people don't too often get impressed by headphone amplifiers, it's one of the gadget you'll see in pretty much any studio will have at least a couple from $20 to $1000+, basically it split the input signal to multiple headphone outs with individual volume control. let's see what this little cassette tape looking box can do.
get to go through this little product made by rock on audio (http://www.rockonaudio.com) from the states while i was browsing for solutions for a live in-ear setup. the technical difficulty was to find a cheap headphone amp that takes mono signal, so i can make a aux send mix for stage monitoring. problem was, all the cheap headphone amps i've seen so far only takes stereo trs input, so whenever you plug the aux send from the mixer into the amp, the audio will only goto one side of the headphone.
a few solutions i've found so far:
- cheapest solution is to custom make your own mono TS or TRS cable to dual mono TRS cable and use that to connect the mixer's aux out.
- the other solution will be using a Y cable (1 stereo TRS to dual mono TS), use the dual mono side for 2 aux outs to get a stereo signal. can get a better mix, but too much troubles. there are only a few aux send on small format mixers, + you need to turn 2 knobs at a time.
finally i get to see someone on the presonus forum recommends the rockbox limiter for such purpose, with this little cassette tape looked like stomp box. let's make it simple, this is a 1 headphone out distribution amp. with signal in and out for daisy chain, most amazing thing is, it has a -30dB pad built in to take speaker level signal. just imagine, plug this box to the end of the stage monitor chain and you get to hear with headphone. rock on audio also makes their custom cable for instrumentalists that the 1/8" mini plug headphone out is inch away from the guitar cable, no more cable trouble.
the box can just simply go beside the guitar pedal boards. by the end of the day, whoever that likes the in-ear on stage would love the aviom system, but for $129(not cheap but affordable), you'll get a clean mono that only need so much tweaking to have the in-ear setup on stage. the guys at rock on audio do have the users in mind when they design their products.