Do any of you guys have experience with using separate headphone amplifiers, and if so, do you think it could be worth getting one? I have noticed clear differences in sound quality when listening to my AKG K240s on different computers, which makes me wonder if it might be even better if I ran them through a decent quality standalone amp. I do most of my mixing through headphones right now as I have no stands for my monitors and live in an apartment with pretty thin walls.

You will get a lot better sound quality if you get a decent external soundcard instead

I have a separate headphone amp (Behringer HA700) that I use during tracking because it has four outputs, so the singer(s) and I can each monitor the recording and have individual level and tone controls. But, when I keep it set flat, it doesn't sound any better or different than the headphone output on my soundcard (MOTO 828mkII). The only difference I've noticed is that the headphone amp can get much louder than the soundcard's headphone can.

What do you currently use for your headphone output (i.e., which soundcard)? I wonder if the difference you're hearing in your headphones on different systems could be related to differences in impedance or power. In that case, it might be useful to buy a dedicated amp - you can get a decent one for pretty cheap anyway.

___________________
cryophonik.com | facebook | soundcloud

Sonar Platinum | Ableton Live 9 | Logic Pro X | Access Virus TI2 Keyboard | Kurzweil PC3X | Nord Lead 4R | NI Maschine

get external soundcard instead.