What Hi-Fi? Verdict
For the money it offers a lot, but the sound may disappoint
Pros
- +
Lots of features
- +
practical
- +
good value for money
Cons
- -
Wearing delivery
- -
trades insight for features
- -
tonally imbalanced
Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.
Pro-ject's weighty Headbox SEII offers a lot, with two headphone inputs and two volume controls, meaning you can share your amplified sounds without worrying about annoying anyone with sensitive eardrums.
Plugged in, the Headbox SEII handles different styles of music adequately.
Tonally you get a bright treble that could do with gaining subtlety, a confident and supple midrange that excels with vocals and emotion, and a bass that lacks definition and firmness.
Struggles with musical subtleties
Detailing is not bad, but the Headbox struggles when picking up musical subtleties, preferring instead to bombard the listener with a quickly wearing delivery.
You could argue that the Pro-ject Headbox SEII offers good value: it's cheaper than many rivals, and that extra volume control offers an extra degree of flexibility that we don't see in any others we've tested.
?In short, if you're happy to trade some aspects of performance for a more adaptable product then this is ?for you. But realistically, do you really need that extra feature for what is essentially a private amplifier?
