Headphone amplifier

[richard stringer]

Do any of you people use a headphone amplifier to boost the level to your headphones when dj'ing? I bought the brilliant Rodec Scratchbox but the headphone amplifier although excellent sound quality isn't that loud. It's loud enough for mixing at home but i'm starting to do dance events again soon with two JBL MRX515 cabs being run as dj monitors and they'll be run full blast too so the dj has enough dj monitor spl to enable him to hear over the main system. I've been looking at the Samson S Amp, but not sure what the sound quality is like, the Scratchbox's headphone amplifier has such excellent sound quality, I wouldn't wanna ruin that by using a cheap piece of sh*t headphone amplifier, I want a decent one.

[noize_unit]

shouldn't need a headphone amp, just a mixer and headphones

[richard stringer]

Did you actually read what I put? If you did you'll notice that i've got a mixer, the Rodec Scrachbox, and headphones wise i've got a pair of AKG K81 headphones but the Rodec hasn't got a very loud headphone amplifier on it.

[DTR]

Without looking up the specs it could be an impedance mis-match between the mixer and headphones. Have you tried another (different) set of headphones?

[richard stringer]

No i've not, but if I can try another pair I will. But, specs wise, the Rodec Scratchbox's headphone amplifier has a 7.7volt output and an output impedance of 600 ohms, wheras my headphones, AKG K81 have an impedance of 32 ohms and sensitivity of 115db.

[pete]

Fiio E7.
Doesn't break the bank, good sound and very vertsatile.

[richard stringer]

Thanks Peter i'll check that out. I checked other dj mixers and their headphone amplifiers reccomend headphones between about 30-300 ohms, but the Scratchbox states impedance between 600-2k ohms.

[Panotaker]

I have a SR-71 portable headphone amp. http://www.raysamuelsaudio.com/products/sr-71 It is about as big as a pack of cigarettes and sounds as good as my tube headphone amp on my audiophile system. I use them to drive my Sennheiser HD-650's. The amp will drive any headphone loud enough with clean sound until blood starts dripping down your headphone cable.

[richard stringer]

Thanks mate Panotaker, but i'm gonna go with the Fiio E7, i've read a review off a very highly trusted site I know and it's got a 5 star rating and is said to be fantastic sound quality.