Headphone amp?

  • Thread starter Thread starter chestwick91
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That is extremely important to know if the different headphones impedances could lower the overall gain.

That's one of the reasons I purchased the Samson C-que 8. Page 5 of their manual states:

" Maximum output power on each channel regardless of different headphone impedances".
 
i've got the berry ha4800. it does the job in that it gets loud signal to headphones for bands tracking live, and i can give custom mixes to the singer, guitarist, bassist and drummer. i can't say it does much more than that. it certainly won't win any awards for sonic fidelity, that's ferdamnsure.

but if your criteria are the following:
1. 4 independant channels
2. master input and secondary inputs on each of the 4 channels (for 4 custom mixes)
3. loud
4. cheap

.....then i can recommend the berry. if "sounds good" comes into the equation, look somewhere else. :D


cheers,
wade
 
I've got a pair of the Behringer Powerplay Play ProXL's. I had Rolls (53... whatever before).

The Behr's inputs are parallel and the outputs routed thru a patchbay (as I have a possible 13 Headphone connections in my studio "room" even tho the 2 Behr's only have 8 (total) outs. I like the Behrs because I can mono the feed to each headphone (some peolple have difficulty with panned mixes when doing their part). I can also insert individually into each channel if needed (reverb, etc) without having to record it with the FX.

Most of my headphones are Sony V600 - 900's so loading is fairly consistant but (as Gilliand pointed out) a variety of headphones will give everyone different "mixes" both EQ and level)

This particular Behringer(s) have worked well for me. The Rolls was both noisy (hiss) and the differences in headphones was pronounced. The Behr has individual bass/treble/insert mix/level/stereo/mono/mute, plus a master level for each unit... and LED display. For the $$$ it works well

Stainless
Sacramento
 
Richard Monroe said:
Rolls RA62HA- 6 channels, Stereo input on the front, (2) 1/4" main ins on the back, (2) 1/4" auxiliary ins on the back, individual 1/4" insert points on all 6 channels.
Stereo/mono switch, level controls on all 6 channels, $150. That will do everything you want and more. I've been using mine for 4 years without a hiccup.

http://www.musician.com/product/Live/Sound/Signal/Processors?sku=483852#

Richie
Click to expand...


Same model here.

I've had mine since around 1999, and we never had a single problem with it. The cool thing, is that it is LOUD AND CLEAN, and we were able to use the Monitor outs of my Mackie mixer to provide individual monitor mixes to different players - these were in mono (because that's what the board put out) but it still works great for us in that manner.

It's been one of the best choices I made regarding hardware for my home studio. (this is my slap at Tascam - I bought DA-38's, and Tascam discontinued them shortly afterwards. Damn I wish i had put the $5,000 toward a ProTools setup! I just didn't know enough about recording on a computer at the time, and didn't trust them.:o )

For headphones we have 6 pairs of Koss UR-15c's, and 6 pairs of some cheapo Philips models - they sound like crap - hence the move to the Koss's.)


Tim
 
stainlessbrown said:
Most of my headphones are Sony V600 - 900's so loading is fairly consistant but (as Gilliand pointed out) a variety of headphones will give everyone different "mixes" both EQ and level)
Click to expand...
A couple of you have commented on the issue of sound level as associated with headphone impedance. That's certainly something to be aware of, since lower impedance headphones will draw more power from the amp and (assuming the same sensitivity) will produce more sound. But that's not the issue that I'm trying to point out.

The problem comes if the TOTAL impedance seen by an amplifier goes lower than the amp can support. In that case, the amp itself will begin to distort heavily, with the result that the sound in all of the attached headphones (regardless of their individual impedance) will produce sound that is unusable. Not just slightly distorted, but so severely distorted as to be unlistenable. Some may still be louder than others, but that doesn't matter much if the signal coming out of them is garbage. :)

That's the problem that I had with the Rolls unit, and there are probably others on the market that will run into trouble as well. The problem is that you may not discover this problem until you've had the product for a while, so it's a good idea to test any new headphone amp with a collection of low-impedance headphones to see how it behaves.

While there are still some headphones on the market (like Sennheiser) that have impedance that is well over 100 ohms, more and more are coming down to the 50 to 80 ohm range (like Audio Technica and AKG). And then there are the Sonys, at 24 ohms, which can quickly bring an amp into its trouble zone if you hook up multiple pairs.
 
Thanks for the tip, Gillilland. We use Sennheiser HD280's here, and Moreme's when we are using all six channels Even with a pair of Sony's in the mix, we've used all 6 channels without a problem. I can see how six pairs of Sony's might cause the thing to choke. That won't be a problem, though as I don't like or use Sony headphones. I appreciate the heads up, though. If I run into that problem, I'll have a better idea where it's coming from.-Richie
 
So far, I've only used the Rolls RA53b with 3 sets of headphones simultaneously: two Sonys (MDR-7509s, with impedence of 24 ohms each) and one pair of More-Me. No problems, with plenty of clean volume. Whatever unit you buy, it's probably wise to try it out with the # and type of headphones you plan to use with it, within the time frame during which you can return it to the vendor for a refund.
 
Another vote for the Behri Powerplay. I had one for 2 years....pushed 8 sets of cans with it.....it worked great. But, you could make grilled cheese sandwiches on the top of the thing...man, it would get hot! You might want to think about giving it provide plenty of vent space when rack mounting it.
 
...Samson Q5 here, don't know if that model still exists;
stereo in, 5 outs w. ind.volume. Mono button, master volume. Simple and good, will drive AKGs to a good volume.

Best,
CC.
 
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