Headphone Amplifiers

The S-Phone is made by Samson, it is a 4 channel headphone amplifier that has 3 outputs on each channel. It has 5 input channels and 4 output channels. You can rack this unit up to keep out of the way in the studio. I have used his unit about 10 times in total over the last 2 years. It control has a volume options, panning knob, and high and low filter knobs. You will need to put a stereo signal into the auxiliary port on the front of the S-Phone so you can get full sound out of both sides of your headphones, because otherwise you will only get sound out of one side of your headphones. Mainly we used it in the studio to have volume control over all of the headphone sets that we had at the time. It gave us exactly what we were looking for it and it was very quiet. It didn’t push any hissing or humming through our headphones. Even when messing with the options like panning and high and low pass filters it didn’t push through any clicking or any sounds at all. I have used similar models in the past that any time you messed with an option you could hear some sort of a click or noise through the headphones which could get really irritating for anyone who has the headphones on. The value of this unit for what you get is great, you will get a very quiet unit that will give all of your headphones in the studio a quiet signal with crisp and clean sound quality. I would not purchase this if you don’t have several headphones that need to be listened to at the same time. Otherwise you will just be wasting your money with this unit. If your studio is a decent size and need to have multiple headphones hooked up then this is a must have.

The Rane HC6 is a six channel headphone amplifier for use in the studio or anywhere you'd need a headphone splitter like this. It's got a pretty basic make up, but it's one that can take you a long way in vein of headphone amps. One of the studios that I used to work at had one of these as an extra headphone distributor, and although it didn't see much use since we had another full headphone system, it did the job extremely well whenever we needed it to. The general make up of the HC6 consists of six separate channels, each with their own 1/4" headphones inputs and separate 1/4" inputs and outputs in the back - one set for each channel. Each channel has it's own volume knob in addition to the master volume output knob. In the back it also has stereo 1/4" connections for your master inputs and the whole thing sits in a single space, rack mountable piece of gear. As you can probably tell, this is a really simple device that can do a lot between the six channels. I've only used it in the studio, but I can certainly see it being useful on the stage for splitting monitoring signals or headphones as well. The box is made at an extremely high quality, as it feels like it is built like a tank and should last a very long time as long as you don't drop it or anything like that. The price of the Rane HC6 isn't as cheap as I'd like it to be, but it is built very well so I can't complain too much. If you're on a strict budget the HC6 probably isn't for you, but if you're looking for sturdiness and reliability, as well as flexibility between the six channels, the Rane HC6 is a great overall choice for a headphone amp.

I was just getting ready to build something to combine the signals from a guitar and MP3 player through headphones for practicing leads before gigs when I found this little gem at Goodwill for $3 (THE place for pro audio gear!). Firstly, it still works fine after being used, abused then probably neglected for years which says something about the overall electronic design (very good). It is fairly old school technology with what appears to be NO digital crap since it uses actual switches instead of buttons. The MP3 input has much less gain to compensate for the MP3 player's headphone amplifier, and the abiity to mix the guitar with program material is excellent. Plenty of volume with 2 selectable tone settings on the guitar input; control the MP3 volume from the MP3 player. The built-in effects are a very nice bonus, though the distortion doesn't have nearly enough compression which makes every note "bang" annoyingly. But this is actually a good thing as it's more difficult to play fast lead runs with the extra dynamic range since the notes don't sound as liquid. Thus, you can hit the stage and really cook after practicing the licks through this thing beforehand. Two distortion settings: One is a super-harsh, very out-front earthquake heavy on the high mids and very aggressive; the other is a more subdued fat sound, more Metallica-like. Both settings allow a little clean pick attack through, but using the chorus or echo along with it smooths things out pretty nicely. The echo, being a mix of 3 or 4 different slapback times (the longest being only about 100 ms) is great for adding needed body, but in no way simulates either reverb or echo except for a very fast gated reverb. The chorus sounds surprisingly good for a little plastic unit, but nothing coming out of this box is something you'd feed into a stage amp or studio mixer. You can't use the chorus and echo at the same time, but the buildup of cheap sound quality might make that impractical anyway. I mean, we're talking about a $30 box here. This is basically an extremely reliable little unit that can be adjusted to sound tolerable and get the job done. Given a choice, I will definitely continue to use YouTube and a favorite small amp. But after smashing my fingers setting up, my usual nap at age 54 and the greasy burger I barely had time to grab, this cool box will be great at helping me get into the mood. Like most music gear, you can really depend on it and even the headphone and MP3 input jacks are very high quality and were not the least bit scratchy. Thus, it's actually better as a professional practice device than something to have fun with jamming to favorite CD's, but it's certainly also good enough for that. I admit that I like much more gain and compression than most other guitarists at times, so I doubt that most others would find the distortion objectionable. I know I slammed this poor thing pretty hard, but I can also say that I would have paid a lot more than $30 for it after using and hearing it. Boz Fone Musician and Audio Technician www.Barrys8TrackRepair.com www.FoneTronix.com

The Furman HR-6 is a 6 channel headphone distribution system that gives you individual headphone controls as well as master or monitor volume controls. It cost 160 dollars which makes it very affordable. The knobs that are on the Furman HR-6 are well made, I don’t ever see them getting broken off if you take good care of it and don’t drop or smash it. You can mount the Furman HR-6 on a mic stand or just put it anywhere in your studio and still use it because you can use it with Ethernet cables. The Ethernet cables are very long so you can have it anywhere in the studio or stage that you want it to be. It does come with the stand adapter so you don’t have to go out and purchase that separately. The Furman HR-6 comes with 2 25 foot Ethernet cables or you could go out and purchase longer Ethernet cables if you need longer ones. The Furman HR-6 has 2 RJ45 analog inputs and 2 14/ analog outputs. The quality of sound is very good with the Furman HR-6. We had this unit back in 2007 and ended up using it until about 2009 then we upgraded to a different model and brand of a headphone distribution system. I do wish that we didn’t upgrade because this is one of the best one s that we had. We may purchase another one of these in the near future and maybe just keep on in the studio and take out newer on with us on the road. It is affordable and will work great. The best part of it is that you can use the Ethernet cables which make it great for the studio. Clip it to your microphone stand and you are good to go. This is a great product that has been out for a while now.

For years I had the dilemma of being unable to mix on my KRK V6 Series monitors due to inhibiting living conditions. No one, other than yourself (and perhaps another understanding producer) , can deal with repetitive loops due to intricate mixing. Also, this inhibits your ability to truly personalize your mix and develop your skills. I bought the VRM box because of this dilemma and on a skeptical high hope that it would fix my issue. I originally bought the Denon AH-D2000 to accompany this box, but due to poor structural integrity (It arrived broken), I had to return the headphones. I then opted to get the $100 cheaper Shure SRH-840's due to their flat frequency response and solid design. At first listen, I was somewhat disappointed since I honestly didn't know what to expect. I only knew that I didn't like the way that the VRM distorted the sound on my headphones. I was also confused as to what setting to mix with. However, with an attempt to mix on a certain setting, I was blown away by the translation of the mix to my KRK V6 monitors! I also realized that each setting produced perfectly good, but different translations. The mixing possibilities were vast! As I understand, Focusrite created the VRM box and tested it with Sennheiser HD series headphones and a variety of others. However, my Shure SRH-840's work just fine and I enjoy them very much. Overall, I am extremely pleased with my purchase. In a perfect world, I would still rather produce with monitor speakers, but we don't live in that perfect world and that's why Focusrite made such a perfect product. I had no problems installing or using, quite simply it just sounds like a filter or EQs put on your mix. . Im sure there is some technology that goes into this more than eq, but it hasnt made my mixes translate on other speakers any better or hear hidden details in different frequency ranges.

I use it every day for several months. Before I had headphones that isolate completely, such as earplugs (I don't know how it's called). Even if a headphone is bigger, the sound is really better. I want to say that I purchased this helmet before their ad campaign with Guetta and co and it is really not what motivated my choice... I have the white model, my friend has the black one. Both are very nice but I would not recommend anyone to buy the white. It may sound silly but it's gets messy easily and I cannot it clean properly ... The sound is excellent, even the basses, there is no crackling. It is nice for any kind of music, from classical to techno or jazz (I'm listening to a bit of everything ...). In short, what I like most, the sound ... what is logically the most important! After it has a good look and is quite comfortable (it does not hurt, does not heat up your ears or do not give headache because it is too tight). It is a closed headphone, so no risk to annoy your neighbor in the subway ... What I like least ... white. Very nice, there's no doubt, but over the long term it is more gray than white ... Pretty good value for money compared to other market offerings. I would buy it again, but in black!

The Furman HR-2 is a simple headphone box designed to give those monitoring during recording access to their volume levels. This box actually has two channels on it, with ¼” inputs for each of the two channels. It also has an XLR input and output for connecting this to your source. As you can probably tell, this is really the bare bones for a headphone box, but it’s definitely better than having nothing. I don’t think that the HR-2 would be adequate in a full blown professional recording studio, but for smaller professional studios and larger home studios, it’s definitely the perfect little box to give you simple control over your headphone mix. Furman has a variety of products out there for monitoring during recording, the HR-2 being the simplest that I’ve seen. The box won’t change your sound quality as far as I can tell, as what you send to it is what you get. The sound quality will definitely depend mostly on the headphones that you’re using with the HR-2, rather than the box itself. I don’t know if all of the HR-2’s come with this, but the ones that I’ve used had a little clip with it to attach it to a mic stand. This was more than handy as it made it easy to clip right on and have it on a level where it was easily accessible while I was playing or singing. If you don’t have a mic stand clip for it, you kind of have to just place it down. If you aren’t looking to get a full headphone monitoring system, the Furman HR-2’s give you a simple box at a pretty inexpensive rate. Although certainly not a very in depth headphone monitoring system, the Furman HR-2 is great for what it is…

The Mytek Private Q is a headphone amplification station that is amongst a larger system designed by Mytek. This is probably the most complete headphone monitoring station that I have seen. It offers the most flexibility in terms of monitoring while recording because you have control over 10 different levels at once, which is more than any other system I have seen and is usually enough for controlling every possible instrument in a mix. You not only have control over the level, but also control over the panning, and of course there is a master volume knob as well. All together the system has 8 mono and two stereo channels. In back of the device there are a slew of connections including XLR, 1/4 and while I'm not sure what the large connections are called, they are for hooking it up to your console. It also has a little radiator on the back of it as it can get pretty hot. As an artist, it is great to have this while monitoring as it really allows me to set everything exactly as I want it, and as an engineer it always seems artists love having the ability to use this. It is also great that they leave space under the knobs so you can put tape to label everything, as things will of course change from session to session. The only downfall of the Mytek Private Q sysem is that it is quite expensive, so for this reason I would only suggest this for professional studios. That being said, I really feel that no professional studio should be without these as they are really that good. Overall, the Mytek Private Q headphone system is a pleasure to use and is something that every studio owner should be aware of and consider.

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.

First off I should point out that this review is of the pre-ESS model. The ESS model was introduced because of shortage of DAC chips during and after the Covid pandemic.There is however no other difference in the appearance and workings of both models, therefore this review goes for both. The Fiio K5 Pro is a DAC with built-in headphone amp. It is also a simple pre-amp for use with powered speakers or power amp. It is an ideal item in a desktop audio setup. After several years of daily use I can say this relatively cheap item delivers on all fronts. I find it most useful that apart from 2 digital and USB inputs, it also has analog inputs, which most of its competitors lack. It delivers enough power to drive all headphones on the market and has no noise whatsoever. I’m not familiar with in-ears, so don’t quote me on those. There is also no distortion before my ears give up. The three gain settings can be useful. To drive an old AKG 600 ohms I needed the highest gain, but in practice I only use the lowest one for all other phones. In day to day use this is an almost perfect working and sounding product. Some minor quirks: - A display for selected input and set volume would be nice - The power switch on the volume dial is oddly outdated and makes the first quarter of the volume travel not working. The newer Fiio K7 would be my only next wish because of the balanced headphone output, but doesn’t solve the minor quirks I have with the K5 Pro.

The Furman HDS-16 is a 16 channel well made headphone system. The HDS-16 is more of the big brother to the HRM 16. It comes in at the price of 1100 dollars which is a great buy for what you are getting with it. The HDS-16 has 12 input channels and 12 output channels (extra) . There are 16 ¼ TRS and 16 1/8 TRS input channels and no digital inputs or digital outputs on the HDS-16 by Furman. The unit is less than 10 pounds making it very portable. It can be racked and will take up more than 1 rack space. My favorite feature of the HDS-16 is the talkback system. The talkback system will let each person talk to each other as well as talk to the engineer in the mixing room. The HDS-16 is something every studio needs and it is great for live shows and practices. We have had the chance to use it a few times over the last 2 years and each time we get to use it, it makes us want to buy one. We just don’t have the use for it as of right now. But the studio that we go to does have it, which is great because we get the chance to use it whenever we want to. The sound quality is great and second to none. I have used several similar models and even models from Furman but this is the best one hands down. It is well made and will last a long time. We have not used it on a stage or for live shows just in the studio. But I have heard that it is very convenient to have for a live show because of the talk back feature. The talk back feature alone is what makes me really want to go out and purchase it.

The Aphex HeadPod 4 is a 4 channel headphone amplifier that has individual volume controls for each of the headphones and a master volume that can control all of them. The Aphex HeadPod 4 is very small and portable; it has a compact design and an affordable price tag. First thing that surprised me is it is not as heavy as I thought it would be, it seems to be made out of more of a plastic material and is kind of cheap. I am still very cautious with the Aphex HeadPod 4 because I am afraid if it gets put in the wrong bag and some other gear ends up on top of it that it could crack it wide open. The Aphex HeadPod 4 has analog and digital inputs and with the ability to change the volume on each individual headphone is a huge bonus because everyone may not want their sound as loud as I like mine so this is a way that all members can be happy. The Aphex HeadPod 4 has 4 different stereo amplifiers that will assure you of a great sound to each one of your headphones that is hooked up. With high headroom and low distortion, makes the Aphex HeadPod 4 a must have for any band especially for live bands and bands that practice a lot. Though the whole unit seems to be a little “cheap” or plastic made. The actual jacks that you headphones go into are made very well. So you will not have to worry about them shorting out or getting loose at any point. They are durable as can be and made of metal. Overall, I am still on the fence with the Aphex HeadPod 4. It does provide great sound to your headphones and with the individual controls makes everyone happy. But with it costing 200 dollars and not being as solid as I like my gear to be could make me want to go with a different headphone amp in the future.