Prime 4 Amp/Hi Fi? Suggestions for Output Speakers/Headphones)?

I’m looking to upgrade my audio experience, quality, and clarity with both Headset and Speakers/Monitors that will stay the at home front / production side of things, not to go mobile with.

May be a dumb question and obviously showing lack of appropriate knowledge but… If i have the Sennheiser HD600 or all the way up to the HD820. would i still need an amp inline with those to my Prime 4 or does the Prime 4 power it enough to receive their full potential… of just don’t waste my time and I’m working with 2 way different elements?

Further more, on that note, looking for suggestions for great Hi Res/Hi Fi Headphones? Same question applies to speakers/monitors. Been looking at (if compatible) the Elac Uni-Fi 2.0 UB52 or Uni-fi 2.0 UF52 or JBL 305P MKII. All for the Prime 4 (or is that the wrong direction for the Prime 4?)

(using V-MODA Crossfade M100 and Sennheiser HD 25 at the moment)

Generally Funk, EDM, Classical, Orchestra House, and Hip Hop

All Input and Opinions Appreciated!

If i have the Sennheiser HD600 or all the way up to the HD820. would i still need an amp inline with those to my Prime 4 or does the Prime 4 power it enough to receive their full potential

I tried my high impendance Beyer DT 900’s on the Prime 4. I had plenty of volume headroom. On a side note, I actually accidentally blew one of my older headphones when I was going over tracks with the headphone volume at full.

I use HD 25’s with split cue and I dont even bother turning on my EV monitor anymore. I actually prefer recording sets without the monitor. No need to unnecessarily bother the neighbors. I’m surprised you don’t like the HD25’s. Headroom for days ( even on really bass heavy tracks)

1 Like

On a side note, you can adjust the overall maximum gain for the headphone output under utility/preferences ( eh keep forgetting, it’s definitely there though) Just hold down VIEW

High impedance headphones are usually less finicky than lower impedance headphones, rather they just require more voltage. They’re actually an easier load for a headphone jack assuming it can get loud enough before clipping the opamp. Low impedance headphones are problems from a damping standpoint and low-end roll off depending on the resistance of the headphone jack driving them. Technically a headphone jack driving such a headphone should have near-zero resistance and not a native high impedance. The Prime gear jacks seems to have far more necessary voltage on them than they need, so I think you’ll be fine. I have no idea how they’re loaded, but with a higher impedance headphone that issue is moot. If you’re doing headphone-only mixing, which I’ve been doing a lot of lately, you’re going to destroy your ears long before you run out of voltage with the HD600. Hence the reason I’ve been asking for a bigger headphone attenuator in their Utility settings. If you’re not doing headphone-only mixing, your current headphones are better suited to DJing purposes with speakers in the background than the HD600 is.

P.S. Be careful with your ears. Wear and tear on them will have a much larger effect on your ability to hear sound than any headphone or speaker upgrades.

4 Likes

Great thank you both for the solid beta.

Cheers, ~V

One of the best quotes on the forum this year!

I can’t stress this enough. I have my share of older DJ buddys who are hard of hearing due to loud venues/monitors or from using sub-par headphones.

Sennheiser HD’s are really remarkable headphones. I’ve used the Sennheiser brand in the past for radio broadcasting. While they are great headphones, I can’t speak to how effective they’ll be in an active DJ booth (just in case if you’re planning to use them for gigs).

At a gig, you want to make sure that whatever headphone you choose are accurate and have good isolation (incapsulate your entire ear). I’ve had my Pioneer DJ HDJ-2000s for nearly 10 years. While using them at gigs, I’ve rarely had to turn my mixer volume up above 50%, and I have zero ear fatigue after a 6 hour event.

As for monitors, I again recommend something accurate in sound (little to no sound colorization). I’ve been using a pair of Rokit 8’s for ages. The sound is clean and I’m hearing everything that I need to in my mix.

Good luck my friend!

I highly recommend looking at the Adam Audio T series monitors, they are highly regarded for their sound quality at the price and they also use their ribbon tweeters of which one of the selling points is reduced ear fatigue.

1 Like