[Noob alert]
Hello everyone,
I have a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 which i connect to my monitors, but i was considering the idea of getting a pair of studio headphones for mixing/mastering.
I heard that you need a Dac/headphone amp to get a decent volume in the headphones (if someone could explain me the difference it would be very kind).
So my question is: is it possible to connect a Dac/headphone amp to my Focusrite (which has only 2 TRS out, and headphones) without having to plug it to a different USB input?

 

As the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 manual does not define the impedence of the headphone out socket, it's impossible to give a definitive answer, but I'd expect it to have more than sufficient range for mioxing when used with a matched set of phones. There are plenty of headphone amps, for example the Behringer units, that offer a 'signal through' pathway so you pull balanced signal from the back of the unit just as you do now, but you should try a good pair of Senns on the unit as is. Because you need the phones before you need the amp.

 

Read this article, or just the last 2 paragraphs for less tech savvy folks:
https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en...w-does-it-affect-the-volume-of-my-headphones-

 

That means that i can't have monitors and headphones streaming at the same time?

 

Why should you need a DAC for this?

Focusrite interfaces are known to have pretty low headphones output, so I'd recommend a small HP amp.

I used this one for my old Saffire 6 and could not hear a loss of quality

https://www.thomann.de/gb/mackie_hm_4.htm

 

Thanks for the reply.

At the beginning i said i didn't know the difference, i searched online but it's a mess. Could you explain why are dac and amps so different please?

 

DAC means Digital-Analog-Converter and you just don't need an additional one.
Your interface has one (USB connection to your computer) and that's all you need.
If your interfaces's HP (headphones) output is too low, you only need a HP amp, that's all.

 

A DAC is a digital-to-analog converter.
Today the term is often used for audio interfaces without analog inputs (as many users don't need them). So a common audio interface (like the Scarlett 2i2) is already a DAC (but it's also more than just a DAC).
That's also why in most cases it neither make sense to connect another DAC to the Scarlett nor is it possible as the Scarlett 2i2 doesn't have digital outputs.
In addition, the Scarlett has a build-in headphone amp, so you don't need another one for just one pair of headphones.

 

My bad. I meant from the back of the headphone unit.

Oh well its root not raut.