I have two headphone outs on my RME. One goes to a cheap Rolls 4 out headphone amp. The other I use when recording vox (as the output is very near the mic).

Now the quality of the signal from the direct out if the RME is far better than the output of the headphone amp (duh!!!! the Rolls was like $60).

So my question is, what headphone amp (4 or 6 output) rivals the sound quality of the RME?

I can think of four:
The Rane HC6 - six independent headphone amplifiers with enough clean power to pretty much make your ears bleed, and it sounds good! It was my control headphone amplifier in my last space, mostly because, well, it sounded great! And it will drive any headphone I've ever thrown at it. Not cheap, and you probably don't need six amplifiers, but dang, it does sound musical!
The Stewart HDA4 - no longer available new, but it shows up on eBay. It won't get quite as loud as the Rane, but it sounds just as good. I had it in the small iso space in my last place. I would consider getting a couple more if I built a studio with a bigger studio proper.
The Benchmark HPA - this was a little kit they used to sell, I installed it in my console for my headphones. Probably the best sounding headphone amplifier outside the audiophile world.
Mine - last year I set out to build one for myself. I won't win any humility awards, but dang, I think it sounds as good as the Benchmark, and better than either of the other two. It is not yet available, but I keep thinking about it<G>!
I have used several RME boxes over the years, and I think that their headphone amplifier rivals the Rane, not quite as cool - to my ears - as the Benchmark, but close. I could tell them apart, not sure I'd ID them though.

I know it might sound silly, but even though you don't need 6 channels I'd at least listen to the Rane.

Sorry I don't have the answer but I do have the same curiosity.

I often wonder what would happen if I used a stereo 1/4" 'Y' adapter to 1/4" phone plugs and ran them from an unused pair of outputs from the RME FF800. Not sure if there is enough there to drive the headphones or not.

I have a Rolls RA62 rack mount headphone amp and I don't hear anything different with it.  The headphone audio is the same as direct from my recording interface devices.  I currently have a Roland Octa=Capture and an MAudio Fastrack Ultra 8R.  I used to have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40.

I tried a Tacam US-2000 (before I bought the Octa-Capture) and the headphone/studio monitor outputs on it were bad (noisy).

One of these for each person will settle the matter.



... all you need is a TRS to pigtails adapter.

Someone mentioned it above, but you'll likely get a cleaner signal if you drive the headphone distro with one of the RME's outputs rather than the RME's headphone output.

Often times, driving a headphone distro with a powered headphone output from a previous device is done by turning down the output of the previous device so as to not fry the inputs of the distro. Then when you turn up signal on the distro you turn up the noise floor and hear it.

If you set up the headphones circuit with ideal gain staging you'll get the best sound you can for that gear.

The RME's line level outputs are probably the best match for the Rolls unit you have... and will probably be best for anything else you get too.

I use the headphone outs, as you do, on occasions... it's simple, but it's not ideal.


best regards,
mike

BIAB..

I agree with Mike on this.  What I do is run the outputs of my MOTU into a Mackie which has 2 output buses.  the main outs go to the monitors and the Aux outs go to the headphone amp.

that way I can control the volume of the speakers with the slider on the mackie and I can send the same signal to the headphone amp but have independent control of it.

Lots of good advice here.

One of the benefits of the Rane and Stewart headphone amplifiers (and if I may pat myself on the back, mine too<G>) is that the front end includes a proper attenuator, so that you can drive the distribution amplifier from any reasonable source - +4 dBu Line, -10 dBu Line, or even a headphone output. You can't do that with the Rolls, or a lot of other inexpensive devices, they are designed to be driven from a line level output. In some cases a specific line level output.

It's still better, in general, to use a line level output because headphone outputs are designed to drive headphones, not line level inputs. I did build a headphone level input into my little headphone amplifier, but I eventually scrapped it, since it did not seem all that valuable. I'll have to re-think that if I decide to make it a product!

The splitter cable thing will work with a well designed headphone amplifier. You will reduce the power delivered to each set by half (3 dB), but often times that isn't a big deal. The issue to consider is that an amplifier will, of course, deliver all the power it can, and when you exceed that the amplifier goes into a condition known as current limiting, which is exactly what it sounds like. The power supply that powers the headphone amplifier can provide X mA of current, when the load on the amplifier exceeds that the power supply rails start to dip below their rated voltage, and things can get really ugly from there.

This is LARGELY dependent on the headphones in question. When I designed my headphone amplifier I surveyed a bunch of popular headphones and ear buds. I discovered two things:
1) the impedance ranged from less than 30 ohms to over 600 ohms - that's a wide range, and it is nearly impossible to design an output stage that doesn't care about that.
2) the sensitivity of the headphones was all over the map - even after you address the fact that each manufacturer uses a slightly different means to specify sensitivity<G>!

I'd certainly try the splitter cable, but I would not be terribly disappointed if it did not work well

I see the Rane HC6 for $399 on Amazon. I was truly expecting to be into 4 figures for a quality headphone amp. I'm on the edge going for this one as I do not use an external mixer like Reece.