Can the Focusrite Scarlett Solo audio interface power a set of 250 Ohm headphones? We hooked up our Beyerdynamic DT 990s to find out.
Quick Answer: We don’t really recommend using the Scarlett Solo with 250 Ohm headphones if you need to monitor live vocal audio. That said, it does supply enough power for listening to music and audio/video editing tasks.
Listening To Music
The first thing you might want to do with your Scarlett Solo is listen to music from iTunes, Spotify, or similar. This is finished music that has been normalized and compressed.
Setting the volume knob on the Scarlett Solo to 75-90% gave us an enjoyable, immersive audio experience through our 250 Ohm headphones.
Video & Audio Editing
250 Ohm headphones offer great detail and nuance for video and audio editing work. As you’re working with unfinished audio, this type of work often means you need to turn up your headphones to hear what’s going on.
We had to fully max out the volume knob on the Scarlett Solo, but at this setting, we were getting a workable volume from our DT 990 Pros.
Vocal Monitoring
Another thing that you’re likely planning to do with your Scarlett Solo is record live vocal audio. This could be for a voiceover, podcast, YouTube video, etc.; anything where you want to monitor vocal audio as you record it.
With the Scarlett Solo volume knob set to 100%, the volume coming out of our 250 Ohm headphones was still 30-35% short of where we wanted it to be.
We suggest you either use an 80 Ohm version of your preferred headphones with the Scarlett Solo or that you use an external headphone amplifier to boost the volume level for vocal monitoring.
Focusrite Scarlett Solo & 250 Ohm Headphones Pricing & Specs
- Focusrite Scarlett Solo Audio Interface: https://currentprice.io/scarlett_solo
- Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro 250 Ohm Headphones: https://currentprice.io/beyer_dt_990
- Rode NT1 Condenser Microphone: https://currentprice.io/rode_nt1_kit
- Rode SMR Shockmount: https://currentprice.io/rode_smr
- XLR Cable: https://currentprice.io/xlr_cable
- TRS Cable: https://currentprice.io/trs_cable
- Mic Stand: https://currentprice.io/desk_stand
- Rode PSA1 Boom Arm: https://currentprice.io/boom_arm
