Marantz Professional RHA6 6-Channel Headphone Amplifier

Component Hum, Poor EM Shielding

Easy to set up and get going, features work as described in the manual, but the sound quality is abysmal. Every single headphone output from the rear buzzes, and as you get to the ports closer to the power input, it gets louder. That tells me someone went a little cheap when they designed this thing. The front ports aren't much different. Each front output has varying levels of component hum. Port 2 on mine was the cleanest - acceptable even! But... Show More that's one good port out of 6+12. Not a good score. Let me just say, I'm not picky when it comes to the sound quality of headphone amps. I don't mind a little white noise. I don't mind distortion at high output levels. I DO mind power and component buzz harmonizing with what I'm trying to monitor. Now, Marantz isn't a junk brand. I thought, surely there's something wrong elsewhere, right? Well, that doubt left my head the moment I power cycled the unit and heard no buzz... for all of 2 seconds. Then it comes on loud and fades out until it's just audible enough to be annoying. Now, I'm no electrical engineer, but I know that's only possible with cheap caps and bad circuit layout. What a stinker. You'd think Marantz of all companies would know better than to skimp where it matters.Show Less

Reviewed on B&H Photo Video