Little Labs Monotor 2-Channel Headphone Amplifier

I did a shootout between Monotor and the Neve RNHP with my LCD-X and HD600 headphones. Monotor won every time. If you want to know what is actually going on in a mix or master, this is the headphone amp for you. If you want blissful ignorance and everything to sound good no matter what, go for RNHP. My Lynx Aurora (n) headphone amps do a great job reproducing a flat full spectrum with the LCD-X's (possibly "better" from an objective/analytical standpoint as far as the perceivable frequency and transient response is concerned), but Monotor makes me feel closer to the music and provides more depth in the 300-1.5kHz zone. With Monotor the musical hierarchy of all the elements feel more true to the songs and my headphone mixes are actually useful/translate everywhere perfectly. HD-600s are substantially better through Monotor vs Aurora.

This has a very sturdy build and sounds phenomenal. This is a different class when it comes to monitoring, makes regular headphones sound like they are super expensive.

I’m hearing things in my headphones I hadn’t heard before. This little amp really makes my headphones sound powerful with so much great detail in my mixes.

What an amazing mix/reference tool. Ultra clean audio signal, and multiple ways to hear your work, like swapping left for right, or a mono sums.

I grabbed the Little Labs Monotor to be my headphone amp out of an Apollo X16. I wasn’t expecting to come to rely on all the settings like I do. It’s amazing to be able to mono both sides separately or flip L/R. It’s really informative for tracking and mixing.

Best headphones signal in years. Well worth it!

Sounds fantastic and performs exactly as it should!

Bought this and the Neve RNHA to do a comparison. Headphones Senn hd650 with specific eq curve from Sonarworks.

Did a AB test so that I could switch between them quickly and did my best to match the levels. A quick note: At a nice listening level the Little Labs volume was at 11 o'clock while the Neve was at 1 o'clock.

Listened to a mix of classical, Spanish gypsy, all flavors of rock and country, old classic soul and pop. Not much metal or EDM.

The Neve sounded like Never. The Little Labs was clean, crisp, and less forgiving. The transients were defined.

I chose the Little Labs for my use: checking my mixes on phones.

For pure listening I would have chosen the Neve.

Mike