Rackmount Headphone Amp Recommendations

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Shadoweclipse13
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Rackmount Headphone Amp Recommendations

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Wed Jun 08, 2022 3:17 am

As the antithesis to my rackmount amp modeler question in the amp thread section, I was wondering if you guys had any thoughts on a few models I'm looking at, or recommendations for something similar. I think I've got the modeling part figured out (really just want one of those UA amp modeler pedals), so st this point I'm just looking for the headphone distribution itself. I'm only looking at rackmount options, and just a device that takes stereo inputs and sends the signal to a few separate headphone outputs (with maybe an aux in and a bit of EQ for each channel).

I'm currently looking at 3 models:
Mackie HM-400
Art HeadAmp6
Behringer Powerplay HA8000

The Mackie and the Art are both about $200, the Behringer is about $130. The Mackie has 4 headphone output channels, the Art 6, and the Behringer 8. I think 4 channels would be more than enough, but the extra money off would be fine too. From my experience, the Mackie is possibly the best quality, but I've heard good things about the Art stuff too.

I just don't have any experience with these specific models, or any others for that matter, haha. I'm open to recommendations as long as they are rackmount.

For your viewing pleasure:
Mackie HM-400
Art HeadAmp6
Behringer HA8000
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marqueemoon
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Re: Rackmount Headphone Amp Recommendations

Post by marqueemoon » Wed Jun 08, 2022 7:20 am

I’d think in the scenario you described earlier where you have a friend over you’d want a way for each person to adjust the relative level of each guitar in their headphones. I’m not sure how the “more me” option on the ART works.

On this Rolls you can do this by using the mono option and using the pan control.

https://rolls.com/product/RA62c

That would me each individual guitar and the mix each person hears is mono. That might be fine or it might be less desirable.

I think the trick here is to have something that works how you need it to without a bunch of extra cost and complexity.

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Re: Rackmount Headphone Amp Recommendations

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Wed Jun 08, 2022 9:44 am

marqueemoon wrote:
Wed Jun 08, 2022 7:20 am
I’d think in the scenario you described earlier where you have a friend over you’d want a way for each person to adjust the relative level of each guitar in their headphones. I’m not sure how the “more me” option on the ART works.

On this Rolls you can do this by using the mono option and using the pan control.

https://rolls.com/product/RA62c

That would me each individual guitar and the mix each person hears is mono. That might be fine or it might be less desirable.

I think the trick here is to have something that works how you need it to without a bunch of extra cost and complexity.
That is awesome! I like having that option for the mixing of your own channel against the main mix. My plan had been to possibly run the separate channels to my mixing board before the headphone amp, so I could pan things left and right. Hmm. And it's only a few dollars more than 2 of the 3 I was looking at...
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Re: Rackmount Headphone Amp Recommendations

Post by marqueemoon » Wed Jun 08, 2022 10:01 am

In my experience the quality of the Rolls stuff is…ok but not great.

I’ve speced their zone mixers for a few clients. In both cases there were a few quirks in the design that caused some hassles.

That said my bandmate has had a basic Rolls headphone amp for like 15 years and it’s still going strong.

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Re: Rackmount Headphone Amp Recommendations

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Wed Jun 08, 2022 10:06 am

That's kind of a bummer. I won't discount it at this point, but that does kind of even the playing field so-to-speak. Ever use the Mackie or the Art?
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Re: Rackmount Headphone Amp Recommendations

Post by marqueemoon » Wed Jun 08, 2022 11:27 am

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Wed Jun 08, 2022 10:06 am
That's kind of a bummer. I won't discount it at this point, but that does kind of even the playing field so-to-speak. Ever use the Mackie or the Art?
I have not.

One other option to consider is if your mixer has a monitor section you could use that to create a separate mix for user #2.

If I were you I would read up on in ear monitoring rigs. That’s a world I don’t know much about, but there may be some products in that category that will do the jobs you want done.

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Re: Rackmount Headphone Amp Recommendations

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Wed Jun 08, 2022 2:54 pm

My mixer might have a monitor section. I have a feeling that messing with the mixer will give me the results I'm looking for.

I've never messed with in-ear systems, but considering that this is just for screwing around at home, wouldn't that be expensive? I've never looked into them, but I always figured that they were...
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Re: Rackmount Headphone Amp Recommendations

Post by fisonic » Sat Jun 11, 2022 4:21 am

There’s also the Art Headamp 6 pro.

https://artproaudio.com/product/headam ... phone-amp/

Between the Makie & Art offerings there are some differences, like front or rear connection layouts. Might be worth considering which one works better for your particular rack setup/preferences. Both can blend the main & aux mixes(more/less me). Both have unbalanced stereo aux ins.

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Re: Rackmount Headphone Amp Recommendations

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Sat Jun 11, 2022 7:22 am

fisonic wrote:
Sat Jun 11, 2022 4:21 am
There’s also the Art Headamp 6 pro.

https://artproaudio.com/product/headam ... phone-amp/

Between the Makie & Art offerings there are some differences, like front or rear connection layouts. Might be worth considering which one works better for your particular rack setup/preferences. Both can blend the main & aux mixes(more/less me). Both have unbalanced stereo aux ins.
I looked at the pro a little and I like what it's got, but I don't know the difference between the standard and the pro. Maybe I read through the page a bit too fast. I honestly probably need to write up a spec sheet that has all the models I'm considering so I can compare them.

The only downside to the pro in my opinion, is the price. It's not terribly expensive, but the price of the Behringer is what drew me to getting a headphone amp to begin with. In theory, I could get a headphone splitter for my mixer for stupid cheap. That's not to say that I don't want one, because I do. But also, I could look for all sorts of features and get crazy on the price. Seeing as I'm just playing at home, I need to make sure that I get features that I need and not extra bells and whistles that I'll never used.

Have you ever used either of the Art units?
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Re: Rackmount Headphone Amp Recommendations

Post by fisonic » Sat Jun 11, 2022 4:41 pm

I’ve got the Art pro 6 & it works well considering it’s price point. I was after min 5 outputs & having the inputs at the rear suits my rack setup. The Art 6 has the aux connections at the front(same as the mackie)
On another note, you can also use your mixers channel(s) inserts for aux connections. If you want to maintain your mixers stereo bus functionality, there is a workaround for that also.
This will explain the ins & outs:
[url] http://ethanwiner.com/mixer2daw.html[url]

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Re: Rackmount Headphone Amp Recommendations

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Thu Jul 14, 2022 12:16 pm

Bit of an update, due to chatting with some fine folks about this. I still haven't bought one, or given up on the idea entirely either, but I've had some ideas since.

A few months back, I bought a brand new 2nd generation Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 from Maggie, and really like it so far. I haven't done any proper recording through it, but I have hooked it up and played a bit. The only downside to using the 2i2 as a headphone amp when I'm not recording is the power for it: being USB based power, I would need to plug it into my computer even if I was just playing into it. I haven't tried plugging the USB cord into a phone brick, as I'm afraid of frying it.

My thought was that maybe I'd look into a used Scarlett 18i20, since it's rackmount and has a dedicated power jack/cord AND it's got 2 headphone jacks. I am pretty sure that I'd never need THAT many inputs for recording (unless I record my daughter playing the drums), but having that many options is cool too.

Has anyone used a recording interface like that in place of a headphone amp for late night playing/quiet time when not recording?
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