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

I am writing this review from the perspective of someone using it for some functionality in a domestic digital hifi system.This is a flexible piece of kit. Online reviews have identified to me that, apart from its professional recording/musician applications, it also has domestic hifi uses. (1) As a cheap and really pretty decent USB DAC to play music at a decent quality from your PC to your hifi (I haven't used this here) and (2) in order to provide an SPDIF TOSLINK optical digital output from a normal PC to go into another higher quality DAC. Online reviews have said this unit punches well above its weight in both these categories and has good analogue output measurements as well as lowish jitter in the digital domain. This apparently is because the manufacturer has bulk-bought a decent all in one chip that interfaces to USB and generates both a digital stream from this aswell as an analogue, and to boot the manufacturer has also implemented this all in one chip very expertly.So, what do I use it for? In my kitchen hifi I have a combined DAC/integrated amp powering bookshelf speakers. But the amp only takes SPDIF digital inputs and not USB direct from a PC. So I got this lovely little Behringer device which installs in win7 very easily as a soundcard (probably better to get their own drivers but windows does find some generic ones for you). In its properties in control panel in windows you have the choice to output 48khz or 44khz sample rate. I have run it at 44khz as I have been listening to 44khz redbook CD rips. What can I say it appears to correctly pass through an undamaged digital signal to my DAC/amp and it all sounds very nice indeed, like proper lossless digital audio, no hints of jitter or artefacts or any jiggery pokery with the digital material. I totally ignore the analogue inputs and outputs on this little device. It may be made of plastic but who cares, it does a low key but highly appreciated job at a very low price.If you need a USB->SPDIF soundcard/digital format converter for a PC, assuming you can live with the limited sample rates (44 and 48 khz) then I can's see how you would want to look much further than this for most day to day domestic audio uses.

I bought this to act as an external sound card/digital-to-analogue-converter (DAC) to improve the sound output from a laptop. I have found it to be absolutely excellent and remarkable value for money!Without this device sound output from laptops tends to be very flat with no dynamic range (e.g. an audible difference between quiet and loud sounds). Music lacks depth and feeling. However, as soon as you plug in this device the sound output from the computer is transformed: it goes from being 2D to 3D; from car stereo to hi-fi: the difference in quality is remarkable!The device is about the size of a cassette, and has both RCA outputs (to connect to a hi-fi) and a headphone output. You simply plug it into the USB port on you computer... plug some output cables into the device.... and it just works! There is no annoying software to install, and it works on PCs and Macs (I use both)Sometimes you may need to go into control panel/audio devices and select the 'USB Audio Codec' to activate it, but it really is straightforward. (The device also has audio inputs for recording instruments, but I haven't used it in that function so can't comment on performance.)For the price it's performance is fantastic. I even gave one to my boss as a present and he absolutely loves it too!Compared to more expensive devices I expect a 90/10 rule applies - this device gives you 90% of the performance for 10% of the price. If you listen to music through your laptop/computer through headphones or a hi-fi and value good sound quality, I highly recommend this device!Advantages:- Excellent performance for the price- Transforms sound quality from laptops- Small size- Easy to use- No annoying software- Works on Macs and PCsDisadvantages:- Low price won't impress hi-fi snob friends

I bought this Audio Interface to set up a home studio (read 'spare bedroom'!) as it had good reviews, I have used Behringer products before and have found them to be very functional and excellent VFM. I was originally going for the UMC402HD as I wasn't sure that I needed 4 x Inputs/outputs but for the extra cost, I thought it was worth paying. I hooked it up to my DAW (Cakewalk), plugged in my guitar and was up and running in 10 mins., okay, add another 10 mins for downloading and installing the drivers and within a couple of minutes after of twiddling knobs, I had a rudimentary track created.First impressions are very positive, everything seemed to work as I'd hoped and any limitations were mine. However, one shortfall, is the manual, in this case read 'couple of pages'. Yes you can get by but the coverage of the 'output' section on the rear facing panel is quite frankly pathetic and gives the impression that it was rushed out to meet a deadline. It really is apalling and lets a very good product down and left me just plugging leads into every socket until I got a sound. If you are an experienced music Producer or Engineer, you may not have the same problem but surfing the 'net, there are a lot of questions on this subject and quite frankly, not much in the way of answers. It really does let down a very good product.In conclusion, a very good piece of recording equipment and there are numerous testimonies to this on Youtube but just a shame about the manual. By the way, it does come with a UK plug.