Headphone Amp for Monitoring Wireless Receivers

We have a rack of mixed Sennheiser Evolution wireless receivers (Ew100 G3s and G2s, and EW300 G3s). The EW300 G3s have an integrated 1/4" jack for headphone monitoring with a volume control, while the EW100s do not. I was originally going to replace all of the EW100 receivers with 300 or 500 series receivers (and may still do so as I like the AW1 range on the new G4 systems), but I was considering the following plan in the meantime:

The EW100s do have both XLR and 1/4" TRS outputs on the back, and I've determined that they will both work simultaneously, however at slightly different volumes (about 5db of difference between them). I am thinking of running the XLRs to our PA system, then borrowing the 1/4" TRS outputs and running them to a rackmounted headphone amplifier, like this one: https://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/sterling-audio-factory-blemished-s418ha-8-channel-rackmount-headphone-amplifier?pdpSearchTerm=headphone amplifiers#productDetail

Will this work effectively to give us similar monitoring functionality to the built-in jacks on the 300 series receivers?

Just a note: Our current mics are almost all in the A range, with 2 G range receivers, so we are not in a position to get 600 MHz rebates on new systems.

Sounds like a creative solution to your situation. You're running a line-level output to a line-level input, so you shouldn't have any issues there. Seems like a go to me!

I think you'll want a Line Mixer, and not a Headphone Amp for this to work. The headphone amp you linked to has two inputs, and 8 outputs. I think you'll want 8 line-level inputs, and a way to monitor them via headphones. The Behinrger Eurorack Pro RX1602 may be the most inexpensive way to accomplish this, just disregard the stereo-pairing and use the mixer as an 8-input mono mixer.

The above listed headphone amp has 8 line level inputs and 8 headphone outputs. I got the impression the OP wanted to be able to listen to each receiver feed individually, not a mix of them all? If the OP doesn't want to move their headphone cord plug around (like they would if they had the EW3/500 series RXs) then yes, they'll want a Line Mixer as mentioned by the above post.

I've seen the Behinrger Eurorack frequently use for this exact purpose. +1

Sure, Aaron, but why unplug the cord all the time?

You can use the minimixer to cue all 8 channels to one pair or cans and only turn up one channel at a time.

Is there a reason you just don't want to solo the respective channel in the mixer's headphones?

sdauditorium said:

Is there a reason you just don't want to solo the respective channel in the mixer's headphones?

Click to expand...

Presumably, cause the person running the receivers is not the FOH mix engineer, and probably is by the stage. Think A2. It's how we run most of ours.

Now, if the board's digital, you could use an iPad and a free Mix...

Jay Ashworth said:

Sure, Aaron, but why unplug the cord all the time?

You can use the minimixer to cue all 8 channels to one pair or cans and only turn up one channel at a time.

Click to expand...

No doubt the line-level mixer would be more convenient, but presumably they have to move the headphone plug into the newer EW3/500s that have dedicated headphone jacks anyways, and since that was the OPs desire (to have EW3/500s) - that's why I felt it would be an acceptable solution. I agree with your points.

Also of note is that those 8 direct 1/4" TRS inputs are unbalanced stereo inputs and not balanced inputs.
One side will be out of phase with the other. At least this is a better situation than when someone runs the stereo output into a balanced input.