Essentially, it incorporates a balanced XLR mic input with a Mic Thru XLR connector, and combines the mic signal with any stereo line-level source fed in via the rear-panel stereo jack, before feeding it to the headphone outs.

Monitor, another simple but useful box intended to provide personal headphone monitoring on stage or in the studio.

The only odd feature is that the power LED is on the rear panel. Each of the four phones outputs has its own level control and, though no power is specified (this varies depending on the impedance of the phones anyway), the amplifiers can drive phones down to 100Ω in impedance and provided plenty of subjective level when tested with my assortment of studio headphones.

Amp is an extremely simple headphone amplifier, with one stereo input jack on the front panel and four stereo headphone output jacks on the rear.

The bright-blue metallic casework is complemented by chunky corner mouldings, black front and back panels, and a block diagram screened on the top, but there's more to these little problem solvers than mere cosmetics.

Direct DI box, are powered from included external PSUs.

The new 'S'-series units are all packaged in desktop-sized boxes and, with the exception of the S Since they extended their hardware division beyond mixers, Samson have come up with some incredibly useful, yet affordable products - one of the benefits of designing in the US, but manufacturing in China. Samson's compact 'S'-series boxes solve a variety of studio problems without getting in the way.

Samson sound deck not working