The Samson QH4 is a small 4-channel stereo headphone amp with four independent power amplifier channels, each with separate volume controls. This means volume does not diminish even when all four channels are being used. Furthermore, disparate sets of headphones with different operating impedances between 16–600-ohms work fine without one set of phones being too loud/soft compared to another set.
Getting stereo audio into the QH4 is made easy with two, 1/4-inch (L/R) balance inputs that would receive line level signals from your mixer or record- ing interface. In addition, there is a stereo TRS 1/8-inch aux input jack for direct connection to your smartphone; you can enjoy music from your device and properly drive studio-grade headphones to loud levels.
As a convenience, there is a 1/8-inch aux out jack that can be used to daisy chain multiple QH4’s together. The unit finishes with global Mute and Mono buttons—mon- aural monitoring is great for quickly checking a podcast or recordings with split tracks.
The Samson QH4 came to the rescue when I needed a third headphone system here at my studio. I had a singer on the first headphone system and a guitarist on my second system, but I needed a third system to accommodate a drummer in another room who wanted to play to the mix with a loud click track. I ran two outputs of my interface into the QH4 placed right next to the drummer—problem solved!
The Samson QH4 is a powerful workhorse in a small package. It works great in my studio and is great value for the money. It sells for $69.99 MAP.
samsontech.com/samson/products/processors/qh4/qh4/
Barry Rudolph is a recording engineer/mixer who has worked on over 30 gold and platinum records. He has recorded and/or mixed Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, the Corrs and more. Barry has his own futuristic music mixing facility and loves teaching audio engineering at Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, CA. He is a lifetime Grammy-voting member of NARAS and a contributing editor for Mix Magazine. barryrudolph.com
