Behringer POWERPLAY P1 Personal In-Ear Monitor Amplifier

We use these at our church to give the musicians a stereo headphone monitor. We use to run mono, but upgraded our board to a model that had enough aux outputs to move to stereo. We had to replace our mono headphone amps and these are great. They are not very expensive and work very well. We actually power them using the 9v battery option just to keep the stage looking a little cleaner. The batteries have lasted several weeks now and haven't needed to be replaced. They are used about 3 hours each week, so that isn't a ton, but we've gotten at least 12-15 hours of use on the 9v and haven't replaced them yet. They can be powered by a continuous power supply however if you don't want to use batteries. The volume control is nice and big and the other controls/buttons are well labeled and easy to use. If you need to convert an XLR output to use with headphones, this is a great product to use.

It’s a bit odd layout but works great for headphone monitor amp in vocal booth of studio

OK, so let me start out by saying I have a LONG history with Behringer products. Most of my experience has been so-so at best. Starting in the early days with the reverse-engineered, made in China clones of dbx, Mackie, Aphex and others - the quality has always been hit and miss but for me, mostly misses. Recently, Behringer seems to have switched gears (somewhat) and are buying up some pretty well known manufacturers and making an effort to establish themselves as a legitimate pro audio leader. So I have been paying attention to their more recent offerings. I play drums and use IEMs. When I needed a headphone amp, I started looking at all of the usual suspects. Price was not the main concern - I don't mind paying for quality gear - but I am not a gear snob either. The Behringer had some pretty cool features, including XLR inputs, a mic stand mount, and a belt clip. It was decently small and for under $50.00, I figured it was worth checking out. If I hated it I could always return it. A year later, I am still using it. It fits the bill pretty nicely for me. Is it audiophile quality? No. However, given the environment it has enough output and headroom to work well for me. The low end is solid and the top end does not seem overly harsh. Be careful though - if you are using consumer earbuds you may not get the same results. I use custom molded triple driver ear monitors that are up to the task and offer a lot of isolation from the ambient drum and stage volume. Even so, the P1 is usually run near the top of its output range. Be careful that you run a clean signal to it, and don't overdrive the inputs (but this is true for ANY headphone amplifier). There are a few negatives - but considering the price of the unit, it definitely earns 4 stars. The negatives - (1) No power supply is included which is really pretty silly given its intended application. The battery option is nice, but probably not used much. This is a wired unit, meaning you are going to be relatively stationary - so a power supply over a battery is a no brainer. (2) XLR inputs only. Would be nice if one of the XLRs was a combo connector that could be used with a TRS input for a stereo feed. Depending on what you are sending, you may need some extra cabling. (3) Limiter cannot be bypassed. I prefer to use the compressor/limiter on my console or IEM processor as it is much more musical and exact. I get it as a safety feature for novices - but make it a jumper or something internal that has to be intentional and that would likely discourage most people that may not hear the difference anyway from bothering with it. Overall, this unit was a pleasant surprise. And since its been a year since I purchased it - it has proven reliable thus far.Update 11/28/2023 - I have had this unit for 6 years, used almost weekly, without a failure. Even with the shortcomings mentioned, it deserves a 5 star rating for reliability alone so I have updated this review.

The P1 is a good option start using in ears without the cost of a wireless unit. If you're a keyboard player or a drummer this might be a good solution for you.This unit is well constructed and feels solid in your hands. It has a number of mounting options using either a the built in belt clip or the built in microphone mount which will work with either US or EU standard fittings. The P1 gives you the option to have stereo input or two individual channels in at the flip of a switch. This gives you extra flexibility if you need to add audio from things like a metronome in a live situation. It also has the option for either a 9v battery or a power adapter.I have to ding this unit a star for a few reasons. The headphone output is a little low and might not Have enough power for some headphone models. While overall the construction is good, the battery door isn't great. It also doesn't have an option for a 1/4" input, leaving you out of luck in some situations if you don't have the correct adapter.The lack of power might protect a few peoples hearing by not letting them turn the volume up too high on their in ears and the concept is great. I feel like we're due for an update for this and it's sister model the P2. I would recommend this to people who need to have a power adapter, and/or two channels. For everyone else I'd go with the P2 which costs less and has more output power. The biggest downside to the P2 is that the belt clip is garbage and will easily bend out of shape if you have something snag and pull on your belt pack.

I am a A/V technician, worship leader, guitarist, vocalist, bass player, and drummer. I have used many different headphone mixers over the years like Aviom, P16, and small mixers. We are using the P1 with the Behringer X32 and a S16. We are running off the stereo bus mixes on the x32 and out the xlr outputs on the S16. We are running 5 stereo mixes and could run 6 if we needed to later. The sound is way better then the Avioms or the P16s. They are strong enough to power in ear monitors but not for a pair of sony over the ear studio headphones while playing drums. We are using the M16-U phone app to control the mix. Unlike the Avioms and the P16, you have access to every channel on the board, not just 16 channels/groups. We bough 3.5 headphone extenders and and the power supplies. We just clip the unit to a mic stand or just put them on the floor. Every one can dial in there own mix, pan anything anyway you want. I am using westone um2s, but they sounded great will all the IEM that I tried. The rest of the band were very happy with their first in ear monitors experence.

The product is amazing, lightweight and it is durable, great quality.Battery life is good