Behringer U-PHORIA UMC1820 USB Audio Interface with MIDAS Preamps, 18x20 I/O, and ADAT Expansion

Was given 50 vinyl records, but the deal was I had to convert them to digital mp3. Took a while, but very happy with results. Easy to set up & use. I downloaded the recommended Audacity app and away I went. Great little device & great price too.

PS - 28 April 2014. In some of the reviews that I have read some of the correspondents have reported difficulty getting the Behringer UCA202 U Control to record in stereo and some are having difficulty adjusting the volume levels. Sometimes you have to adjust the sound settings in the control panel on a laptop or PC. You have to tell your computer to record in two channels instead of one for stereo. Go into the sounds window and select " Microphone 2 USB codec" with the device plugged in to a USB connexion. Select recording and advanced and set the device to 2 channel CD quality. I use Audacity software. You need to check that Audacity is recording in two channels for stereo recording rather than one channel for mono. You go into "Preferences" which is in the "Edit" menu and then set the USB recording device to stereo in the recording box. If you are having problems setting up the recording volumes then Audacity can be adjusted with the microphone slider which is on the tool bar. This works fine for me with a line level output from my amplifier - I do not use the phono pre-amp from my turntable kit when I record an LP or single. If this fails (or where you do not have a line output from your amp) you could try the headphone output which is usually located on the front of the amplifier. If you turn the amplifier volume control right down then it will attenuate the output level. Using a combination of the Audacity microphone slider and the headphone output you should be able to adjust the volume of the recording level to make sure the recording is loud enough but does not distort. In the view menu you can set Audacity to "show" clipping" . This will display a vertical red line on sections of the recording where the volume levels are too high and therefore the music will sound distorted - this is a very useful tool. I have never used a MAC PC but I would think that it has similar methods of controlling whether you record in stereo or not by using a sound control feature. I would guess that other types of recording software similar to Audacity need to be set up to record and playback in stereo or mono according to your choice. If the above does not work then you are faced with the possibility that some of your equipment is not working correctly from a physical point of view. You could check the connections have been fitted correctly or use alternative equipment to find out what has gone wrong. When set up correctly this product works really well; I am sure you will not be disappointed. Main text: I bought this brilliant device to "digitise" old LPs, which I buy in second hand shops, and archive old audio cassettes before they self destruct. I read all the reviews and I agree with most of them and decided to buy it even though it is of flimsy construction. It is not going to be used very often and I am careful with equipment so it should last years. It literally took me ten minutes to plug it into the line outputs of my amplifier and connect the device to a laptop, then cue up a Beatles 45 and digitise it with Audacity. Audacity is brilliant in my opinion and there is plenty of help text and Wikipedia information to get you going. I deleted the the Beatles 45 file as I just used it to test the recording levels. Next up was a Shadows LP "Rock on with the Shadows in Mono". Yes, you can buy this on CD but sometimes I like to play an ageing LP for old time's sake. I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I did not use Audacity to remove any surface noise from the record or clicks or pops; Hank's twanging drowns them out anyway. I played the digital recording back through the same amplifier and neither my wife nor I could hear any difference from the original: it sounded the same warts and all. At the end of the "first side" I felt compelled to jump up and turn the laptop er, record over. What more can I say about the sound quality? This was great stuff - the Shadows back in their 1960's glory, and you cannot damage the needle when you jive. One of the reviewers has complained about the the inability of the analogue converter to sample at 24 bit 96 KHz (24/96) as it is limited to 16 bit 48 KHz. This might affect you if you are mastering music and you want to keep the noise floor down when mixing lots of "takes". So, I take the point. For me, digitising old recordings at 16/44.1 or at red book CD standard is good enough. I fail to see how using a 24/96 sampling rate could improve the sound quality as I am only doing one "take". If you are only going to use this converter to digitise your records you can save yourself money and some disk space by buying this device. I have got plenty of external DACs, so I do not need to use this device for playback from a laptop or PC but I tested it just the same. The Toslink optical output works really well and so do the line outputs. The headphone amplifier is not so good but it is sufficient for my purposes. If you are on the road this device will probably perform better than your laptop's sound card or headphone output. The Behringer does not perform as well as the rinky dink DAC that I have got in my main HI-FI and I could not expect it to. But, it performs well compared to my other portable DACs. There is no Toslink input facility. Pros :- You can use a laptop for line output sources. You no longer have to use the line inputs of a desktop PC. You can connect it to a USB port on the front rather than fiddle about with connecting line outputs to the input connexions on the back of the PC. This is especially useful if your kit is under a desk. You can take your laptop to your HI-FI equipment rather than the other way round. There is no need to unplug your turntable or cassette player etc. and then plug it all back in again. It is small, very portable and very versatile - an ADC and DAC in one box! Cons: None really unless you are going to subject the device to hard and continuous use. In conclusion: Five stars for sonic performance and overall convenience; it is simply brilliant . But, it gets only three stars for build quality. The USB deck can now be given away.

The Behringer U-PHORIA STUDIO PRO is a comprehensive recording bundle designed for musicians, podcasters, and content creators seeking professional-grade audio at an accessible price point. What sets the U-PHORIA STUDIO PRO apart is its affordability without compromising essential quality. It’s an excellent starter kit for those entering the world of digital recording, offering plug-and-play simplicity and dependable performance. Whether you're recording vocals, podcasts, or demos, this bundle provides the tools to get started with confidence.

Top brand, reliable, light and compact no software needed I always use Behringer where I can, sound quality is excellent and good value as well Haven't had one let me down yet

An excellent compact interface that produces very good sound quality and works well with Audacity. I have checked for noise and power line interference pickup (hum) in recordings, which is often a limitation of such interfaces and can detect no evidence of either. If your setup does suffer from hum, there is an earthing screwpost terminal which might help, I have not had to use this. Other than that, the quality really is very good, better than the equivalent interface in USB-output vinyl record deck I bought a few years ago. The frequency range is very good, noise is low and the stereo separation is as good as the source signal. Take some time with your source to setup up the record levels in Audacity, I found 70% worked best for me as a good compromise between too high (which results in clipping and distortion) or too low, which might introduce noise. You will obviously also need to set the level on your signal source, but with some careful test recordings it is easy to get right. In addition, after recording, I use the “normalise” effect in Audacity to normalise levels over the entire sound file. As a tip if you notice normalisation on Audacity is resulting in substantial increases in the average signal level after normalisation, then your initial record level is probably set too low. There is only one minor bug, which catches out many people (and I suspect results in negative reviews). On setting up, Windows recognises the interface but as a mono source, so even though the Audacity setup indicates stereo recording, you are actually only recording a single input channel on both recorded channels. This in my view is a Windows issue, it is not a fault with the interface or Audacity. I made several recordings before I realised that they were all mono recordings. The fix is easy in Windows and several other reviews of this interface have good instructions on how to fix this. Once done recording is in stereo.

Nice

Es una muy buena interfaz para iniciar el hobbie de la música oh hacer música, la recomiendo bastante, los materias de construcción son muy buenas (de aluminio) si la cuidas bien te puede durar mucho tiempo, un muy buen producto por su precio Calidad precio 😌

This is an extremely helpful product. Works perfect without any human understandable latency. Best part is the licensed version of a software-amplifier of Guitar Combos. In addition, if you want, Native Instruments provides a huge discount on Guitar Rig software. CAUTION: Be careful about overcharges by seller. In US, it costs $40. Don't buy unless it's "Amazon Fulfilled".

I had this item in my wishlist for a long time and finally bought it. Totally worth its price. I use it with Audio Technica M20x monitor headphones and it's a very good combination.

I use this device in my home studio to record music with to make a song sound more professional and it sounds like I recorded in an analog tape studio even though I have a digital studio!!!