Behringer HA-4700
Four quiet, high-power headphone amps in one rack unit - the utility box that studios and broadcast racks kept buying.
Overview
The HA-4700 is Behringer's four-channel headphone mixing and distribution amplifier, sold under the PowerPlay Pro-XL banner and described by retailers as a "professional, 4-channel rackmount unit." It carries four independent headphone amplifiers, each with its own level, balance and stereo/mono monitoring control. It is built to drive loads down to 8 ohms, which is the spec you want when someone plugs in a pair of efficient DJ cans and expects real volume rather than a polite whisper.
Behringer's own documentation notes the unit was designed and engineered in Germany, and Bax Music describes it as "the successor of the popular HA 4600." Long & McQuade's product copy puts the jump plainly: the new HA4700 offers four high-power amplifiers that can now drive loads down to 8 Ohms and offers improved sound performance and comprehensive new signal routing. The routing is the real story. This is not a passive splitter with a volume knob per output. The HA-4700 is a mixing and distribution amp, and the front panel per-channel controls are what separate it from the cheap headphone boxes on every studio's junk shelf.
It sits within Behringer's POWERPLAY / PowerPlay Pro-XL line, and a combined user manual covers the HA4700 and HA8000 together. That is co-occurrence in the same manual only, with no hierarchy implied. Collectors and studio hands tend to run into these in broadcast racks and project-studio headphone cue systems rather than on hi-fi shelves.
Key Features
Four Independent Amplifiers, Each With Its Own Two-Band EQ
Each of the four channels is a separate amplifier, not a shared bus with attenuators. Per amplifier, the unit gives you a two-band EQ and an 8-digit LED output meter, plus left and right Mute switches and a ST./2-CH switch to toggle between stereo or double mono. The 1/4" TRS stereo headphone output per channel is the standard studio connector, and the individual level and balance controls mean four players in a cue mix can each dial in what they need to hear. The manual calls out the MUTE function as "HA4700 only," which matters if you're comparing it against the sibling HA8000.
8-Ohm Load Drive and the Frequency Response That Goes With It
The headline capability is that the amplifiers can drive loads down to 8 ohms, a real-world spec for low-impedance headphones that many budget headphone amps struggle with. The published frequency response is 10 Hz - 150 kHz, ±3 dB. That is far wider than any human ear or any pair of headphones needs, but it points to a wideband gain stage rather than a band-limited one. THD + N is quoted at 0.006% typical at +4 dBu, 1 kHz, Gain 1, and the noise figure is listed as 22Hz - 22kHz, >90dB @ 0dBu. Those are respectable numbers for a utility amp, and they line up with the "4 quiet, powerful channels" language Behringer used in its own marketing.
A caution on one figure: the +24 dBm maximum output power at 100 Ω load appears on a combined HA4700/HA8000 manual page, and attribution to the HA4700 specifically is not clearly established. Treat that number as unconfirmed.
Balanced Main I/O and Cascade Operation
The unit offers balanced Main input and output connectivity, and the main outputs are paralleled so multiple units can be cascaded. That helps in a studio that needs to feed headphone distribution to more than four positions without a separate distribution amp. The rear panel accepts a 120 V~, 60 Hz mains supply on USA/Canada units. A 4-digit INPUT LEVEL display on the front gives a quick read on incoming signal, and the four bass control knobs (one per channel) handle the per-channel tone shaping.
Stereo, Mono, and Double-Mono Routing
The HA-4700 supports both stereo and mono operation, and the ST./2-CH switch toggles between stereo and double mono per channel. That is useful when a single-eared cue or a mono fold-down is what a performer wants. Combined with the per-channel Mute switches and the routing and mixing functions Vintage King highlights, the unit covers the practical cue-mix jobs a small studio faces, rather than just splitting one signal four ways.
Collectibility & Value
The HA-4700 is no longer available new from B&H Photo, which puts it in the used market. Prices are modest. A Reverb UK listing describes a "Used - Very Good" example originally at £143.75, dropped to £115 (a 20% price drop), and a Gear4music secondhand listing describes a unit as "in full working order and in Fair condition." Listings turn up on eBay in the UK and Canada and on the Russian marketplace Avito, so supply is not scarce. This is a working tool, not a collector's trophy, and pricing reflects that.
Buyer feedback is broadly positive on value. B&H's own copy calls it "a great value; it's clean, loud, feature-rich and very reasonably priced," and an eBay buyer noted "Can't beat it for the price and quality of the product. 4 separate headphone outputs each adjustable to their desired settings." On the Gearspace forums, one owner mentions the PowerPlay HA4700 among gear they own, and a thread compares it to the ART Headamp 6 and Samson S-Phone 4 on audio quality. No verdict was captured, so that comparison stays an open question.
Known wear points are minor. An Avito listing for an otherwise excellent-condition unit notes the plastic trim of the Power button had been lost, which is cosmetic and not a functional failure. A YouTube video titled "Behringer headphones mixing and distribution amp HA4700 mati total" ("completely dead" in Indonesian) suggests at least one unit has failed outright, but no specific fault, cause, or repair procedure is documented in the available research, so buyers should test all four channels before committing. There is one Gearspace complaint from an owner who says the HA4700 was "definitely" the problem while swapping through six different preamps, but the context is incomplete and shouldn't be read as a confirmed failure mode.
Spare parts and service documentation are not well documented, so verify every channel and check the power button before buying.
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