This headphone amp will serve my purpose well. It's plastic, and lightweight, so it seems a little less rugged than one might expect, or desire, but does the job. I was pleasantly surprised that it actually has 8 headphone jacks, four on the front panel and four on the back, but the level can only be controlled four the four main outs on the front panel. The unit has a source level and a headphone level control so you can easily get a nice strong signal and trim back the output volume with the headphone level.
I record a podcast and sometimes have 3 or more people joining me in the studio. The Behringer Ultra Compact Headphone Amp does the job, allowing us to all monitor our studio mics and whoever we're voice chatting with online for the show. I recommend it for podcasters who need extra headphone outs for co-hosts and guests.
You'll need headphones with 1/4 inch stereo phono plug, or an 1/8 in. to 1/4 in. adapter for headphones with smaller plugs. Behringer AMP800 Four Channel Headphone Amp
This is the 2nd and last Behringer product I'll ever buy. It works and does what it's supposed to, but it's so incredibly cheaply made that I can't imagine this thing surviving a year of normal wear and tear. I assumed the casing was metal from the picture, it's not, it's extremely cheap plastic. I also had a Eurorack Mixer by Behringer, but that started having all sorts of electric issues (noise, certain functions not working, etc...) after about a year of owning it. Behringer is now synonymous with cheaply made, mass-produced-in-China electronics in my mind. No wonder they're so much cheaper than everyone else !
I can't help but be amazed with what you can buy these days for so little money and just have a great time listening to. The fact that the Behringer AMP800 has two independent stereo inputs was important to me because I have two PCs in my setup. The output power is more than adequate. The Sennheiser Headphones in the HD 515 and 595 I recently just bought are 50 ohms and are driven so easily by this amp that the input lights on the amp barely even come on at loud volumes. Out of the box for PC use you will need some adapters. It is marketed for pro use as it uses 1/4" mono connectors for the inputs and the output to separate amp. (It can be a second Behringer AMP800 or a different type of amp altogether as I'll explain) You can order the RCA female to 1/4" mono adapters right here at Amazon.com or get them at a Radioshack. For the headphone outputs we have 1/4" stereo connections and the same applies for 3.5mm stereo female to 1/4 stereo adapters. They are also readily available.
I'll describe exactly how I have it connected and for what purpose before I discuss the actual sound quality. It really is a super versatile piece of equipment.
On input A I have my PC connected to the Behringer AMP800 from an older Soundblaster X-Fi Extreme Music. I'm running a 3.5mm stereo cable from the left/right/main output that breaks out into two RCA cables with RCA female to 1/4" mono adapters on the end connected to input A left and right. I'm running two 1/4" to RCA adapters connected to the left and right output running a stereo RCA cable to my Gemini XG 3001 stereo amp. So in short you can run headphones from the AMP800 with input A and when you turn off the AMP800 you can run your stereo power amp to power speakers when not using headphones for the same source. Pretty awesome stuff right there. That capability is only possible on input A.
On input B I have my other PC connected using a USB Sound Card from Sabrent that uses a C-Media chipset that offers 24 bit 96khz audio in Windows 7. It is a simple connection of a 3.5mm to stereo RCA cable and two female RCA to 1/4" mono adapters. To activate input B you press button on the headphone channel you are using until the green light comes on and turn up the volume dial for input B. Its as simple as that. Now how does it sound with my gear...
Compared to the output of various receivers and the headphone output of the sound cards I'm using that don't have a built-in headphone amp the sound is really good. I've tried a lot of combos including the Soundblaster Live 24 bit, Soundblaster Xtreme Audio, Soundblaster X-Fi Surround USB, Asus Xonar DS, and various C-Media based USB sound cards of which I will review separately. You have to try different things before you understand the sound signature of an amp and can judge its performance. The AMP 800 does a great job keeping mids and highs very pronounced while having good bass output and provides absolutely no audible noise. It really has a very good soundstage with my Sennheiser HD 515s and even more so with the Sennheiser HD 595s. The 515s can be harsher and the 595s are more neutral and I can listen for hours on end with this amp. I also bought the FiiO E9 and a Soundblaster X-Fi HD USB and that combo aint that much better than this. For the price the Behringer AMP800 is a great start to headphone bliss with headphones that are reasonably priced and reasonably easy to drive. To call this amp versatile is an understatement as I did not even discuss the uses for musicians.
I was deciding between this and the Presonus 4 channel, ended up getting the Behringer because it was cheaper. I was surprised to find its decently loud (not ear bursting like the presonus), quiet, compact, and users can listen to two separate tracks (2 pairs of 1/4" mono inputs on the back, a button next to each headphone port selects channel A/B, each channel has separate gain and balance controls too). XLR inputs would have been nice but the unit would have to be made bigger. Plastic case feels fragile, dont try to sit or stand on it!
Overall Im very pleased with the AMP800. Its not in the same league as the presonus but does a pretty good job for half the price.
its perfect for its size, its an eq period, it does what it is supposed to do, no xlr connectors so what. its got balanced trs, same thing, what does anyone expect for $50.00, it does not have rack ear mount screw taps. I velcro it in it works fine, its 1 space half wide.
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