Behringer MicroAMP HA400 4-ch Headphone Amp Reviews

Does what it says it does. Quality is surprisingly good for the price. Highly recommend!

I've been using this unit for at least 10 years...it still sounds great. It's also built like a tank.

Not a bad box for splitting a headphone signal and having individual control over volume levels. There is some noise present, but for general tracking it is not in the way. I replaced this with a Presonus HP60 as my studio grew, but keep it handy for emergencies.

Though I trend towards avoiding Behringer products, I found this to be an excellent cheap solution for multiple headphone outputs.

A nice, solid little mixer! Portable and pretty straightforward to learn. Great for the price! The auxiliary outputs are unfortunately mono, so using them as the source for your in ear monitors, results in only one earpiece working. The Behringer equivalent does the same job, but puts out a right and left signal (not stereo, but both earphones work.)

Awesome little device that I use during tutoring sessions. The Tutor and I can jam out without annoying the residents of the building we are in. Each of us gets a volume knob to customize our own experience. We have great sessions now without anyone bangging on the walls and ceilings. John T. Foley

I had purchased 3 of these some years ago to record a string section. They did what they were supposed to do. The one I just purchased was to replace one that finally failed. For the money...they work.

I bought this as a temporary replacement for a P2 with a volume control problem at the price and as well as it works. except for the belt clip it is a marvelous Bargen that works amazingly. Thank you Sweetwater and Behringer.

I have a small recording pkg and when I saw the behringer small headphones amp and the price I jumped on it it was a Behringer product and I love there products it works perfectly love it

I've used this little unit to power wired IEMs live, and liked it so much I bought one to use as a cheap breakout box in my home studio. Fantastic quality, rugged design. I highly recommend!

I was looking for an amplifier for some headphones that need amplification. However, this unit does not seem to amplify the sound anymore than just turning up the volume. It seems to be well made, and I'm going to try a different approach. We'll see. But, for now, it doesn't do anything more than give you a place to plug in multiple headphones, which is great, but not what I particularly need.

This product is compact and delivers the power I need or my Byerdynamic 250 ohm headphones which my Focusrite Scarlet Solo interface could not provide.

I'd suggest to Behringer to add a simple on/off switch as there is none and the only way to turn it off is to unplug it. I don't like to leave things powered on when not in use.

I got this for when I record other people so we can both listen with headphones on at the same time. Works great for what it is and for the cost. It is actually not made out of plastic and is well built. I use it pretty much every day and it is still working great.

I was hoping to drive more volume for high impedance headphones than my Focusrite Scarlet Solo provided. Meantime, also got the Beyerdyanmic HD Pro 700X phones which are a lower impedance.

The degradation in sound quality with the moderate impedance phones through the HA400 compared to directly from the Scarlet Solo was substantial, especially attenuation in the bass frequencies as well as some degree of smearing/loss of detail. I'm suspecting that has to do with the typical AC (capacitor) coupled output which, if not well designed and executed, will struggle with quality audio reproduction.

I don't feel that this amplifier is useful for critical, post-production type work.

However, for the price to provide utility multiple headphone feeds, it would still be worthwhile.

Honestly. Its a 4-channel headphone amp. Get over your miniscule gripes and see this for what it is: a simple, small, easy way to get more monitor channels! It's not about the paint job/metalwork, the aesthetics, or your lack of audio knowledge, its about simple affordable solutions to small but annoying problems.

It's essentially a perfect product... yet, so many reviewers chose to pull excuses out of thin air.
"Bad paint job".... "I didnt have the right cable"... "I can't plug in my 1/8 headphones"... "it's distorting my sound"... "it's clipping"... "it's noisy"

Seriously, the paint job? THATS what you chose to highlight in your review? come ON man, this is audio engineering.. not "looky looky at the shiny thingy". It's like caring about the color of paint on a car instead of its engine performance and safety rating.

If you are complaining about the fact that it requires 1/4" TRS inputs, then you have no business writing a review on Sweetwater. Hit the books, and come back here when the things that you say make sense. Literally every piece of monitor equipment in the studio revolves around 1/4" TRS connections. Get used to it. 1/8" has no place with recording equipment, and will always require an adapter.

If you are getting any kind of hiss or noise from this box, it's likely due to a grounding issue or other issue with your power supply or the power in your studio. I used my own special power supply for this, though, I didn't have to. I didn't notice the factory cable had any issues with noise, it just wasn't long enough to reach my Furman!
I would investigate:
a) Is everything plugged into the same power conditioner? It is absolutely crucial that every device sending signal to each other be on the same grounding scheme (same outlet)
b) Is it grounded? 3-to-2 grounding plugs cost about a dollar at the hardware store. I've seen serious grounding issues and other electrical issues at VERY nice professional studios. it happens everywhere. bad power is bad power.


If you are getting this thing to distort at a safe volume, your source is too hot, and you most likely need to focus on gain staging, from square one. I cannot emphasize "SAFE VOLUME" enough. If its too loud going through a clean amp, it'll distort on a crappy one. This is not a boutique product. Its a temporary plug-n-play device for quickly upping your headphone count. If its distorting at safe levels, consider re-focusing your attention to your own gain staging abilities.. And when I say focus on gain staging, I mean.. re-evaluate every mix you've ever done. Are you mixing too hot? Then, yeah, this amp will distort/clip. But so will any cheap speaker/headphone amp. You have to learn how to properly gain stage everything going into your preamps/mixer, then not only will the amp sound better, but so will all of your mixes, on every playback device - regardless of the amp quality. Stop using garbage preamps and cheap Mackie stage mixers to record music. Stop making the mics as hot as possible on the front end. You don't need to get the gain that hot unless you are recording to tape. Recording quieter often sounds phenomenal, and overall gives you more flexibility later on in the mix. A little volume mix and master bus compression ITB can literally make your life so much easier while tracking. But you won't listen to me, right? because your methods have worked thus far, right? yeah...

the thing barely ever worked, always threw off my ableton input/output settings, and now won't even turn on. My boyfriend laughed at me for buying Behringer. He said if he ever met a musician who said they are a good brand he would just think they are cracked out. This splitter makes me think he might be right.

Awesome product just what I was looking for to add to my home studio.

I needed a way to share a click track with other band members without spending a lot of money. This did the trick. I''ve tried others in this price range and they were crapy. This one is good.

I wanted to hook a keyboard with no powered output to an amplifier...

Well, Pablo recommended this. I plugged it in, put one cable to my bass amp, the other to a 1/4 to 1/8 adapter and plugged it into my earphone jack.....

It cranks!!! No hum, no interference, just a FANTASTIC sound from a very inexpensive keyboard!!!
Wanna add low modulation thru your system?!? Here is a solution THAT WORKS!!!

Thanks Pablo!!!

Pat Calabrese
Tampa Bay, FL

Hrrrmmm. thought I'd grab one of these for my more remote from studio efforts just to see. Didn't really expect much from as far as audio and build quality.

Uh... Uh... Audio quality is far superior than expected and it's built like a tank. Everyone ought to have one in the "might need one" drawer. Super fair priced and well worth the $$$'s.

No hiccups with this headphones amplifier. Very simple. I kinda wish it had an on/off switch but I have adapters for that so, no biggie.

Just what I needed to manage everyone's headphones for my podcast. Nice price and stereo sound is excellent.

For starters this unit is cheaply made. Minor movement of the unit when cans are plugged in can throw off the connection and result in loud noises. Secondly, These have no power and if you need a little more volume than what they can handle your out of luck. Finally we were only able to get the left side of our cans working due to 1/8 inch can adapters.

We unplugged the unit and used a 1/4 splitter adapter and were able to get better sound than what this unit could produce.

Save your money and get something in the $60+ price range and you'll avoid any headaches.

I have had one of these for a while now, and they are great. I use my DT 770 pros 250 ohms. This plus the headphones works fine. I have had no issues with it. I just got another one for my church. We need one to mix the low volume on our mixer. Overall Great product for the price.

I know most everyone else seems to like this, but for me, this did not work out. Distortion no matter which headphones I sue. When I run straight without it, all cans sound great. Very unhappy. Maybe it was defective?

I purchased this for an unusual application. I am using it on an effects send from my A&H mixer, and sending the headphone outs to several looping pedals. These then are returned to a stereo channel on my main mixer via a Mackie Mix5 mixer. As long as I keep the levels at reasonable levels, it has been working well & allows me more flexibility with limited effects sends.
The only issue I'm having is that something is out of phase in the signal path, causing cancellation of the source when the fader is up. Using a pre-fade send and turning the channel fader down is a workaround. Thanks for the great Sweetwater service and thanks to Kenney Bergle!

You get what you pay for with this unit. I use this so I can split my headphone output for other people when recording (to avoid noise complaints). My only complaint is that it's prone to picking up hum when plugged in with other electronics.

I bought this and hadn't even opened it for months.....then the first time I go to use it, there is a crazy whistling noise getting picked up on the mics. The noise is coming from the power adapter. Although, apparently it's a known issue that requires sending it back and possibly having it replaced....I'm going to replace the adapter myself and see if that fixes it, if not, it's going in the garbage because judging from the time I put in the original ticket and got an email from Music Tribe (Behringer) It seems like a waste of time to mail them something and wait for them to fix it.....I've always heard bad things about Behringer, however I bought an Xair a while back that is actually pretty great....so I gave it a shot on this unit....bad idea.

I bought this little unit due to space constraints and the ability to control the mix from where I sit (Which is not at the board.

Long story short, it's too noisy. A fair amount of buzz that won't go away. Don't know if it's because of the cheap power supply, lack of proper grounding or a combination of things.

Probably going to return or Goodwill.

THIS UNIT WORK'S OK. . It does clip if you push it, , ,fairly quiet, virtually undetectable. .and yes i have very good new cables, it clips on both sets of head phones weather they are used together or not, , head phone out of board very loud without clipping so it only showed up when plugged into the ha400, , ,all together its a great unit for the price and i use it constantly. . .

It is great, but why no on/off switch?

I've had two of these and they both have gotten real shotty with audio crackling and a just a big headache. I had a session today and it just started acting up, I changed outlets etc nothing changed I unplugged for 2 minutes plugged back in then only the left side of signal would pass. All of a sudden now it wants to work right again it's not the first time this has happened. It's really a hit or miss when it works it works great but when it doesn't boy is it a headache, I'm thinking of going with the personal monitor system they sell and go from there. Again, price is great but i think next time i'll pay more for just reliability.

I needed a inexpensive headphone amp quick to finish a recording project I was planning to spend near or around $100 when I saw this and read the many good reviews so... I got one and it really is quite good! Its metal comes with the power adapter and is plenty loud. I plugged it into my headphone out on my mixer and all is well, just remember to use a balanced trs cable or it wont be stereo, its so good I may get another and link them...

The unit works very well but introduces a fair amount of noise. I don't know if it is the way I have the gain structured.... But it give plenty of gain and is great for having multiple users on cans in a home studio. Can't be the function it provides for the price point.

We just purchased a second unit from Sweetwater to use when tracking/practicing electronic drum kit and bass/guitar, giving both players a headphone mix. We didn't need panning or EQ,just individual volume control, so this works perfectly. We give 5-stars not because we are "blown away", but because it is a true bargain and is well made. Nice that they included a power supply.

I have no complaints for the price. It does bleed out into the monitors with some cheaper headphones so be careful with that if you're in a smaller recording area or have a strong mic or it can contaminate your recordings. It's easy enough to work around and not particularly bad even when it does happen, so for the price I would definitely recommend it.

Purchased the HA400 to replace an old battery-powered Radio Shack earphone amp/splitter damaged by leaking batteries Also compared the HA400 to a Behringer MA400. The HA400 is around 2x as loud as the MA400, and also louder than the RS amp/splitter. I play wind synth with a church choir, and get adequate volume into good quality earbuds with synth and HA400 volume knobs at 60-75%. In a quieter setting, I have not noticed any hiss or other noise. Basically, the HA400 does what it was designed to do pretty well, but there is room for improvement.

1. If you use cables or headphones having a 3.5mm plug, be absolutely sure your 3.5mm-1/4" adapters are of good quality. I have a dozen of them from various sources, and half made poor contact, resulting in drop-outs or hum. This might lead you to believe the HA400 is at fault, when it's the adapter. A way to improve the HA400 would be to add 3.5mm jacks or substitute a couple for the 1/4" jacks. The MA400 has one output jack of each size.

2. A mono/stereo switch would simplify using the HA400 with mono sources. The MA400 has a switch.

3. Biggest criticism - the HA400 finish is an attractive satin black, but it seems to chip with the slightest bump to leave bright metal showing through. The steel case was apparently not primed, or it was improperly prepared for painting. I noticed this even before actually using the HA400 on the job. Extra care is needed unless you enjoy the appearance of "distressed" electronics. Powder coat would be a lot more durable.

In all, the HA400 is an effective, inexpensive solution for distributing a signal to 4 sets of headphones that should last. However, you might need to treat it with kid gloves to maintain the finish, regardless of whether it's used on the studio or on the road.

I wish to clarify my previous comments regarding this headphone amp. My criticism of its no signal performance hum) may have been due to grounding issues rather that a problem with the product.

I experimented with many inputs ( line out and headphone from a peavey kb2 keyboard amp and the line out from a behringer europower pa head ) and different headphones (earbuds, large headphones and a headphone set with a built in microphone). The headphone amp was very noisy under no signal conditions and distorted (clipped) badly under high signal conditions. This product is bad.

Works perfect for my needs...Look forward to recording a four person string band all with head phones now! clean clear signal comes thru.

Great little headphone distribution amp for the price. No bells or whistles, everyone gets the same mix, but does exactly as it's intended. Don't overdrive the source and you'll be satisfied. I recommend this as a great starter for a small home setup where you need multiple headphones.

Ordered this to split the headphones on my Digi 002. This works great, the sound comes through well.

I originally planned on using it for splitting heaphones with recording with the kids. But as I was setting it up, I realized that it's convenient to audition a mix using multiple headphones. Just set in on loop play & check out the mix using different settings with different monitoring. I have a pair of AKG, Shure and Tascam & it's interesting to hear the difference between them all.

My kids (4 & 5) have been asking to help me on backup vocals. I got thisso we could all sing together.

Plugged a standard 1/8 cable into my Digi 002 and we're all having a blast now.

It works with all different connectors and types.

I recently acquired a Tascam portable studio which has a single headphone outlet. I wanted to get more outlets for extra performers to hear themselves. The price of this was under $30.00 and my personal guy at Sweetwater said it works well. I ordered it.
Arriving, I took it out of the box and tried it. Something is wrong. I found out that I had plugged a monoral 1/4 cable to the Behringer Micro AMP HA400. After getting a stero cable it works fine. Four performers can have headsets with individual volume controls at the same time. Zen!!!
This is a great product at a great price. I am very happy with it.

I'm writing some string arrangements for a quartet for a metal band and I picked this up for the quartet. For the price this thing is fantastic...it does exactly what it's supposed to do. The only negative thing I can say about this is that I wish that the input for the power and possibly the main input could be on the opposite side of the headphone inputs only because the cables are at odd angles or get in the way. Other than that its perfect.

I order this product and when it was delivered, with amazing expediency, I realized that i needed a 1/4 inch to 1/4 inch cable to connect out from Audiobox USB HP out to HA 400 IN.

We use one of these for monitoring on a small stage. I run a line from the headphone out on the mixer to this, and then we can all plug in our in-ears via extension cables. There's no individual control of mixes and I have to deal with an audio cable running down my back, but it's still in-ear monitoring for $25. Super easy to use. The stage is a lot quieter and my ears don't ring after a four hour gig.

Awesome little box for the price! Performs exactly as described. Great audio quality!

I just spent 30 minutes to tuneup noise reduction plug-ins, and found that all the high-freq. noises are from the unit.
Compare to the direct output of my Scarlett 2i2, the Scarlett is meatier and much quieter (less noise).
I will be happy to pay 50% more if it's as quiet as my interface.

I recently switched to producing my radio show from my home studio instead of the actual radio station and I needed a way to give my guests headphone access. I found this little puppy and thought that if it didn't work I could always take it back, but if it quit past the warranty it's only $20.

So far this little guy has blown me away!

Nice, solid casing. Feels like it could fall on the floor a few times and be alright.

Each of the 4 channels sounds loud and clean.

One thing I would improve on the next model though is to have a power button, rather than having to either unplugged the 12v or power off your strip. But that's a tiny complaint that doesn't knock any stars off the rating.

Nice little headphone amp...designed to do what it is supposed to do. Nice headroom and it sounds fine. No difference in sound at all to me. I produce music and can tell if it's bad. Just make sure input volume going to this is not bad, and your good to go! The headphone outputs are all stereo too if you were wondering. Now I'm going to make a little mount for this, so no one pulls the box with them when tracking. Great little unit. This saved me costs when I'm trying to find a quick vocal solution!

This amp sounds good enough, but when it peaks, it peaks hard. It doesn't take too much volume to create a clip . . . more like a loud SPIKE in your headphones. It's really distracting in sessions. I'm planning on spending a little more money and upgrading this component.

Almost noiseless.Just arrived and I am splitting with it. Love it...and my rig including mixer &sub mixer a half s dozen instruments,recording device and stomp boxes can be turned down to zero volume on thissmall behringer device...thanks again sweetwater!

I have not yet compared the direct out of my FF 800 and this,. but to my ears it sounds really good,. Very well built ! Will do the job I bought it for for multiple musicians just fine ! : )

I bought this amp when cash was tight and I have kept it ever since. I have a bunch of high end gear now but still use this amp. It is small which is very convenient and it is like a solid little brick. If you have one headphone out on your interface this is a great way to give 4 musicians their own phones. one drawback would be that they all have the same mix which thankfully was not a problem with the guys I have recorded.

Is great for the price and so very good for traveler

$22 bucks...free shipping...and it's not noisy! Can't beat it! I'm so glad Sweetwater finally started carrying Behringer.

Great buy for the money!!

A great little headphone amp.

I use it in my home studio. What a great unit. Sounds fantastic. Even has pre-threaded mounting holes on the back so that you can mount it somewhere.

I can always count on Behringer's products and this little headphone amp is no exception. This is exactly what I needed for my little home recording setup for me and a few buddies to all plug in and jam. I highly recommend this headphone amp.

With the pricing on these so low, you cannot get a better deal. I am very satisfied with this purchase! Thanks Sweetwater!

As I DJ at my college radio station I saw this little thing and basically thought it was just some toy. Man was I wrong. Plug in your TRS 1/4" and power it up with 12 volts and you get you're audio unharmed with no tone compromised. I have seen so many rackmount units for 8 headphone jack units at approx. $200, this little Behringer MicroAmp for 4 headphone jacks at $21.99. WHAT A DEAL!!! For one tenth of the price I can 4 headphone jacks. You want eight? Get two of these and an audio splitter all for under $50. Honestly, what more can you want.

The only issue I have is that all the jacks are for 1/4" but if you have professional headphones they should come with an adapter.

This is a good little headphone amp, very rugged and definitely worth the money. But you'd better make sure your headphones have stereo adapters on them (if they have the mini 1/8 connectors) otherwise, you'll only hear out of one side of your headphones.

Yes, you can get a cleaner sound and more features, but hey, for this price it is hard to beat for a desk top or home studio setup. Really clean and it does the job. We have six of these at our editing stations for primary editing and teaching purposes.

Solid little piece, everything works, no extra noise– that I can hear. Maybe someone can, but they would be in the 1%. Anyway it's just for monitoring... it doesn't go on the mix. I think Behringer is out there proving that most pro sound companies just charge too much.