The PM57 is for connecting headphones to a speaker line. The 1/4\" Mono/stereo loop jacks are for connecting many boxes in series. There are 2 headphone jacks and volume control. The PM57 uses the speaker line signal for power, and uses no batteries. The attenuation switch on the PM57 helps match the correct level input to get the desired headphone level.
Pros: Attentuation & volume control, mono or stereo select, built like tank for professional abuse, pro style indented buttons & switches for no accidents
Cons: SE only, need to add your own speaker cable & banana plugs, spkr cable connection would benefit from a simple retention clamp, no way to perm mount
I'm not recommending that anyone go out and buy a speaker amp & Rolls to power their headphones - rather if you already have a great speaker amp the PM57 worked well for me. But if you're starting from scratch you can get much better bang for the buck from a purpose built headphone amp.
Two Keys issues: Speakers are generally less sensitive than headphones so when you direct connect via speaker tabs you will get increased hiss. Secondly you will not be able to use full range of amp volume put as output will be far, far too loud.
PM57 will simply allow you to connect HP to existing amp with little effort, all but eliminate hiss, and give you control over volume.
Test Chain
JRiver>Gungnir>Onix SP3>HE-500 (XLR to SE adapter)
Sound Quality
Since I do not have another speaker tap to compare I'm not sure how to tackle this as SQ will be highly dependent on whatever amp you pair it with.
At 1st I thought I had wired something incorrectly as with amp and Tap set to 50% volume I heard NOTHING on my HE-500. Pressed play and nearly jumped out of my chair. In other words with Amp & Tap set to 50% volume there was NO background noise! Especially as I'm testing with a Tube amp I was mentally prepared for some noticeable noise floor.
Volume Pot on Tap: Dead silent. Provides full range of control with the same smooth increments you would experience using volume pot on headphone amp.
Build
Built to survive stage use. Steel case, recessed switches to prevent accidental changes.
Ease of Use
See User Guide for IMPORTANT notes on setup so that you do not harm Tap, Amp, Headphones or yourself ...
Perfect - Thanks for the link. I have the same amp and (Jergpad modded) HE500's. Will try this out as I was getting hiss and little noticable improvement over my Lyr.
I found the Onix to be very enjoyable for laid back listening but definitely not the same level of dynamics as my Mjolnir. Let me know your thoughts and what tubes your rolling. Not that I need to be starting that again!
first thing I did when I got my xp3 was to pull the chinese tubes and roll in a variety of NOS tubes - once I had the bias and everything else tuned to my liking with my B&W CM7 speakers I left it at that because price/enjoyment scale had matched nicely.
However, It just doesn't pair well with HE500's so I went with the emotiva mini x-a-100 and now i'm happy with that too. Might even sell my Lyr and all the tubes I've bought for that....
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