Cranborne Audio N22H Headphone Amplifier, Cat 5 Snake and C.A.S.T Breakout Box Overview

Cranborne Audio N22H Headphone Amplifier, Cat 5 Snake and C.A.S.T Breakout Box

Highly portable, reference-grade headphone amplifier with switchable power modes and battery power.

Upgrade Your Monitoring

Cranborne Audio’s N22H packs the advanced headphone amp found in their 500R8 and 500ADAT racks into a compact, ultra-portable form factor. No matter what pair of headphones you use or their impedance, this advanced standalone headphone amp will make them sound their absolute best. Whether you’re a top-flight studio engineer or a bedroom recording artist, the N22H will make a valuable addition to your setup. Simply connect this lightweight unit to your audio interface, pedalboard, preamp, mixing desk, keyboard or synth and experience astounding headphone monitoring.

Audiophile Headphone Amp

The N22H’s headphone amplifier is based on the custom design found in Cranborne Audio’s groundbreaking 500R8 USB audio interface, delivering the same ultra-flat frequency response (from 0.8Hz to above 250kHz) and ultra-low distortion performance (0.0009% THD+N, 100 kOhm load). You’ll be astonished at the difference a cutting-edge, reference-quality headphone amp with clean, transparent power can make during mixing, mastering and even critical listening sessions. With up to 950mW per ear, there’s plenty of volume on tap for even the most raucous of drummers.

You can easily optimise the N22H for maximum performance with either low-impedance in-ears or high-impedance over-ear headphones. This is all thanks to the precisely calibrated High and Low Power modes, which are accessed with the simple flick of a switch. The custom logarithmic Headphone Level protects your ears by preventing dramatic volume shifts during small adjustments.

You can power the N22H via either the included 9V DC power supply or a 9V battery, which is incredibly useful for remote and location recording where power isn’t readily available. When set to Low Power Mode, the N22H can provide up to 10 hours of headphone amplification. If anything unfortunate should happen to the included supply, the N22H can also run off of a standard 9V guitar pedal power adapter.

C.A.S.T. Connectivity

Cranborne Audio have equipped the N22H with their unique C.A.S.T. system (which stands for Cat 5 Analogue Snake Transport). This allows you to position the N22H wherever you need it to be using an affordable and readily-available Cat 5e, Cat 6 or Cat 7 cable. Boasting an impressive range of up to 330ft/100m, the N22H is a fantastic solution for distributing all-analogue audio across the studio or stage that can also act as a connectivity hub for mic/line sources. As well as distributing clean, high-quality analogue audio, the N22H can also send 48V phantom power.

With just one cable, you can simultaneously receive a headphone mix to the N22H over a long distance and send an audio signal via the onboard combi-jacks to be recorded. With an N22 in your arsenal, you can bridge the gap between the N22H and your audio interface of choice. That’s one of the many possibilities provided by the powerful C.A.S.T. system.

Rugged Build

Like all Cranborne Audio products, the N22H breakout box and headphone amp is a solidly-built, professional-quality piece of hardware that’s designed to last for years to come.