Behringer U-Control UCA202 USB Audio Interface

If you want better quality sound than offered by your laptop or computer’s onboard mic/headphone jack, look no further than the Behringer.It isn’t the most robust build but it does its job well and will last a decade or more if you take care of it and store it properly.It’s not flimsy or poorly constructed but it’s plastic so if you use it for gigs you set up and break down - just buy a small padded bag for the 202’s and use it to store them.Mine, and I believe all, have analog in or out as well as a headphone cue port with volume dial. It’s an external DAC, so the USB goes to your computer/tablet or phone, sending digital audio to the DAC which as the name implies - flips ones and zeroes into analog (how we hear) externally and without the noise of the built in jack. As it’s surrounded by heat and noise (electrical noise) from the packed together system that makes a computer. From your C/GPUs to storage power supply and a couple dozen radios (WiFi Bluetooth NFC - dozens of cellular bands and signal types 3G/Edge, LTE, 5G and mm Wave - and multiples of frequencies under each. As well as the different types of controllers; USB, Thunderbolt and HDMI, MagSafe and SD readers - display and battery, you get the point).$25 way of getting excellent audio for amplification out of a computer bypassing the noisy, hot and lesser sounding built in jack.Weighs less than a deck of cards and is plug and play on both macOS and Windows.

This is my second device. I bought one ~ 7 or 8 years ago at the recommendation of an Audacity sound engineer on their forums. I wanted to record my college team's games from my stereo to listen to later. It worked perfectly for that. I am also able to stream videos or songs from my computer over my stereo system... much nicer than my computer audio. I can also plug in my headphones to the 3.5 mm jack on the Behringer unit to listen without disturbing my family.This unit is being used to stream audio for a small Church service & is working well. The RCA jack inputs and outputs are geared more to consumer level audio systems and works very well for that functionality. I have had my 1st unit for a long time & although it is made of plastic, and has been bounced around a bit from home to office to other places it has never failed me. It is plug & play so there is no need to install any software, though I highly recommend Audacity for doing the recording, mixing & perfecting the sound quality... eg digitally boosting recordings that were made at low volume level up to the maximum without clipping.The one thing to be aware of is the audio setup. You will probably need to click on that to switch the audio input &/or output to the USB device. Otherwise your computer may still want to output the audio to it's own speaker system, or to use the computer microphone rather than the stereo audio feed. Not a big deal, but it won't work without telling it which audio stream to use or which playback device to use.For a big commercial setup with balanced cables you would be better off getting a different audio interface with TRS 1/4" &/or XLR connectors, though you could use this unit with adapters.

Behringer makes three similar products with very similar names. This one - the UCA202 - provides line level RCA stereo inputs and line level RCA stereo outputs, a S/PDIF optical output, and a 1/8th inch stereo headphone output with a dedicated level control. There is also a small switch which turns the output monitor on and off (so the audio output doesn't interfere with your headphone listening).The UFO202 includes a turntable pre-amp and a ground. The 222 is identical to the UCA202, but it has a snazzy red cover. To add to the confusion there is an identical UCA202 on Amazon for $10 more. God knows why.I bought this to replace the similar Alesis in/out unit. The Alesis sounded dim, and the input volume control crapped out after four days - one channel was 6dB lower than the other. I sent it back.Based on using the UCA202 constantly for a week, here is my assessment:THE BODY - it is well designed, well thought-out, and well made. It's plastic, but is solidly made. (I wish it had that snazzy red body, though.) I like how the headphone volume control is recessed. I like how the connectors are all gold-plated (unlike the Alesis). I like the strong strain relief on the USB cord (unlike the Alesis). I like the reassuring LED that tells me it is connected to my computer. I like the way the labels are carved into the faceplate - no paint to rub off. I like having an optical digital output. I like the way it is small enough to take along with a laptop. (Gosh. I wish I had a laptop!)THE SOUND - In short, it is fine. My cassettes go right from my premium Nakamichi deck into the computer, I edit the sound and bake a CD from the edit. And I get to bypass the cruddy soundcard in my old Dell (which has the sound quality and signal-to-noise of a six-transistor radio). The limiting factor is the cassette itself - not the analog-to-digital converter in the 202.BTW - I compared two identical classical music recordings made with the Alesis and the UCA202. It was not even close - the Behringer was MUCH clearer and cleaner. I actually erased all the Alesis recordings and redid them through the Behringer, despite all the extra hours it cost me. The difference was THAT big.I am not able to run the 202 directly through my big stereo rig, but it sounds pretty damn good on my $80 Grado headphones. It may not be the ultimate in audio refinement, but it is far more than adequate. For $30 I am a very happy audiophile. UPDATE - It is now plugged into a T-amp and good speakers and it sounds GREAT! UPDATE #2 - The 202 doesn't always sound good with cheap low-impedance headphone. See the end of this review.I have looked long and hard at this product category - the next better unit up the food chain is the Cakewalk UA-1G USB Audio Interface for $90. The rest of the products at that price range ($100-200) include mic inputs, guitar inputs, multiple line inputs, mixers and other things I do not need. And the converters are about the same quality as the Cakewalk's.Several devices will output your computer sound into RCA jacks, but this is one of the only ones that INPUT sound into your computer via RCA jacks. If you want to input (and edit and burn) cassettes, this is your baby! If you want to input LPs you either need a separate phono pre-amp or you go with the Behringer UFO202, which has one built-in. (I have not used it, so I can't comment on it, but Behringer seems to know what they are doing).I'd give the USC 202 5 stars, but ....THE INSTRUCTIONS - They stink. They go off on tangents about other Behringer products you don't need. They do not mention that the speaker in the diagram is a powered speaker. They do not explain that otherwise you need an amplifier to power your speakers.They absolutely do NOT explain how you have to change some parameters in your Windows XP Control Panel. Or what those parameters are. They do not explain that you have to set up your computer's audio recording program (such as Audacity) to input and output through the USB connection. Figuring out all that jazz took me HOURS of research (though it takes only a few minutes to do).That's one star down for pissing me off and delaying me two entire days. Unless you are willing to make a toll call, you reach Behringer tech support via email from their website. It takes a day or two to get an answer, but they are friendly and helpful and honest.THE SOFTWARE - If you read the description, Behringer offers you "tons" of free computer software for your audio files. But don't think you will get some CD-ROM discs. It turns out that you have to download all three from different websites - and you have always been able to download them for free without buying any Behringer products. That's not dishonest or immoral, but it IS skeezy.I'm a very happy camper with this product. If anything changes after a few months, I'll let you all know.**********UPDATE - One year in and everything is still just fine. Now that I figured out how to set it up (with help from a Behringer tech guy), I'd give it 5 stars for sound. But I won't because I had to email them to make it work.BTW - Please see my answer to the first comment for details about setup.***********UPDATE #2 - Everything is still working fine, but I found out some new information.1) The $90-200 devices that input audio into your computer don't actually sound any better than this device. But they come with inputs for mics, guitars, keyboards, guitars and the like. So if that's what you want to do, buy one of them. But if you already own a mixer that does not have a USB connector, just plug that mixer into this device and get on with your recording.2) A professional audio engineer, NwAvGuy, has measured the 202 to be extremely flat and the noise level to be below audibility. He thought the build quality was good and the electronic circuit implementation was superb. He even liked the cheap headphone volume control. His bottom line: "the Behringer UCA202 line outputs measure very well even for a more expensive DAC."But he notes that the headphone output only works well with high impedance headphones (like a pro would use). Cheap consumer phones that run at 16 or 32 ohms don't sound so good. I have pro phones, so I never noticed it. He'll tell you all about it.NwAvGuy UPDATE - Apparently, Amazon will not let me link to the review. So put "NwAvGuy Behringer" into Google and click on "NwAvGuy: Behringer UCA202 Review", and "NwAvGuy: UCA202 DAC Take 2" for his follow-up.