It was noisy but loud. Samson was good but the one I had fried.
 
songsj said:
Wow I looked on the internet anywhere from 49.95 to 4995.95, huge range. I have an older Harmon Kardon HK505 integrated amplifier that is 60 watts per channel that I may use. It works really well has a tone defeat button that defeats tone controls and can be run without a speaker load. It is kind of big but I can save some serious coin by using it.
Click to expand...

I would caution against running that amp without a load for two reasons,
1) It could be rather poor quality due to 'crossover' distortion.
2) Although transistor amps CAN run with no load it IS possible for them to go instable and burn out though I admit you would have to be driving the nuts off the thing. Still, ***t'appen!

A couple of 25W "Allyclad" 10 Ohm resistor in a tin will keep it happy and I suspect you would get better quality feeding the headphones from the speaker circuits, via attenuators than the built in headphone socket? Certainly more drive will be available.

Note. 25W Rs are not the full rating of the amp and don't need to be in this application. The resistors will easily absorb momentary 60W bursts. However, if you made a load box for a GUITAR amp it must be rated at least TWICE the amp's stated output.

The feeble HP output of the 16-08 has been mentioned before. In fact it is really lack of 'gain'. The amps have the power close to 0dBFS but at neg 18, tracking levels cannot be brought up high enough. I suspect the dead hand of the Nanny State here!

As ever, crude but effective drawing can be attached.

Dave.
 
I would caution against running that amp without a load for two reasons,
1) It could be rather poor quality due to 'crossover' distortion.
2) Although transistor amps CAN run with no load it IS possible for them to go instable and burn out though I admit you would have to be driving the nuts off the thing. Still, ***t'appen!

It's been awhile since I've used this amp but I thought I would be okay because if I'm not mistaken it has speaker 1, and speaker 2, buttons on the front and the headphone jack does not defeat the sound from the speakers. I think you have to activate them or not with the designated buttons. So I would think if they are not activated they would not be creating a load on the power supply. You would think it would be designed to run with phones and no speaker set activated. I also have the original owners manual and it said nothing about not running the amp without speakers though I know this is usually the case. In any case if I burned it up it would not be the end of the world as I have no other use for it. I thought about buying a decent pair of passive monitors for another set but then the amp would probably not be good enough. and you are right about the Tascam lack of gain, You can turn up the channels to be plenty loud but then the recording levels are too high.
 
songsj said:
I would caution against running that amp without a load for two reasons,
1) It could be rather poor quality due to 'crossover' distortion.
2) Although transistor amps CAN run with no load it IS possible for them to go instable and burn out though I admit you would have to be driving the nuts off the thing. Still, ***t'appen!

It's been awhile since I've used this amp but I thought I would be okay because if I'm not mistaken it has speaker 1, and speaker 2, buttons on the front and the headphone jack does not defeat the sound from the speakers. I think you have to activate them or not with the designated buttons. So I would think if they are not activated they would not be creating a load on the power supply. You would think it would be designed to run with phones and no speaker set activated. I also have the original owners manual and it said nothing about not running the amp without speakers though I know this is usually the case. In any case if I burned it up it would not be the end of the world as I have no other use for it. I thought about buying a decent pair of passive monitors for another set but then the amp would probably not be good enough. and you are right about the Tascam lack of gain, You can turn up the channels to be plenty loud but then the recording levels are too high.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are quite right, the amp probably is 99.9% ok to run without a load but a couple of 10W 10R wire wounds will cost nowt!

Thing is, you can use a "domestic" int' amp as a headphone distribution device. I built a box for a guitar show product area. 50W per ch amp driving 10 stereo TRS outlets each isolated by an 82 Ohm R.

Re the lack of "gain" in the AI? I am a dunce about such things but cannot see why an optional 'boost' could not be incorporated in the headphone feed?

Dave.
 
arcaxis said:
Evidently Tascam didn't improve subsequent interface models. Same low output on my old US1800. I bought a Behringer HA-400 and it sounds OK to my ears and more than enough volume.
Behringer MicroAMP HA400 4-Ch Headphone Amplifier | Sweetwater
Click to expand...

I believe there to be quite a bit of cork sniffery talked about headphone amps Mark. The DACs Clarity 3 sells here for over £500 and yet uses exactly the same IC as the wee Behringer, namely the JRC4580.

Yes the Clarity 3 can put out 200mW into 600 Ohms, 11V rms, whilst the HA400 can only summon 40mW into 100R but that is 2V rms and since many cans can deliver 100dB SPL for ONE volt that is 106dB and that is way louder than we should ever harken unto for more than a brief peak.

Now, I am well mutton so even my very sensitive, 113dB for 1V, K92s put a bit of a strain I think on my HA 400 so, I am going to change the 16V caps for 33V types and try the amp on 24 volts DC. Might fook-oop of course but all in the cause, eh' chaps?

Dave.
 
Found out something interesting last night. I am an old man , 62, I cut my teeth in the analog days with tape machines and outboard gear. If you wanted to understand signal flow you just had to follow the wires. With the exception of your send and receives on your mixing console. While I love the flexibility and almost everything the DAW and computers bring to recording today I still get confused with signal flow. When I added a Tascam USB 16xo8 interface it was my first attempt at recording in the DAW prior to that I was tracking on a 2488 and transferring the files to DAW for mixing. The Tascam interface comes with software and drivers of course and when I start my computer a real nice virtual mixer loads onto my screen, Like a dummy I'm thinking it is a on screen version of the knobs on the actual interface.
I don't think so, see I thought by increasing the levels on the on screen faders I was increasing the recording levels as well. Apparently not. It seems as though the on screen faders are for the monitor volume outs only. The level knobs on the interface control the recording levels. So of course I did not dare turn up those on screen faders too high as cooking the pre's would be a real no, no. After I figured out that I can turn those babies up all I want and they do not seem to effect the recording levels in the DAW I guess I am good and don't need a headphone amp. Plenty of volume for what I am doing. One last thing that i have not tested yet are the Tascam on screen FX that are on the mixer. They work and do change the sound in the headphones but how the heck do they get to the record track in the DAW. Maybe they do not. Again a signal flow issue with me and my old analog brain. I guess if it is as simple as the on screen mixer and all of it's features are for your monitor mix only, and the hardware knobs control what goes to the DAW I can wrap my head around that. If it is anything else I will need to think about it some more.
 
One thing you might want to check is whether your DAW allows you to change the level you see for a recorded track to "pre-fader metering" and set it to use that. That way you can see what is actually coming in, i.e., what those knobs on the interface are sending into the computer. I find that a lot more reassuring, so I know that I've got the record levels correct and they'll all sum up and still give me a master bus level that's workable.

And, once you know your record levels are Ok, during tracking, yes, you can do any damn thing you want with the faders to help you track.
 
I'm using Reaper and I think what your saying is they way it is set up already. The channel input knobs on the interface set the record levels that I see on the meters in the DAW. The on screen interface mixer faders do nothing to the record levels. Now that I know what is happening I can work with it. I just did not realize that was how it was set up. Still do not understand the interface on screen FX though. If they are just for monitoring or if they somehow get sent to the DAW record track as well.
 
Hello "young man" (I am in my 73rd year). There are DAWs that give input level control I believe? Cubase? But I really don't see the point?

Software cannot change the noise performance or headroom of the mic/line pre amps so if they are cracking up/fizzy nothing the DAW can do will change that. As for FX 'going in'? Again, not a lot of point IMHO. You don't need compression since recording at 24 bits gives you around 40dB more 'legroom' than any analogue system can deliver, no matter what the cost (best DR I have read of is I think the Hilo at about 122dB?) Just keep levels low enough that they will never hit neg 6 or so. Neg 18dBFS is the usual rule but -20 even -25dBFS is still perfectly usable if a large peak is likely.

"We have never had it so good" (or so cheap!) Tape? P'Thaaaagh!

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Hello "young man" (I am in my 73rd year). There are DAWs that give input level control I believe? Cubase? But I really don't see the point?
Click to expand...

It's not offered for fixing tracking issues. In Protools, anyway, it's offered so you have some sort of automation control before the first plugin.
You could always get around it by automating the gain of the first plugin, but a solution without a workaround is nice.

Have to say, I use it a lot now, usually when I want to smooth out some extremes before hitting a reasonably subtle compressor.
Doing that means the compressor doesn't get slammed once in a while.

As you say though, in response to the OP, if preamps/converters are overdrive or clipped, nothing in the software can fix that.

OP, the same is true once in the digital domain.
Even if your recorded signal is perfect it's possible to overload one plugin and ruin everything there after, even if gain controls after that plug bring your signal back into a healthy range.
Distorted is distorted, loud or quiet.

Edit: I mistakenly took #11 as the first post.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top