Recommend a good headphone distribution amp

[Newc]

Ok, I'm adding a few things to my recording setup, and I need a good headphone distribution amp. I'm not looking for the all-tube boutique stuff that costs $300, just the basics - individual volume knobs, 4 or more 1/4" stereo headphone outs, doesn't color the sound, etc.

[Emthrax]

Re: Recommend a good headphone distribution amp

Yo Newc... look into these Samson units.
I have several (not the headphone amp though) and I LOVE them!

Samson Headphone Amp

Sweetwater carries them... about 100 clams.
There is also a full-rack version: here

[Newc]

Re: Recommend a good headphone distribution amp

Cool, thanks Em [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

I was looking on Ebay and found those same two Samson units and the Behringer unit and an ART. I'll hafta check the spec sheets for each one to see what's what.

[Newc]

Re: Recommend a good headphone distribution amp

Ok, did some research, and here's what I got. Interested parties might find this interesting.

The Samson unit can be had new from AMS for $130, The Behringer for $110. MF doesn't even list the Samson, and they have one Customer review of the Behringer HA4700 as "a pile of junk". Given MF's reputation for re-shipping broke junk between customers, this doesn't surprise me.
AMS has 4 Customer Reviews for the Behringer and they all rave about it.

AMS also has 1 review for the Samson, and the only category that didn't get 5 stars is Ease Of Use. While I'm not shy about work, I do prefer to spend more time recording than setting up external gear, especially for something that isn't mission-critical to my particular cause. While the reviewer didn't elaborate on the Ease Of Use, I do have to wonder how difficult it can actually be. Seems pretty straightforward to me, but maybe there's something he wanted to do that this unit either couldn't do natively which he had to "cheat" to accomplish, or it CAN do it natively, but only with a lot of excess effort (read: design flaw).

Moving on to the actual technicalities (for those who are also interested in this sort of thing):

Freq Resonse:
Behringer HA4700: 10 Hz to 150 kHz +/-3dB
Samson S-phone: 10 Hz to 32 kHz +/-3dB

Noise:
HA4700: 22 Hz to 22kHz >90 dB @ 0dBu
S-Phone: same

Dynamic Range:
HA4700: 22 Hz to 22 kHz; 110 dBu
S-phone: No Rating provided

THD:
HA4700: 0.006% typical @ +4dBu, 1kHz
S-phone: 0.008% @ +4dBu, 1kHz

2-Channel EQ:
HA4700: 200 Hz Bass and 6 kHz Treble with a +/-12dB range
S-phone: 100 Hz Bass and 10 kHz Treble Shelving with a +/-12dB range

Both have power cables, not wall warts. The Samson is a half-pound heavier (remember, this is also a PORTABLE recording setup that involves other rack-mounted gear).

Both can handle 8 Ohm loads, and both have 3 stereo headphone outs per channel (one in front, 2 in back).

Both units can be daisy-chained to other units in the future if needed.

The Samson has dual Master Inputs (1/4"), but the Left is a TRS jack, while the Behringer has 1 XLR AND 1 1/4" TRS Master Input for both Left AND Right.

The Samson has a 19 page manual with large pics and numbered diagrams; the Behringer has a 9 page manual covering two models, and cramming many paragraphs and pictures onto one page as can fit.
Both are easy to read and understand, but the Behringer's layout and content shows an attention to detail, while Samson's emphasizes simplicity and a "plug-and-play" product design.

Now I gotta decide which one suits my needs:

-The Behringer has seemingly more features for less money, even though I don't see myself using some of those features (i.e. XLR ins/outs).

-Both appear to be easy to operate in the dark (i.e. reaching blindly in the back to add more headphones - at least with the Behringer you can "count" from the XLRs to find the correct jack more easily).

-The two main considerations for me at this point are the EQ and Frequency Response ranges:
*The Behringer's 150KHz top end can make you think you're hearing too much sizzle and convince you to drop the Highs too much.
*The Samson's Shelving EQ means anything above 10K gets boosted/cut the same amount, which also creates the potential for a mix that sounds kinda boxey.

However, this wouldn't be used as a Master Mix preview unit, which is where the EQ and Frequency concerns would come into play more than in a straight recording session.

So, after all that, which one am I going with?






The ART HeadAmp for $50 [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]


Just kidding - I'm going for the Samson CQ8 - cuz Emmy says so [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]