Headphone amplifier with balance control

[teashea]

I am looking for a small headphone amplifier with balance control. It does not have to have a DAC. I would like to spend no more than $200. I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks

 

[MacCali]

Like left and right channel adjusting? May I ask why?

Not sure if it exists but you can get any dac or hpa get a roon subscription and use dsp I believe. 12-15$ a month

 

[enricoclaudio]

As far I know, the only headphone amp with balance control is the Benchmark HPA4 but it’s $3100 above your budget

 

[Jimbob54]

Scarce as others have said. I would adjust at source, so via phone or pc software.

 

[MCH]

If you want a physical knob and you like tinkering, it can be done with raspberry pi/camilladsp feeding any DAC/headphone amp.
Free bonus: EQ

But liking tinkering is a must

 

[teashea]

Like left and right channel adjusting? May I ask why?

Not sure if it exists but you can get any dac or hpa get a roon subscription and use dsp I believe. 12-15$ a month

My right ear is not as sensitive as my left ear. I want to use the headphones with a source that does not have a balance control - ie Echo Link.

 

[Dougey_Jones]

Kinda shocked that people are not understanding or appreciating the need for this feature.

I have an SU-9/SH-9 stack, and unless I use it with a PC as source it’s worthless. Streamers don’t include balance control, neither the HPA or DAC have it..

My left ear is a few db less sensitive than the right, lots of people have hearing imbalances.

 

[MCH]

Kinda shocked that people are not understanding or appreciating the need for this feature.

I have an SU-9/SH-9 stack, and unless I use it with a PC as source it’s worthless. Streamers don’t include balance control, neither the HPA or DAC have it..

My left ear is a few db less sensitive than the right, lots of people have hearing imbalances.

Does it need to be a progressive difference? If not, and if you can stream to a rpi, you only need to setup camilladsp and apply a negative gain to one of the channels. I use a small zero 2w with moode as streamer for my headphones rig, it is very easy to forget it is there. If you prefer to adjust as needed, you can also build a hardware control, but that is more involved.

 

[Dougey_Jones]

Does it need to be a progressive difference? If not, and if you can stream to a rpi, you only need to setup camilladsp and apply a negative gain to one of the channels. I use a small zero 2w with moode as streamer for my headphones rig, it is very easy to forget it is there. If you prefer to adjust as needed, you can also build a hardware control, but that is more involved.

I was thinking of buying two of these and just using one channel from each so I had a separate volume control for each channel sandwiched in between my SU-9 and SH-9.

Nobsound Little Bear MC2 Mini Fully-Balanced/Single-Ended Passive Preamp; Hi-Fi Pre-Amplifier; XLR/RCA Volume Controller for Active Monitor Speakers (Black) https://a.co/d/40i1A5W

 

[teashea]

Kinda shocked that people are not understanding or appreciating the need for this feature.

I have an SU-9/SH-9 stack, and unless I use it with a PC as source it’s worthless. Streamers don’t include balance control, neither the HPA or DAC have it..

My left ear is a few db less sensitive than the right, lots of people have hearing imbalances.

agreed

 

[teashea]

I was thinking of buying two of these and just using one channel from each so I had a separate volume control for each channel sandwiched in between my SU-9 and SH-9.

Nobsound Little Bear MC2 Mini Fully-Balanced/Single-Ended Passive Preamp; Hi-Fi Pre-Amplifier; XLR/RCA Volume Controller for Active Monitor Speakers (Black) https://a.co/d/40i1A5W

I solved the issue by using an Audient iD44 Mk audio interface. It has a standalone mode that can be set up.

 

[Dougey_Jones]

I solved the issue by using an Audient iD44 Mk audio interface. It has a standalone mode that can be set up.

I think this may be more useful for you because you produce. It wouldn't be worth $700 to fix this problem when I can fix it for under $100. Just frustrating that I have to fix it at all, when balance used to be one of 3-5 features that were never left out of a stereo audio product.