Headphone Amps

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kasey
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Kasey

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I need to buy a headphone amp, and I don't need any more than 4 channels. Right now I'm looking at the Presonus HP4, or the Behringer headphone amp (i forget what its called). The Behringer headphone amp has high and low EQ on each channel, as well as mutes and i think some other features. The HP4 doesn't have any of this. The EQ would be nice so i can turn down the bass on a vocalists headphones and keep the bass in mine. But the fact that its Behringer also scares me from it. Which one of these is a better choice? Also, if there's any other quality headphone amps in this price range that i dont know about, please tell me.
 
Make sure you have on that will accept mono incoming signals. A lot of the cheaper ones like the Samson and ART ones will only accept stereo inputs, meaning you will have to make up a clever lead to use them of a mono send from your desk.
 
I vote for the Behr.......... I have 2 of them. Had them for almost 2 years. 1 is always left powered on. It also has a mono switch for each set of headphones.
 
I have the 8 input behringer headphone amp and it works great don't have any complaints at all.
 
Kasey said:
The EQ would be nice so i can turn down the bass on a vocalists headphones and keep the bass in mine. But the fact that its Behringer also scares me from it.
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Your general concerns over it being Behringer are well grounded. However, their headphone amp seems to be one piece of gear that they made right. I've heard of lots of people using them and have never heard any complaints about them.
 
I'll agree with the Behri piece, I generally shy away from their shit too, but this piece has been solid for me. It does what it claims and is pretty cheap.
 
Personally, I will never allow another piece of Berhinger gear in my studio again. That was the reason behind the Presonus HP4.

I have had a V-amp pro, ultragain, patchbays, eq, and some other berri gear and it all sucked to high heaven. The greatest thing I ever did was get rid of all of that. It was all noisy (hiss) and I don't need any more noise!

The headphone amp is the one piece that I have never owned of Behringer. It sounds like it should fit well into your situation.

P.S. I am not a Behringer basher (I swear) it has just been a bad experience for me.
 
I'll add another voice to the growing chorus: The Behringer Powerplay Pro-8 has served my studio well as my primary headphone distribution amp. 2 main stereo ins, an insert on every channel and mono switches on every channel do the trick every time. Some headphone amps may be quieter (though I have no complaints on this) and others may have better sound quality, but for tracking purposes this unit is a workhorse. In general it is wise to stay away from Behringer gear unless you like that signature tin-can sound.
 
behringer

i have the 4 channel behringer. we use it for band rehearsals. works great, no complaints. i've never owned or tried another brand of headphone amp so i have no comparisons to offer. i just know that this works for me.
 
Behringer HA4700

Just wanted to say that my behri headphone box has always been a rock solid piece as well.
 
The Rolls 4 channel is dirt cheap and does the job.

Individual volume controls for each headphone set.

What more do ya need?

This is just for tracking in headphones, right?
 
noisedude said:
Make sure you have on that will accept mono incoming signals. A lot of the cheaper ones like the Samson and ART ones will only accept stereo inputs, meaning you will have to make up a clever lead to use them of a mono send from your desk.
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Actually I just picked up a used Samson C-Que8 and I think it rocks ...well, for the price anyways! The LEFT input on the C-Que8 is the mono input; it will distribute it to both left and right if you plug a mono source into it.

SOS review of it (they liked it):
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep03/articles/samsonc.htm

Hope this helps!

-mr moon
 
I stand corrected! I could've sworn there was a more recently-reviewed Samson one that didn't default to mono .... ho hum. Cheers! :)
 
noisedude said:
I stand corrected! I could've sworn there was a more recently-reviewed Samson one that didn't default to mono .... ho hum. Cheers! :)
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Don't sweat it ...imagine how I felt going into the music store asking to see the used Samson headphone amp. :eek: I was pleasently surprised to find out that it sounded good (for the money) especially because I only had a 1/2 rack space left in my main rack, and the C-Que8 is that size. The C-Que8 also has an insert jack on the front for talk-back and such and 8 channels out. For $50.00 (US), couldn't say no!! ;)

-mr moon
 
zed32 said:
i'm kinda scared to have Behringer equipment sitting in my rack, so i was wondering if anyone had experience with the Nady HPA-4 headphone amp? could the Behringer actually be better? the price is almost exactly the same, so i'm wondering if one is actually better than the other here...
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behringer may be bad... but nady is worse.
 
Symetrix 304 Headphone Amp

Symetrix 304 Headphone Amp - it has four 1/4 inch (stereo) headphone outputs, always plenty of volume. $80 used.
 
I have the Presonus, I like it a lot. It's nice to have the monitors run through it, so you can mute the control room easily. I generally track on location, so there's no divider between the tracking room and the control room.

It's very clean, nice and quiet, etc.
 
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