Behringer MINIAMP AMP800 - a short review

[Clutz]

It should be obvious that I meant the pot calling the kettle black, not chicken. You are so very clever for noticing that error. Regardless, for someone who remains unaffected by my words, you seem to be pretty defensive.

 

[Peter Pinna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clutz /img/forum/go_quote.gif It should be obvious that I meant the pot calling the kettle black, not chicken. You are so very clever for noticing that error. Regardless, for someone who remains unaffected by my words, you seem to be pretty defensive.

You think that I'm defensive? Now, that statement really is "the pot calling the kettle black"! (No offense is intended to any black kettles that might be reading this.) Yes, Clutz, I suspected before that you had simply made a mistake and, in actuality, you knew that the saying actual involved the word "kettle" and not the word "chicken" (No offense is intended to black chickens either.). I was attempting to be humorous in that part of my reply and make you laugh. Relax, Clutz. Everything is OK. I really do believe what I said previously and that is "you are entitled to your opinion". Even though we disagree, I will read your opinion. This is simply one of those situations where we have to agree to disagree. OK?

I looked on the musiciansfriend.com website and found this very short review of the Behringer Amp 800 by someone named "Nat" who writes that he is a musician and a sound engineer. I chose to share this review with you and the other members because in a minor way he writes about ideas that would be of possible interest to the head-fi members. Here is Nat's review:

I bought this unit as a cost-effective solution for my band's practices. We'd already eliminated amps by plugging into the board and now we can all monitor the sound through our favorite headphones. With 4 pairs of outputs, everyone can get a level they're comfortable with and if we ever need to expand I can buy another one and link it. The sound is very clear, not colored at all--in fact it gives a truer representation of how my mix really sounds than the headphone outputs on either my mixer or my digital 8-track. I might get another just as a back up. I love this little unit.

Posted by Nat from Dayton, OH on Feb 4, 2007

There were other reviews (mostly pro, a few con) of this unit on that website but overall, it was given 4 out of 5 stars.

 

[wae5]

Thank you both for pouring a little pepper in a sea of sticky sweet syrup. You should do joint equipment reviews like Siskel and Ebert. I have hunch they'd be one of the most anticipated HeadFi posts.

 

[Peter Pinna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wae5 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thank you both for pouring a little pepper in a sea of sticky sweet syrup. You should do joint equipment reviews like Siskel and Ebert. I have hunch they'd be one of the most anticipated HeadFi posts.

Thank you for your response. Actually, Clutz and I were not so much debating about the value of the Behringer Amp as much as we were debating about how I responded to systema's review and then how we responded to each other's comments.
I think if Clutz and I were to continue this, I fear the correspondence between us might end up something like the dialog between Jane Curtain and Dan Akroyd on the Saturday Night Live TV show years ago when they did a comedy sketch where they were supposedly anchoring the news. You might remember the dialog between Jane and Dan when Jane had expressed an opinion and then Dan, in total disagreement, started his reply by saying "Jane, you ignorant sl...!"

 

[wae5]

I ocassionally make the mistake of saying I like cheap equipment even when I have some of the good stuff. I've stood up for Gary's PA2V2 amp, the PreSonus HP4 amp, the Alessandro MS1 and the AT AD700 because I know from constant comparisons that they are 80-90% as good as the really good stuff and I believe people who pass through here with shallow pockets should know they don't need to spend a mountain of shekels to get excellent sound.

 

[Peter Pinna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wae5 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I ocassionally make the mistake of saying I like cheap equipment even when I have some of the good stuff. I've stood up for Gary's PA2V2 amp, the PreSonus HP amp, the Alessandro MS1 and the AT AD700 because I know from constant comparisons that they are 80-90% as good as the really good stuff and I believe people who pass through here with shallow pockets should know they don't need to spend a mountain of shekels to get excellent sound.

Yes, I agree.
I ended up buying the Behringer Amp 800 and I have connected it to my computer's sound card which is a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum. As I type this post, I am listening to music via the Behringer Amp and my Ultrasone Proline 750's. Now, I know one of the first questions (if not the very first question) I'm going to read from at least one of the members after they read what I've written here will be "Compared to what?" But, I'm going to go ahead and write it anyway because IMO, it's true:
Music played via the Behringer Amp 800 and my Proline 750's sounds great! I would now give the Behringer Amp 800 a higher rating than I gave it in my review (after listening to it connected to my computer's sound card). Really, the music is sounding so good, I'm amazed. At present, I'm listening to Shirley Horn's CD entitled "Here's to Life". This is a slow romantic collection of songs with mostly string section and piano arrangements. The violins are distinct and clear and beautiful. There seems to be no distortion or clipping. All of the instruments sound like the real instruments. The string bass is strong, well balanced and the tone is right IMO. The balance of this recording played via the Behringer Amp 800 is very well balanced. The sound stage is just right.
Earlier I listened to a recording I helped to record. I know how this recording is supposed to sound. The Behringer Amp 800, as far as I could tell, accurately produced, seemingly without alteration, the sound of the original recording. I knew, as I said in my review, that the Behringer Amp 800 was a good headphone amp, but, this good?! I'm truly surprised that a headphone amp that is as inexpensive as this one, sounds this great. Now, back to the question of "Compared to what?" To answer this, I will respond this way: I don't want to specify that. The reason is because if I did, undoubtedly, I would receive angry posts from members who have spent mucho dinero on their headphone amps and they would write an angry post to me that would read to this effect:
'How could you possibly be so absurd as to compare my beautiful _______ headphone amp to this cheap thing! There is no way whatsoever that this cheap piece of trash amp could possibly compare to my top rated and expensive ___________ headphone amp. I will never again believe or even so much as read another one of your ridiculous reviews.'
That is, I fear, probably the type of response I would receive so to avoid this, I won't compare the Behringer Amp 800 to anything. I'll simply close this post by writing once again, that the Behringer Amp 800 sounds great to me.

 

[Peter Pinna]

Now I have to figure out how to climb down from this high tree limb I've put myself on.

 

[Vali]

Well, if you ask me, nobody should get so worked up over a review.

Thanks for the impressions, systema and Peter Pinna. I may be getting the AMP 800 as my first amp and will keep your points in mind.

 

[tfarney]

Quote:

This is Head-Fi - Headphone-High Fidelity, not Headphone-Okay.

It is. Which makes me wonder why the OP went to the trouble to acquire a $50 headphone router made for the bottom end of the home studio market and wrote a long, insulting review of it here. On some home recording forum it might make sense. Even then, an even-handed review, stating that the unit has a lot of functionality for $50, but just doesn't sound very good would be more appropriate. But to bring that item here, then trash it so thoroughly, mentioning the president of the company by name more than once...it makes me wonder about his agenda.

I'm probably over-thinking this. His agenda was probably just to hear himself speak when he really didn't have anything useful to say.

Tim

PS: How much experience someone has had listening to headphone amps is a total BS argument. There is a whole world of audio out there, from mass consumer to audiophile to pro, to base a subjective opinion of sound upon. And most of that world is barely aware of the small, obsessive world of headphone amps. Good sound is good sound, whether we discuss it by brand name on Head-fi or not.

 

[Peter Pinna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tfarney /img/forum/go_quote.gif It is. Which makes me wonder why the OP went to the trouble to acquire a $50 headphone router made for the bottom end of the home studio market and wrote a long, insulting review of it here. On some home recording forum it might make sense. Even then, an even-handed review, stating that the unit has a lot of functionality for $50, but just doesn't sound very good would be more appropriate. But to bring that item here, then trash it so thoroughly, mentioning the president of the company by name more than once...it makes me wonder about his agenda. I'm probably over-thinking this. His agenda was probably just to hear himself speak when he really didn't have anything useful to say. Tim PS: How much experience someone has had listening to headphone amps is a total BS argument. There is a whole world of audio out there, from mass consumer to audiophile to pro, to base a subjective opinion of sound upon. And most of that world is barely aware of the small, obsessive world of headphone amps. Good sound is good sound, whether we discuss it by brand name on Head-fi or not.

I agree with you but I'll bet you're going to receive posts from those who don't.
One idea I forgot to mention in my last post was that the player I'm using on the computer is Foobar2000. I thought some would be interested in knowing this. On that player, if you are familiar with it, I have the Resampler active at 96,000 Hz. Foobar2000 has a great sound, IMO, in it's default state but if you want to adjust the sound, it has an 18-band graphic equalizer. I'm listening to the Shirley Horn recording "Here's To Life" as I write this via the Foobar2000 to Behringer Amp 800 to Ultrasone Proline 750 to my ears. It sounds fantastic, IMO. A great, realistic sounding soundstage, nice detail, smooth balance throughout the range of frequencies are some of the reasons I like what I'm hearing.
I have usually listened to music at home via my home stereo system but, sometimes, like right now, it's nice to hear music via this amp while I'm on the computer. If you decide to try it, I hope you enjoy it, too.

 

[jpelg]

[size=xx-small]1/4" TRS mono inputs???[/size]

Sound quality aside, this type of analog inputs limits this amp's scope to the pro market (or at least associated pro gear) considerably, yes?

How are you all connecting this thing to your sources?

 

[GreatDane]

It looks like 1/4" TS for right and 1/4" TS for left. If using mono then use left input.

 

[Peter Pinna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg /img/forum/go_quote.gif [size=xx-small]1/4" TRS mono inputs???[/size] Sound quality aside, this type of analog inputs limits this amp's scope to the pro market (or at least associated pro gear) considerably, yes? How are you all connecting this thing to your sources?

I have seen a number of amps with these types of connections mostly in the pro level. If you want to connect an RCA plug, use an adaptor. That's the way I did it. You can buy the adaptors from Micro Center or Radio Shack.
The inputs are right channel, left channel (stereo). The left channel becomes mono if used by itself. There is panning between right and left channels if you want to hear only one of the channels for some reason.

 

[Peter Pinna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatDane /img/forum/go_quote.gif It looks like 1/4" TS for right and 1/4" TS for left. If using mono then use left input.

Yes, that is correct.

 

[ados_cz]

Hello, I am getting this amp today. I had to change my choice of amp. I was going for samson servo 120a but the shop Acoustic Guitars, and Electric Guitars, Keyboards, Recording, and PA - Online Music Store | Sounds Live informed me that I would maybe have to wait for quite a long time, becouse there is no ETA from manufacturer.

Ok so I had to make a quick change and after reading specs of amp800 in pdf format on berhingers web I went for it. It seems to be very flexibile. My intention of useing it is to connect the inputs with balanced outs on EMU 1212m trough pair of balanced 1/4 TRS cables on line A. On line B maybe the second souncard. Link out A will be used to connect to mini sony stereo tower input for output on speakers. One of the amp800's rear headphone out to LCD monitor speakers (hope it wont hurt the amp). First front headphone out to Behringer hps3000 headphones. Second to in ears sony headphones and third to Philips wireless SHC2000 headphones. I will make the thingy busy.

After reading systema review I felt quite put down luckily other reviewer put the things into balance.

So I will post tell you waht I think about it later on If I am able to get EMU 1212m working because its a newcomer today as well :-]

See you later.