Which Headphone Splitter Should You Pick?

Splitting an audio signal isn’t just a matter of outputs and not all headphone splitters are the same.

Some cheap ones just give you a separate output for the left and right channel, which isn’t really conducive for sonic reproduction. Others might give you up to four stereo connections, but the sound quality takes a big hit. This is because each headphone is getting just a fraction of the whole signal, so four people listening are only going to get a quarter of the volume. For some, this isn’t really a problem. Most splitters sound fine for two people — any more and you probably want to get one that also amplifies the signal.

Another factor to consider though is the impedance/sensitivity of your headphones, which refers to how strong a signal the headphone needs to get power. A splitter will sound fine with a low impedance pair like cheap ear buds, but have little volume on a higher impedance pair of cans. For these situations, you’ll want headphones with their own volume control, or a splitter with dual-volume control.

There are probably more cheap headphone splitters available than there are headphones, so do some shopping around for one that fits your needs. They range from the quirky Two Robot splitter to the studio-grade Hosa splitters.