Bought a bobo one. It distorted at drummer volumes. Bought the PreSonus and whudduyaknow? Power makes a difference.
No distortion at any volume.
Thanks Sweetwater!
Cheshire

For the price point, it's okay, it works. It will allow me to accommodate 4 guest musicians and provide them with a headphone mix, albeit redundant stereo headphone mixes. This device splits the stereo signals coming in from 2 TRS 1/4" jacks and splits it into 4 uniform mixes. The output signals from the headphone amp to 2 of my (studio) headphones are plenty loud. I've never tested it with consumer grade headphones usually having different impedance but they work fine for studio headphones.

Because I recently purchased a high quality open back studio mixing headphones, I was researching options to purchase a better quality headphone amp and I came upon this headphone amp which I own so I thought I'd give it a review. I've owned it for a little over a year.

I cannot attest to the quality of sound coming from this device as I do not have too many pieces of gear to do an A/B comparison, but it appears to sound just as clear as signals coming from my Presonus Studiolive rack headphone out.

I sometimes keep the unit on for days at a time and it hasn't failed or burned out yet as some other reviewers have experienced.

It's definitely an eye sore though in my opinion. The case is made out of plastic and my first, second and third impressions was that it looked a bit tacky (blue/green colors), but then I find 'most' presonus product choice of color/materials tacky and unprofessional looking (presonus consoles, headphone amps, even StudioOne D.A.W.). I'm sure it's a cost savings thing for them.

I do however recommend the headphone amp for home studio enthusiasts. For me, it serves a purpose. I can route the amp from my stagebox to a space in my work area where I can have musicians come and plug in headphones and remain in their space, and it does not break my bank. I'll just make sure I keep it in an inconspicuous place.

PreSonus once again really does prove to be a rugged, very good sounding option for the price. This headphone amp gets used a ton in my home studio. I own a separate very high end headphone amp (1 channel and much more expensive) and this 4-channel headphone amp by PreSonus definitely sounds on par to me. The metal construction is very rugged and with its low price-point, you don't have to worry about it lying around your studio. This is a no brainer purchase for anyone needing high quality sound for a low price. I take 2 outputs from my main A/D interface to create my stereo input into this amp.

This is a sold piece of gear. Nice weight, small... about 6" across, 6" deep. It produces a bit more volume per channel than my Mackie HM-4. Which is the main reason I bought the Presonus. There's no hum or buzz. Sound is pretty close to what comes out of my board. I am a full time Voice Actor and I don't produce music. But from coming out of Nashville's music scene, I'm very particular about my audio.

We use this unit, in conjunction with an Alesis SR-16, when there's no drummer at practice. Works just fine.

This is exactly what I was hoping for to replace my old headphone amp. Does not distort at all at high volumes and it gets as loud as i can handle.

I have been using a HP4 in my music production studio for over 3 years. Excellent clear quality sound. Great for high or low impediance headphones. Plenty of power. I also like the capability of connecting my studio monitors and controlling them with lighted mute button. Great product. Thanks to Sales Engineer Nick Grawcock for recommending.

I own a Presonus 16.0.2 Studiolive mixer and really enjoy it, however it only has one microphone output. Thus I bought the HP-4 and after using it for more than a year I have finally decided that it not usable.

1. The sound quality is much poorer than my headphone output on the Studiolive mixer. So much so that I just can't use this anymore for jamming, I need to find another one unfortunately. Multiple instruments and vocals do not blend well they seem to take away from one another and compress.

2. The power supply cord fits in very loosely and will pull out if not suspended properly.

I honestly do not enjoy or want to leave bad reviews but due to the poor audio quality I just can't give it more than 3 stars.

Works and sounds great. Small footprint, controls where I need them. I have it patched out of a stereo pair from my interface. Integrated perfectly.

Clean/quiet, nice quality product, best sound in cans I have ever got to be sure.
Only bit of a downer for me is that the main ins are Balanced TRS jacks which makes running basic TS rig stuff a bit of a modification to get things right. I use my little Mackie to convert TS unbalanced to Balanced TRS lines like I use it for my EV15s FRFR rig.

I needed a few additional headphone outputs...at the same time, my nano patch that was being used to adjust/mute my monitors was beginning to fail (after over 10 years of service). So, this looked to be the perfect tool to cover both needs. I wasn't expecting the headphone quality to be so much better than the direct headphone out of my interface. It sounds great and there is a ton of headroom. I would have given it 5 starts, but 1) I just got it...let's see how it holds up and 2) I really wish there was a clean power button included on the front UI instead of the goofy one included on the actual power supply cable. It comes off as an after-thought. My studio is actually nice looking...this could of been a bigger deal if hadn't been able to get it placed just right. Anyway, nice to have a Presonus piece again...haven't used their gear since the old days of the ACP88. :)

I've tried all sorts of headphone monitoring through my various equipment pieces capable of having "headphone" outs. All of them w maybe the exception of my GR-55 guitar synth sounded terrible.
Recently I went Fractal and started using an FX8 instead of a bunch of pedals (kept my drives and high gains) so I needed cans to listen at night and work on preset programming (yeah that again). This Presonus unit uses TRS ins so it happens my Fractal is basically TRS so that was a great match. I was not expecting the moon but plugging in my new AKG K92 (not so expensive really, cheap actually) the sound was great right from the start, dead quiet other than anything that was being generated through my rig. I've had Presonus preamps before with real tubes (a little noisy for my tastes) but this headphone amp is a jewel. While I am only using one set of cans, the ability to have 4 is a very cool thing for anyone recording a band and needing to isolate hearing. Thumbs up on Presonus in my book!

I had a 25-year old Samson headphone amp that had dirty and loose pots. Instead of cleaning and repairing it, I decided to splurge and pick up this Presonus. Wow! It sounds SO much cleaner and more powerful. My only regret is that I put up with the other one for so long.....

This is a great amp for my use this is the second one I've purchased and linked them together for eight channels, I love the monitor mute function for live recording and the power of the amp.

We got this with the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Closed-back Studio and Live Monitoring Headphones and it is a great combo.

power to the mix is there

I really did not expect the amount of improvement I got from using the headphone amplifier. The bass is now more solid on all of the output jacks and there is very little change as additional phones are applied. We tested AKG701, AKG 440, and Sennheiser phones.

The switched output with volume control to external speakers is very nice also.

With its small footprint, sturdy metal construction, and straightforward functionality the PreSonus HP4 is a very solid performer for the money. I purchased this one to add a few channels of headphone monitoring to a live system based around a digital console with lots of spare aux outputs. I'm happy with the design because it allows us to grow into stereo mixes when we're ready (mono for now), and the controllable monitor out opens additional options should a special need arise. All said, the HP4 works, feels, and looks great, and I'm happy to recommend it.

My only hesitation with giving a "Wow!" rating is that the HP4, like most products in its class, uses an inelegant external power supply, this one with its power switch on the cord. That's not terrible, but it makes the product a tad cumbersome in my application.

The power supply cord doesn"t fit well into the unit.
Really bad workmanship.

I own two of theses. They are great for home recording.

It is just what I needed and expected. No problems so far and has a clean sound. Small and pretty sturdy. I also like the "Monitor" and the on/off switch on the cable to the power supply line which is a good feature to have if you do not want to unplug power supply cable from unit when you are done and plug it back in for next session.

Plenty of power for the headphones (using SRH840's at this time) and unit works for many hours without getting hot.

Casey (the Sweetwater associate) always providing excellent service and assistance with everything I need. Cheers!

My PreSonus HP4 4-Channel Headphone amp is awesome. The sound coming out of the headphones sounds so much more clear than ever before, am very impressed. Also the 4 channels makes it easy for my musicians friends to listen in all at once, I made a very good choice. Customer service from Ed Needler at Sweetwater is A-Number 1!

Simple, powerful amplification up to the task. I paid for clean headroom and rugged hardware and did not throw money at having e.q. and metering on a headphone amp. Perfect. Also, these units can be chained together for other rooms and users. In my opinion, this is a great unit at an excellent price.

purchased this headphone amp about 7 months ago. no problems, works as advertised! Thanks to my sales rep Bob mondock! yep!

Good pairing with Studio Live

Great product that accompanies any home or intermediate audio interface. Very Quiet amplifier with a basic design.

My only complaints are that the power supply feels a littles cheap, and that the knobs are numbered to 12, rather than a sensible 10.

I've used 2 different models of these: an older, and the revision. Neither has proved its worth. The plastic everything breaks down quickly, the jacks are now loose, and like another reviewer said, the volume levels aren't matched across each output. You can do better for your 130. To its defense, I picked them up for a small music conservatory and they get used pretty heavily, but it goes to show that they aren't built to last.

I bought this unit a few weeks after buying a ART Headphone 4 for my home studio. This is a great headphone amp with some nice features. I use it with my AKG K701s; AKG 271 mk2s, and my 2 pair of Sony 7506's. The Sony's are getting less used these days now that I have the 271's.

4 features I like are the mono switch, the on/off switch in the power cord, the separate control for the pass-through for linking multiple units for more headphone outputs, and the 1/4" mono TS input jacks. Nice additions for the $129 price.

Sound wise the unit is a detail machine without being bright or harsh sounding. You will hear what is in your mix. Cables do matter, so experiment and choose wisely. The bass is very, slightly more extended and fuller than the ART Headphone 4, but I would expect so for twice the price.

You will not be disappointed with this unit at all. I'm very pleased.

Does the trick. There isn't much more to say. Get it!!

The best part of this for me is the ability to have it on my desktop, and mute the monitor rather than having something more complicated set up in my DAW. The only con is that it only has 1/4 headphone jacks, would be great if it had both 1/4 and 1/8.

This is a pretty high-performance box, well worth the cost. Even if you crank the output to 11, it's still clear.

My only caveat would be that if you're using higher-impedance 'phones, you might want a little more power. I'm using some Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro 250 ohm headphones, and I'm left a little wanting for volume. On the other hand, my Sennheiser HD280 pros will tear my head off at much lower levels from this unit.

This little box has done fine for me... now don't get me wrong it is no Dangerous Music Box as recommended by my Rep Tony Dayton, but I didn't have the doe for the other one and this one so far has done nicely.

This was the missing element for my studio. It's a must have.

It easily does exactly what it is supposed to do and it does it well. Mine has driven 3 low-impedance headsets cleanly and PLENTY loud. I'm impressed. Get one...! Everything I have used from PreSonus has worked very well.

If you work with amps, this works well. Enough headroom for volume increase. I would buy this before buy some 30-50 dollar cheap amp. There is no on/off switch. I have mine in a studio that a strip breaker for a few other speakers and monitor are plugged into, then just use that as a master shut off..

I use this at church for my IEM. It fit on my pedal board, That is a plus. The description is deceptive, as it only can handle two mono mixes, with two outputs each, or one stereo mix with four outputs. But all of the headphone amps are described that way. The sound is crystal clear. My only major complaint is the PLASTIC JACKS! Other than that. A great product.

Prefect piece of gear for a GREAT price. Best part is the SERIOUS amount of volume it can pump out! LOVE that it can control my monitors as well!

Huge, clean volume, easy setup, and it looks great!

The only problem I have with the HP4 is that it does not have an on/off switch. Not a big complaint but still something to consider.

This unit is pretty good, but for a few problems that prevent me from using it as a serious monitoring controller.

1. The pots, like in some other Presonus gear I've used, are linear taper, not audio taper. This means that, past 1/4 turn or so, there is very little change in audio level (and massive change before that). This makes it very difficult to tweak the volume at moderate sound levels. I might mod the unit, replacing the linear pots with audio taper pots.

2. At lower volume levels, the two sides of the headphone are not at the same volume level. This could be due to the drive circuitry, or perhaps the pots weren't properly matched. This caused me some difficulty on a mobile live recording job, when I thought I had a problem with a microphone or preamp. It turned out to be the headphone amp.

3. The 51 ohm impedance won't properly drive some lower-impedance headphones, such as Audio Technica M50 (35 ohms), or basically any of the in-ear monitors that some drummers prefer to use in the studio (some of them as low as 14 ohms). The 63-ohm Sony 7506, of course, would drive fine. (Note: when your load impedance is lower than your drive impedance, it will all still work; but, you will get a gradual rolloff in the bass and your headphones will sound "thin".)

4. Due to a combination of problems 1 and 2, it's basically impossible to listen at a low or moderate sound level; if your goal is loud, and your headphones are 51 ohms or greater, this unit will work fine.

Pros:
It's sound quality is actually quite good once you turn it up.

Like many items "Made in China" it doesn't last. All the headphone volume knobs stopped working suddenly (1 week after warranty expired). No volume control and sound can be heard only on the right side. I took it apart to see what's up. All potentiometers are soldered to a board connected via a ribbon cable to the main board. There's no way to fix the pots except by changing the entire board. Not worth what it costs. Spend your money elsewhere.

Overall great box. Relatively clean channels. LOTS OF HEADPHONE VOLUME!!!

I like the mono function and that it has a "Monitor Section".

do the job! use my AKG Q701 on these and its pretty good. not bad.

I got my monitors and three sets of headphones coming out of this and its always been real reliable and quiet. Ive never owned a high end headphone amp so I dont know what to compare it to but it does what i need it to do...control my monitors and headphone levels with ease. Monitor mute button comes in handy a lot. Never used the mono button though lol....

I'm happy with mine....I read the other reviews of ppl having there's short out on them after a short period of time and must say im lucky...cuz Ive had this thing up n running throughout the whole stage of my recording career...its one of those backburner pieces that just never let u down....THANKS presonus... a great piece of my DAW setup.

I run 1 of the headphone outs into an RCA adapter that connects to a nearby stereo system AUX and thru some Bose bookshelves as reference for mixing. I also got a set of HD280's and Equation RP22xs plugged in..

In less than a year, the outputs began shorting out. I could get it to work for a while by pulling out the output plugs and re-inserting several times. Then it just completely crapped out. I can't afford to buy new equipment every year, so I'll be looking for a different headphone amp.

First one I got was defective. There was no increase in volume after the 12-o’clock position. Second one worked. The salesman told me that this amp would be loud enough for a drummers headphone mix during recording. Not true and not even close. It does provide decent sound but my stereo amp that we still use for recording drums, sounds better and is louder. I would not recommend this for those who need the headphone mix loud, but at low to moderate levels this is probably as good as other brands in this price range.

I purchased the HP4 in a pack with 4 AKG M80 headphones. The HP4 works well and sounds terrific..PLENTY of headroom. The 'mono' button allows you technically to send two separate mixes to the HP4..although I only use one. My only complaint would be the 'monitor level' knob. the ability to mute my monitors would be awesome, but i won't use this feature because the monitor feed isn't purely pass-thru. you can adjust the volume of the monitors from the HP4. I would have much rather had a passive monitor mute control..and perhaps used the additional amp for a 5th headphone channel. Nevertheless, it's still a great unit and a good buy.

Very basic with just enough feature-wise to get by-- balanced ins and outs, monitor section, and mono button are very nice and quite useful. Great transparency and this amp is LOUD. With my interface at unity, I sit the pot at about 2-3 ticks up, of about 15 or 20. I love this thing. Pots do get scratchy, but this isn't the fault of the actual unit, it's a fact of working with audio.