Inexpensive Headphone preamp

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pinky
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Pinky

Pinky

and The Brain...
I currently use a Rolls headphone preamp, which I use to also split a signal to my monitors and small sub (works very well at doing this):

Rolls Corporation - Real Sound - Products HA43 Pro Headphone Amp


I purchased the HD600 headphones a few months ago, but find the Rolls isn't up to the task of really pushing these 300ohm cans:

Sennheiser HD600 Circumaural Headphone - Newegg.com


For now the Scarlett interface powers them well enough, but it's obvious what I'm using isn't up to the task and I'll need to consider upgrading my preamp.

Preamps can get expensive so was hoping for a suggestion that was at or below $100 with 4 outputs, past that $$$ and I'll just live with using the Scarlett headphone out.
 
The Behringer headphone amps are actually really good and don't cost much for what they are.
 
Thanks farview, the lower end Behringer HA400 from what I can tell isn't any better than what I have (40mW at 100 ohms). It did get me searching though and I'm finding that some models have a line in and out, so I could conceivably just add another headphone amp to the output from the Scarlett 2i2. This opens things up a little. I don't use my monitors much so if adding another amp in the chain adds a tiny bit of electronic noise (it shouldn't if the amp is actually decent) I can live with that. Pricing from what I see though is $200 for most recommended amps.

Options?
 
I had the HA800 (I think), which also had the bonus of turning the left and right on and off independently and it had a mono switch, which would be useful in your situation, since you seem to be mixing through it.
 
I am using the Presonus in my chain, interface output ->HP4->Monitors and 4 Head phones. It has a control for each headphone ou and monitors and I have it mounted under my desk. Amp seems pretty powerful and about $130 on Amazon.
 
Looks like the HP4 is the winner, confirmed it handles up to 600ohm headphones and looks like what I need. Even got it from sweetwater with 24 months to pay it off. lol
 
Pinky said:
Looks like the HP4 is the winner, confirmed it handles up to 600ohm headphones and looks like what I need. Even got it from sweetwater with 24 months to pay it off. lol
Click to expand...

I've been using it for about 3 years, nice little amp (of course, the last time I recommended something it turned out to be a turd for you :( ). But I changed my setup over the last few days and have incorporated the HP4 and have to say, I am really pleased with its performance.

You know the Tascam as a really underpowered headphone out, well, this removes that problem, and by using the monitor out knob, it is easy to control the monitor volume. Hope you like it.

24 months to pay, maybe a new set of headphones, new mic? ;)
 
DM60 said:
I've been using it for about 3 years, nice little amp (of course, the last time I recommended something it turned out to be a turd for you :( ). But I changed my setup over the last few days and have incorporated the HP4 and have to say, I am really pleased with its performance.

You know the Tascam as a really underpowered headphone out, well, this removes that problem, and by using the monitor out knob, it is easy to control the monitor volume. Hope you like it.

24 months to pay, maybe a new set of headphones, new mic? ;)
Click to expand...

The Tascam interface was likely just a dud (still haven't gotten anything back from RMA in 3 weeks).

I've upgraded a lot of my gear in the past few years through sweetwater. Still haven't paid a dime in interest.
 
The tascams (at least the US 1800) of which I use are in fact noted for low headphone output. As a drummer it was a problem for me. I use the 4 channel Berry mentioned above and it is problem solved!
 
Pinky said:
Looks like the HP4 is the winner, confirmed it handles up to 600ohm headphones and looks like what I need. Even got it from sweetwater with 24 months to pay it off. lol
Click to expand...

The HP4 works great, plenty of volume now with the HD600. :)

$130 is kinda expensive for what it does and likely costs to manufacture, but relative to the next tier of possibilities, it's actually 'budget'. Most boutique headphone amps intended for the dreaded "audiophile" market were (IMO) overpriced, starting at $200+, the best ones being $500+. :facepalm:

Farview, the behringer might have worked (although it's output specs were only marginally better than what I had) but it's a larger unit than I had space for.
 
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