I can’t remember where it was, but at some point, I read that passive splitters drive your equipment’s op-amps harder than intended which is in turn bad for the chips, is that true or fallacy?
Does the quality of a splitter matter in maintaining equal output / sound quality for both / multiple sets? Obviously, one would assume active is generally preferable for something like this, but is it necessary? Does it in turn color the sound, or are these kinds of devices mostly transparent?
What’s the least I can expect to spend on a Y splitter box and still get something worth buying? I sort of assume bottom tier at Amazon will be “get what you pay for” but in reality, does it not even matter and all will be about the same?
Although … if you have two 100ohm headphones, they will combine to about 50ohm, and if you can find the specs for the output stage and it supports headphones down to (say) 40ohms … then you’re good. Lotta 'if’s though.
You’ll also have one master volume control which alone is reason enough to look for a headphone distribution amp, like the Presonus HP4.
Some audio interfaces also have two headphone channels with individual volume control (like the focusrite 18i8).
Lastly, you might use something like a JDS labs atom as it has a buffered line out and you can daisy chain them. (Though you’re spending more than an HP4 for two of them).
I don’t know how well the HP4 works with low impedance headphones.
SSL2+ also has twin headphone outs but I’m considering a standalone option for use with hardware, either tapping the headphone out of a groovebox or coming off an analogue mixer. Either way, my volt 476 unfortunately doesn’t have 2 headphone outs and I’m unlikely to replace it right now.
I’ll take a look at the presonus HP4 I’m but a little dubious of presonus for headphone duties considering their track record on some other devices.
Unfortunately, the headphones will have mismatched ohmage so it’s already a little wonky, but I may not need to use both at the same time, at least not all the time. I’d prefer to be safe than sorry though.
Maybe I should be looking at an A/B/Y box type solution instead of a splitter. The issue, I guess, would then be that a lot of ABY solutions are mono.
Wouldn’t be hard to work out the combined impedance, but probably easier for you to post the two values here for me to reply, than to explain how to figure it out (at least, while typing by thumb on iPhone)
True and I appreciate it, I’m currently looking into the viability of one of these multichannel headphone amps. Looks like a used one (secondhand) in various brands is about the same cost as what I expected to spend on a splitter so I’m trying to see what the downsides are (other than not getting a real time accurate volume read from your gear).
edit: although I’m finding that, so far, the only one to go as far as to boast “transparent audio playback” is $660 which is not in my budget.