Can the Universal Audio Volt 276 Audio Interface power up a set of 250 Ohm headphones?
In this article, we test the Universal Audio Volt 276 Audio Interface with the Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro 250 Ohm Headphones to find out if this audio interface has a strong headphone preamp.
Quick Answer
We tested the headphone output of the Universal Audio Volt 276 audio interface by listening to music, and working on video/audio editing projects and live recordings. We found it to be a little noisy and a little underpowered when you are using a set of 250 Ohm headphones.
Equipment
Universal Audio is well-renowned for having best-in-class studio equipment in professional studios and home studios alike.
We are using the Volt 276 audio interface which is similar to the Volt 2. The only difference is that it does not have the onboard compressor and the vintage mode.
We are testing this with the Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro Headphones.
Price & Specs
- Universal Audio Volt 276 Audio Interface: https://currentprice.io/volt276
- Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro Headphones: https://currentprice.io/beyer_dt_990
Test 1 – Music Listening
The first way we tested this was by listening to Youtube videos, Apple Music and Spotify.
With YouTube videos, we found that a volume level of 45% worked well. Because you don’t want to be immersed in them, it was loud enough and had a ton of headroom to know what was going on.
With Apple Music or Spotify, we found that 50% gave us a pleasant experience. For an immersive experience, we recommend turning it up to 60% but you do not want to carry on for more than 15 minutes at a time.
That being said, the headphones start to pick up a hiss once we went from 50% to 60%.
Test 2 – Video & Audio Editing
The second way we tested this audio interface is an audio editing and video editing.
We had it somewhere between 60 and 75%.
It was a bit concerning as we were editing videos where we heard a lot of hiss in the background.
If we had free reign of picking an audio interface, we would switch out the audio interface.
Test 3 – Live Monitoring
The last way to test this microphone is by live vocal monitoring.
For live recordings, we found that 70% to 75% was pretty good for hearing what was going on. From 70% onward, there’s a lot of hiss in these headphones compared to the Behringer U-Phoria UMC22.
We recommend that in the case you have the free choice over an audio interface not to choose this for monitoring headphones through live vocal recordings.
Universal Audio Volt 276 & 250 Ohm Headphone Pricing
- Universal Audio Volt 276 Audio Interface: https://currentprice.io/volt276
- Shure SM7B Dynamic Microphone: https://currentprice.io/shure_sm7b
- Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro Headphones: https://currentprice.io/beyer_dt_990
- 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: http://currentprice.io/psa1_plus
- Quality Acoustic Treatment Panels: http://currentprice.io/soundpanels
