Headphone amp, how many watts needed?

[MartinH]

Our drummer wants to use headphones for a metronome and backvox. We are a loud band so for instance the metronome on his iPhone is for him inaudible. Will a Behringer HA4700 (http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/HA4700.aspx)do the job? How can we know in advance a certain device will be loud enough?

[TL5]

That's more a headset/monitor issue than am amp problem.
Typical iPhone/iPod earbuds are terrible. You need something that is more isolated.

(resists the urge to reprimand the excessive stage volume to the point that it's louder than earbuds/headphones)

[Justin Tuskey]

Originally Posted by TL5

That's more a headset/monitor issue than am amp problem.
Typical iPhone/iPod earbuds are terrible. You need something that is more isolated.

(resists the urge to reprimand the excessive stage volume to the point that it's louder than earbuds/headphones)

I might have to disagree, respectfully of course

IMO its very hard to expect one to be quieter than ipod earbuds. those things suck. I mean, you can hear what other people ar elistening to when THEY have them on, doesnt say much for the isolation. but I do agree with your initial premise

get some nice studio headphones (tight grip, over the entire ear) if he likes big cans on his ears. otherwise GET in ear monitors. custom molds ARE the way to go, but the foam tips can somewhat mold to you ear if you cant shell out for molds. you can then block out a crap load of stage volume AND set it to a LOW level in your ear, thats how its supposed to be. other wise you are just going to be (or he is going to be) doing metronome wars/volume wars, and ever so slightly going more and more deaf.

[Hellbastard]

As stated before what you need are isalting headphones. This are very good http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com...nes?sku=443954

[MNAirHead]

Rolls PM351 is the pro class gear at a budget.

[GregDunn]

And to answer the OP's question, no matter what kind of headphones you use (except for the very rare models which actually have impedances in the neighborhood of 8 ohms and use attenuators; most phones are in the neighborhood of 20-100 ohms) it won't really matter how much power you have - 1 Watt into a moderately efficient headphone driver will deafen you. What's important is whether it can put a high enough voltage, clean signal across the phones, and that it's stable with the very light load they provide. Some amps don't do well with >16 ohms nominal impedance, particularly big amps. This is one reason why headphone amps exist (as well as the fact that they can manage multiple phones very easily).

[TL5]

Originally Posted by Justin Tuskey

I might have to disagree, respectfully of course

IMO its very hard to expect one to be quieter than ipod earbuds. those things suck. I mean, you can hear what other people ar elistening to when THEY have them on, doesnt say much for the isolation. but I do agree with your initial premise

get some nice studio headphones (tight grip, over the entire ear) if he likes big cans on his ears. otherwise GET in ear monitors. custom molds ARE the way to go, but the foam tips can somewhat mold to you ear if you cant shell out for molds. you can then block out a crap load of stage volume AND set it to a LOW level in your ear, thats how its supposed to be. other wise you are just going to be (or he is going to be) doing metronome wars/volume wars, and ever so slightly going more and more deaf.

I don't recognize an area where we disagree.

Unless you're saying that iPod earbuds can't reach a damaging level.