en http://en.audiofanzine.com An online magazine for musicians (keyboard, guitar, bass, drums, DJ...) and sound engineers (home studio, DAWs, Live Sound). News, videos, MP3, tests, tutorials, tips, user reviews, classified ads and forums. 2000-2008 AudioFanzine http://en.audiofanzine.com/xtras/news_sur_site.php Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:48:49 +0200 http://en.audiofanzine.com/img/logo_rss_audiofanzine.png http://en.audiofanzine.com An online magazine for musicians (keyboard, guitar, bass, drums, DJ...) and sound engineers (home studio, DAWs, Live Sound). News, videos, MP3, tests, tutorials, tips, user reviews, classified ads and forums. Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:51:30 +0200 http://headphone-amplifier.behringer.en.audiofanzine.com/products/user_reviews/index,idproduit,25925,review_behringer_ha4400_powerplay_pro.html I got this headphone amp a couple years ago. I just wanted something simple to pump up the headphone levels I could get. My drummer was having a hard time hearing his headphone mix above his drums, and my sound card just didn't provide enough power to get it above the drums. So I picked this thing up, and to that end, it works great. It's not without its problems though. It definitely changes the sound of whatever you put through it, and not in a good way. Everything sounds kind of tinny and somehow fake on the other side of this amp. I am pretty sure they use low quality power amps that are very noisy. The signal you get on the other side has a much higher noise floor than what goes into it. Apart from this, it is conveniently sized at 1 rack unit, and has individual volume and mute controls for each of the 4 headphone channels it gives you. Though the signal is kind of dirty, you can get it very loud. In my case, that's really all I was looking for, so I let the signal degradation slide. The amp also gets very hot, so you'll want to give it an open space on either side in your rack for it be able to cool off without damaging other nearby racked equipment. It has worked very reliably, and none of the parts have worn out on me since I've had it. This is probably one of the cheapest 4 channel headphone amps you can buy, and if you are not really concerned with pristine audio quality for your monitoring and you just want loud headphones, it's a good value and will work well for you. If you want everything in your signal chain crystal clear at all times, this isn't the product for you. I would get it again, it works fine for me. Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:43:49 +0200 http://headphone-amplifier.behringer.en.audiofanzine.com/products/user_reviews/index,idproduit,21832,review_behringer_ha8000_powerplay_pro.html I've been using this headphone amp for about one year now. It's a single rack mounted unit, so it's convenient to set up at the studio and keep it there, or to put it in a mobile rack if you do on-location recording. You can use up to 8 sets of headphones on this unit, which is more than most would need. Each channel has its own volume control, plus a master volume control for the 2 mixes it can use. They can get very loud! Be careful when setting your levels - you could blow out your headphones and ear drums. Each channel also has a mono switch, and a toggle switch to use either mix 1 or mix 2 coming into the amp. Another convenience is that you can insert your headphones into the front or rear of the amp, which cuts down a bit on cable tangling. I will say however that this headphone amp is quite noisy as you crank it up. You start to hear a lot of crackle and hum at high volumes, and it seems to increase as the channel numbers increase. So the first headphone insert is fairly quiet, but the 8th one is a lot noisier. However, as most will usually only be using the first maybe four or 5 at a time, it's not as important. And truthfully, even when it's noisy you can still hear the program material pretty well, so all but the fussiest of musicians will probably be fine with the way their headphones sound. This unit is quite cheap, as with most Behringer products. While the noise is a little disconcerting, it's still a great value, and unless you're super picky about noise when you're monitoring, you should find it a great value as well. I'd buy it again.