Headphone amplifiers - advice needed

[Badfinger]

Good day from freezing Eastern Canada.

I'm looking to get a small, cheap headphone amp to go with my Tascam 2488 MkII. Obviously the main goal here is the ability to record multiple harmony vocals simultaneously, something which I have been doing individually so far. I also want there to be some gain available, if needed.

Two that have come up as being available in my area are the ART HeadAmp 4, and the Behringer Amp 800, each of which I can get for about $60. Does anyone have any experience with these, and could they provide recommendations for or against either?

By the way, I'm using the unit to record original material. The studio looks remarkably like my (former) dining room so it's not like I'm recording symphony orchestras there.

Thanks in advance for your input (no pun intended).

 

[talontsiawd]

I have a behringer powerplay pro-xl. It seems to be the "big brother" to that. I don't have much to complain about. It does what it's supposed to but it's noisier that it should be but not that bad. I did see that mackie now makes a headphone amp for around $100 that i'd probably choose instead (even though i haven't heard it).

 

[toobalicious]

the art headamp is ok. not shit, but not great. actually, it sounds just fine, but i find that it just doesnt have the juice to push 4 sets of cans at high average volumes without distorting. if you dont need high volume cans, it should work fine. also (and perhaps obviously) it seems to do better with a strong input signal. i am sure these could be modded to provide a larger degree of amplification.
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[Rick Shepherd]

I recommend the Presonus HP4. It is very nice, and it also has a monitor mute button and a mono/stereo select switch that comes in handy once in a while. It also has plenty of clean gain.

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Fingers of Malice:

I use a Rolls HA43. Has 4 inputs all with individual volume sliders/faders. Works fine and I think it runs medium price range.

If you have a vendor you deal with, you can ask them to send you a couple. You pick the one you like and mail the other one back. Postage would be minimal for most head phone amps--they're small. If not you can visit a vendor or pick one of the units recommended in the posts.

Green Hornet

 

[tkingen]

I recommend the Presonus HP4. It is very nice, and it also has a monitor mute button and a mono/stereo select switch that comes in handy once in a while. It also has plenty of clean gain.

+1. It can also drive a pair of passive monitors.