Headphone amp?

T

triple cubic

New member
Hi, I'm looking for a good, inexpensive headphone amp to go along with my new Sony 7506's...

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Also, I was wondering if you just plug the headphone amp right into the standard headphone jack, and then plug the headphones into the amp? (Sorry, I'm a newbie.) :)
 
Yo triple cubic!
I have a Samson Q5 headphone amp ($70./eBay). A basic headphone amp that does what its supposed to do with good sound and plenty of volume left over. It will power up to 5 sets of phones at one time. I think its very good for the small home studio where you don't need to have a different mix in each headphone. I'll only ever use it to power 3 sets at one time and most of the time only 2 sets of headphones.

Basically you need to look at how many sets of headphones your going to power at one time, Will you need to give each performer a different mix?

I have used the headphone out jack and also the monitor out jacks to get a mix to the phones. Depending on your setup there may be 50 other ways to get a mix to the headphone amp.

Good luck,
scodu
 
i have a behringer headphone amp, because i needed one quick and cheap. 4 channels, its loud NoISe is annoying as shit. But it does its just once the music is cranking. One problem? the right channel is already starting to cut out after 4 months use. Is behringer equipment kinda shitty, yea. I think its going downhill, but i needed a quick fix.
 
Hey, everyone... Thanks for all the advice. I'm leaning more towards the Samson Q5 because it's so cheap, but I guess we'll see...


Lastly, I was looking for a pair of good monitoring/recording headphones w/ closed ear design... Can anyone recommend any high quality closed-ear headphones besides the Sony 7506's?

Thanks...
 
I have a Crate headphone amp... its similar to the Samson, no problems with it so far. Not sure if its less money though, but it might also be worth a look. I think I paid around a hundred bucks for it new... works great . Good luck
 
SAMSON & BEHRINGER

We are playing classic rock music. There are up to 6 perfomers at a time.

I use :
- a SAMSON Q5 (already described above)
- a BEHRINGER PX 4600 (4 channels, 3 headphone outs per channels, vol-treble-bass knobs per channel, auxiliary IN per channel for local mix of 2 stereo signals)

I paid over 2 times the price for the Q5 (circa 300$ at the time of my acquisition; however, I think the price has now decreased) and the sound is quite comparable, BUT there are much more functionnalities with the Behringer !
Beyond the 2 baxenball EQ settings and the mute/mono swithces per channel, each of the 4 channels offers the possibility of having a dedicated mix in the headphone amp itself. You just have to send a stereo signal in the channel auxiliary IN and to ajust the balance between stereo MAIN and stereo AUX signals.

Be careful to select the new 4600 and not the older 4400 model !

Cheers,

Patrick
 
I hate behringer gear.

I really hate behringer gear.

I REALLY REALLY hate behringer gear.

The headphone amp is an exception....The routing options are great and it's works fine...It's been solid so far. It's not in the signal chain of recording so it can't mess up your sound like their mixers can. At $70 it's a steal.
 
kristian said:
i have a behringer headphone amp, because i needed one quick and cheap. 4 channels, its loud NoISe is annoying as shit. But it does its just once the music is cranking. One problem? the right channel is already starting to cut out after 4 months use. Is behringer equipment kinda shitty, yea. I think its going downhill, but i needed a quick fix.
Click to expand...

I have had mine for a few months and I have no problem with it. Quiet and enough to drive a pair of 7506 from each channel.

What I like most is I can run the main mix from the main out on the board into the HA4400 and then an aux into each of the four channels. This way I have 4 independant mixes where the user can choose how much of the main mix and how much of the Aux ( usually him only) to dial in. Getting creative with the cabling you can choose main in one ear and aux in other then use the knob to decide how much of each and how loud. A steal at the now $80 price I paid 129 and am still feeling I got a bargian.

Wild Phil Harmonica
 
headphone amp

TC,

I started out with a fostex amp. They are a good solid amp, but just one mix. I then found the OZ audio QMix HM6. It runs about 280 new, maybe a little cheaper if you look. I have had mine for about 3 years now. For a demo studio or even a small pro studio you can't beat them. 6 headphone outs, 4 individual mix. I even used mine for live gigs and in-ear monitors. Although it was wired vs. wireless. we just straped our guitar cords and 20 ft. extension cords for ear buds together and we were go to go. What a great monitor system. We had 6 people in the band, all with the mix they wanted, some shared the same mix, but were happy. Sound quality is as good as it gets. I think you should check this unit out before spending 100 bucks less on any hp amp that won't touch this one.

Boardman
 
Triple Cubic,

I'm also looking for a headphone amp. I have two pairs of MDR-7506 and one similiar Sony MDR-V6. I had a concern with the Behringer HA4400 and the new HA4600 as the specs for both list a Minimum Output Impedance of 100ohms. Both Sony phones have a Impedance of 63ohms. People do run them off those behringers and say they work but i believe you would get a possibly 'louder' and 'cleaner' monitor with an amplifier that is made to deliver power under that load, IMO.

I'm going to hold out for an OZ Hr-4 or Qmix.
 
I also bought a Sampson 5 channel headphone amp used. It was cheap, and it kicks ass. I bought it just like new for about $80.
 
Just wondering, has anyone built their own headphone amp? Sounds like it wouldn't be all that difficult project, as signal quality isn't a huge concern (unless you're monitoring), and even then, I've seen some ultra fancy DIY headphone amps (single stereo out though) on the net.
 
What about 600 ohm headphones like the AKG240DF headphones? I didn't do enough research when I purchased these a while back. They are great for listening and doing quick mixes, but if I try to use them with the Rolls HA43 headphone distribution amp I have, they aren't loud enough, and they distort easily. I suspect impedance mismatch.... Do any of the available Headphone distribution amps out there work with this high impedance headphone?
 
If you are using an amp for just one person then why even buy one unless the rest of the people recording don't mind hearing the same mix. After 25 + years in engineering, I haven't found very many people who like hearing just one mix. Therefore, I go back to the Qmix or something simular. Give um what they want. To be able to hear what they want to hear, not what your gear will let them. IMHO

Boardman
 
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