audio interface headphone out - tone suck?


    I also run my Kemper via S/PDIF into a Scarlett 6i6. I don't think it's your imagination that the Kemper headphone out sounds better than the Focusrite headphone out. I remember doing some A/Bing similar to what you describe and thinking it didn't sound quite as good using headphones via the Focusrite. could be the headphone pre-s on the focusrite aren't that good, not sure.


    Anyway, I also struggled with the Focusrite control software when I was trying to use the focusrite as a mixer in addition to an audio interface. Not worth the struggle in my opinion. Now my set up is much better for my needs and only required adding a small 4-channel mackie mixer and no need to upgrade the Focusrite - it is still used for tracking in my DAW but not for any mixer stuff or audio monitoring. the mackie mixer handles that beautifully and no loss in tone versus using Kemper's direct headphone out.


    I described my set up in this post:
    Studio Monitors Issue and FRFR Advice

    Thanks, I'm going to read the thread about your setup, and also watch those videos when I get home tonight.


    Don't get me wrong, I love the sound of the Kemper profiles, I prefer the Kemper sound over the axefx and also even over real amps, it's just frustrating trying to get everything to work together right.

    The MixControl software for Focusrite can be frustrating - once you get something that works; save it as a template (icon to your desktop or whatever works for you) and then you can quickly switch between them as required.


    I've found myself in the habit of changing the clock to Kemper as the master source, as soon as I open MixControl or switch between templates even - as it doesn't save that to the template for even more frustration! ... Good luck!

    I've saved it as a template now.


    I guess what I have here for now is as good as it can get until I get better equipment.


    I still don't think I quite figured out how to get Space to work as a Stomp that can be heard in the interface... BUT, the more I think about it, maybe if I had some excellent Reverb in the first place Space probably wouldn't even be needed or wanted.


    Right now I have no Reverb, only suffer with the built in Kemper Reverb, or Space, which actually sounds better than Kempers reverbs.


    When I get my tax refund back in March, I am going to buy a Creation Station 450 from Sweetwater, as well as the Antelope 2 Pure Audio interface and a Strymon Big Sky pedal... I am thinking a high quality set up such as that should eliminate my problems and be a much more ideal platform for the Kemper.


    I had thought about getting the Apollo Quad rack to replace the Focusrite, but now that I've thought more about it, the Antelope is higher quality/better sound, and I don't need UAD plug ins, I'd rather use Izotope Ozone Mastering Software.


    I just bought a 2018 Classic Goldtop Les Paul with P90s a few minutes ago, so I will probably be buying some more Kemper profiles next week when it arrives.

    Space will not work OK in a Stomp slot since it's a stereo fx so it needs to go in the FX slots.
    Another couple of things:
    Make sure that the guitar feed to the headphones is in stereo, in the Mix control software You can get the inputs (L&R) either as a stereo channel or as two individual channels, and then they are panned center. So the space FX will not be usable anyway.
    It is a well known fact that the headphone preamp in the KPA is great!
    I bet you will not find any audio interface (apart from some very expensive ones) that has put so much cost into their headphone amp. You might have to go for a dedicated headphone/listening system to match the KPA.

    I dont know at what point this discussion stands at the moment but...
    All Focusrite Interfaces at least most of their models share the same Headphone amps.
    And these Focusrite Headphone amps are pretty poor quality. So dont expect your Kemper to sound any good coming
    through the Focusrite Headphone Jack. I search for another interface or high quality Headphone amp.

    Here's what I did, thanks to @nightlight.


    Presonus Monitor Station (v1)


    Solved everything for a very reasonable price. Now I can listen and cue Output (computer speakers, monitors, DXR12, headphones) and input selections (computer audio card, aux in, Digitech Jamman Stereo, Focusrite 18i20, Kemper).


    Works great for me and no more Scarlett headphone amp. Could even pipe out the Kemper Headphone amp if you wanted to. They have V2 out but V1 was a great price on fleabay....

    Quote from ZSchneidi

    is the headphone amp on the presonus as good as on the kemper ?
    I was looking for a presonus interface in order to replace my focusrite

    Never A/B'd against the Kemper just better than the Scarlett. Just saw that Presonus shows they discontinued the V2 monitor station on their website. Don't know what's up with that. I love the ease of switching and combinations. I give a listen to Kemper vs. Presonus headphone when I get a chance. AKG701's

    Ok man i guess i have to give it a try and experience it myself.


    I had the Presonus Studio 68 in mind and need to know how this thing will drive my
    Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro headphones these have 250 ohms and are harder to drive anyways.
    So this will be a pretty subjective thing again.


    But on my little focusrite i have to turn the headphone output up to 11 to get even decent volume.
    So i guess the hp amp in this thing is just crap.


    Best thing would be to go into a store and check it out right there.

    I haven't heard the Studio 68 but I guess it will not sound much different than the Focusrite over headphones.
    From what I've seen in other discussions, the headphone amps on all budget/mid-price interfaces are mediocre, it's not a feature that potential customers are prepared to pay a higher price for...
    And if the interface is supposed to be USB powered then the headphone amp will be suffering...


    I have a Focusrite PRO 40 that drives my DT-250 (250ohms) great, but it's not bus bowered, but I don't like mixing on headphones anyway so I can't really compare.


    To get great headphone sound I guess You'll have to get a dedicated solution like the Monitor Station.

    Quote from Janne

    I haven't heard the Studio 68 but I guess it will not sound much different than the Focusrite over headphones.
    From what I've seen in other discussions, the headphone amps on all budget/mid-price interfaces are mediocre, it's not a feature that potential customers are prepared to pay a higher price for...
    And if the interface is supposed to be USB powered then the headphone amp will be suffering...


    I have a Focusrite PRO 40 that drives my DT-250 (250ohms) great, but it's not bus bowered, but I don't like mixing on headphones anyway so I can't really compare.


    To get great headphone sound I guess You'll have to get a dedicated solution like the Monitor Station.


    You are right here i guess with USB powered devices we can't expect it to sound any good.
    The Presonus 68 isn't USB power it has a dedicated power supply. And its spec say it can run up to 300 ohm Headphones.
    What the focusrite isn't even supposed to cover.
    So i think the presonus has much more to offer here. As far as i can remember I saw a test or comparison between the focusrite and presonus
    where the focusrite headphone amp in particular got a lot of criticism. So i guess focusrite didn't chose any good on here.


    But the big question is in what price range do I can expect any good Headphone or monitor signal quality.

    I cannot figure out the conclusion of this thread. Is there one? Help most appreciated


    I have the same issue as the gentleman who started this thread: the sound coming out of the Kemper alone is noticeably better defined than the sound coming out of my Interface (Focusrite Saffire PRO 24 DSP).


    And the point of it all is that in order to record our Kemper tones into a DAW most of us go through an interface.


    Hence, what is it? Is it that we're using crummy interfaces?


    PS: I do not see why the headphone amp of the focusrite would be the sole issue. The sound coming out of the monitors hooked up to the interface is not top either.

    These focusrite headphone amps are known to have issues with low impedance cans from what I've read. A dedicated headphone amp will help when using high impedance cans.


    Might want to do a factory reset of the focusrite and really dig into the software settings to address your other issues but the consensus is they're just "ok" HP amps.

    Hey guys i recently got myself a Presonus interface. The Studio 1824 to be exact.
    Its an awesome interface and sound pretty good so far.


    BUT!!


    And its a big But(t) the headphone output on the kemper seem to be still the better one.
    If i send pure amp sound through they both tend to sound the same so thats a point for
    Presonus that the Headphone out sound good and unbiased and can drive my 250 ohm
    DT990 Pro very well. But if you drive the Headphone amp to hard it tends to distort so
    one have to spend time dialing everything in to get decant levels without distortion.


    But as soon as i add various effects on the Kemper rig both units start to sound very different.
    The Kemper sound stage is much wider and sound full and vibrant. While the Presonus sounds
    still good but is missing some fine details.


    So my conclusion here is that its hard to find an interface that is representing the Kemper headphone
    out as good as the Kemper does. Don't know what amp they build in there but it sound absolutely amazing.
    Even better than everything coming out via Main/Monitor out on the Kemper.

    I think many of us (not myself - I've had complete faith in the company since I made the decision to buy the KPA, and hearing the general-Profile detail as well as the h'phone amp and XLR outs when I first plugged in vindicated in no uncertain terms my leap of faith from L6), forget about or aren't aware of the many "little" things that distinguish the Kemper as a pro piece of kit.


    Good examples might be the headphone amp, of course, the convertors, which IMHO are stellar, which is why I've never been concerned about recording and reamping in the analogue domain, and the headroom and perceptible-noise levels, both in the processing engine as well as the I/O, which IMHO are exceptional.


    People who bitch and whine about the RRP often aren't aware of the attention to detail and decisions that've gone into this thing when it comes to areas where many compromise to the extent that we consumers run into the resulting limitations somewhere down the road.


    That said, I think that I/O quality, noise floor and headroom must surely be the most-obvious-and-necessary areas where a unit ought to shine if it's to be considered professional, and guess what? Yup.


    EDIT:
    Probably should have mentioned how exceptionally-cool it runs (sans power amp, of course). This is nothing less than a Godsend and it instils faith in the unit's ability to function day-in, day-out for a very-long time.

    Morning all,


    I had a Focusrite Safire Pro 24 for many years and have recently changed to one of their new Clarret interfaces.


    I use some Senheisser HD650 for my listening pleasure which are renowned as bring pigs to drive. If I used them to mix in the Safire Pro, I would always get the bass wrong. If you have headphones that are difficult to drive and do not have a decent headphone amp then the low end is the first thing that suffers and the punch is gone. I fixed this on the Safire by buying a dedicated headphone amp and simply taking another line out from the interface to the headphone amp. This did a better job than either the Safire or indeed the Kemper headphone jack. The amp I got was a birthday present last year - a Chinese valve based Little Dot which cost around £130. It was well worth it for my music collection with my awkward but awesome headphones and the difference more than justified the expense.


    The new Claret headphone out is far, far better than the old Safire but the dedicated headphone amp is still a worthwhile upgrade IMO.


    So a dedicated amp is worth considering - you can do a DIY version with a soldering iron, get some cheap (but apparently worthwhile) battery powered ones. At the other end you can spend thousands! I’m happy with mine at the low end of the middle which fixed the issue for me.