Behringer U-Phoria UMC204HD Reviews

6 years ago

Affordable audio inyerface

Good affordable audio interface. Easy to use, though you have to download drivers from Behringer website.

The audio quality feels good, but I did not have the opportunity to compare it with other interfaces.

The price to features ratio is amazing. This is a great choice for your first audio interface.

6 years ago

nice machine for best price

6 years ago

Best usb audio interface for the price

I was surprised when I ordered this interface of its audio quality and features, even though the price of it is ridiculously cheap. I use this interface mainly to record voice over clips. The noise Is very low I think there is no need to use an additional cloudlifter. Overall I think this interface is excellent. The only feature I wish there is to control phantom power for each channel not globally as its build. This way I can connect one condenser mic and another dynamic mic at the same time.

6 years ago

Great device for any instrument player

Totally recommend. Now I can play my e-guitar when my wife is sleeping and have a great tone. I even can easily record with an amazing sound quality.

Allows to play together with computer and balance volume as you want.

For me this was much better solution than using aux input on my effect pedal. And sound is incomparably better. Also the prine is very affordable.

6 years ago

Sleek and reliable Audio Interface

I have been using it for 3 months with no problems. Audio performance is great quality and the knobs feel great. I do not have any complaints about the product, but I only give 4 instead of 5 stars because of the way the microphone monitoring level is a bit confusing sometimes. This is because there is a knob to adjust how much to listen to microphone monitor, and a 2nd knob to adjust master headphone level. However when turning the knob to adjust microphone it also lowers the rest of audio coming through headphones, aka adjusts the "mix" between microphone and for example music. And getting this balance perfect is always a bit of a finetuning process. However it's a pretty sturdy and goodlooking quality interface. I would recommend to buy!

6 years ago

Compact, does it's job okay

I use this in live settings where it has not been ideal in terms of signal to noise ratio and latency. With a DI between this box and the main PA it's either been a big hum on the channels or a fair amount of noise. On the other hand, it's very compact and does it's job quite alright. The onboard features and easy interface (layout) are nice.

7 years ago

great for the price

can be also used for DJ use -as it's got two independent stereo outs - and very useful monitoring options with A/B switch . I use it on an old Macbook pro, and it works perfectly. the only down is that it does not come with a driver - with a Mac it doesn't need one - you just need to set it up in the audio preferences.

7 years ago

Inexpensive but decent interface

Sure there are better interfaces out there. But with the Behringer UMC204HD you get a good performer for a moderate price. Sounds good and latency is more than just usable.

7 years ago

a very nice Audio interface

At this price, you can't find any better. it's doing a really nice job. Simple to use, sound quality is good. Very impressive and satisfy.

7 years ago

Excellent product

Better than I expected, really excellent for the price

7 years ago

Nice For The Price

I am using it for home studio purposes and I can say for the price, it is an absolute bargain. I just plugged in the interface to my Windows 10 computer and in almost 10 seconds, everything was ready.

Pros: Build quality is very good. This is a really sturdy and compact interface. Headphone out is good for the price but do not expect too much. Converters and mic pre-amps also sound very well.

Cons: 48V switch is on the back. Also there are not separate 48V switches for mic inputs.

For this price, UMC204HD is really a fantastic choice.

7 years ago

very nice interface

looks sturdy, its easy to use, sounds great. I couldnt ask more from it at this price. I would definetly recommend this for a complete beginner.

7 years ago

happy with this entry level audio-interface

it does the job, I'm not an audio expert, I needed a audio interface for using my studio-monitors. also using a synth MicroKorg S on it, it does clip pretty quick, so my gains are set on 11hrs. The PAD is kinda useless in my opinion, it just reduce the gain, in other words it putting the volume down. I kinda regret that I didn't bough the version with 4 inputs, money wise it isn't so much more, and then your more future proof. (more inputs means more instruments)

MIDI works great, also works great with my studio monitors: JBL 308

8 years ago

Great Interface!

I bought this interface for home studio usage and I am absolutely impressed! Great quality and sound, easy handling and I think that it's the best choice for a low-budget price to be fully satisfied with your purchase! I highly recommend UMC204HD for those who want to have the best sound quality for their home studio (even for something more professional) without hurting their pockets!

8 years ago

MUST HAVE (on the budged)

Read the item description for the tech info. I'm using it for recording guitars and vocals and I'm really impressed with the quality it produces.

The best value for the money whenever it comes to homerecording usb 2.0 interface!

8 years ago

Does the job

Does the job perfectly, only complain that it clips easily.

8 years ago

Impressive for the price!

I got this interface for using at home on days when my studio is busy with other projects. Just to be able to do some recordings at home, for fun, but it turned out to be much better than expected and has also been used for serious work.

Lets get the bad stuff out of the way first:

-Pots have started crackling after just a few months use. Very disappointing!

-Jack line inputs/outputs feel VERY fragile. Especially the outputs on the back. So far they work fine but this is the kind of quality you just KNOW is going to break. I'm surprised they haven't used better connectors. The headphone and XLR connectors feels ok though,

-After using the interface for a couple of months I started having some trouble with losing connection to the laptop/DAW. It just suddenly was "disconnected" in the middle of a session. It happens very sporadically, perhaps once every 10 hours of use. Still very annoying. I guess I can live with it for home use but it completely rules out any professional applications. If this continues I will have to consider returning the Behringer for repacement/repair but I want to test it with another laptop/DAW first to make sure the problem is not elsewhere in my setup. It does seem very much like the problem is with the Behringer though as I've never had these problems before with the same laptop/DAW.

-I wish there were two headphone outputs. Obviously not a problem when I work alone but there are situations when two headphone outputs would have been nice. Using a splitter to connect two headphones did not work very well. The output could not handle it, causing distortion. I guess you can't have everything at this price/size so not a huge issue I guess.

Ok, so the good stuff:

-Price! Insanely cheap and excellent value for money!

-Sound. Based on sound quality I can easily use this for serious projects. My intention was to get the Behringer just for fun but more and more often I find myself using it to do overdubs for serious projects. I honestly can't tell any difference in sound quality to comparable recordings I do in my studio on RME/SSL interface/converters. I should add that I don't normally use the internal Midas micpres in the Behringer. I have brought home a small rack of gear that wasn't used in my studio. Cheaper stuff like Warm Audio, FMR, Toft etc. And I have to say: The difference between this gear and the more expensive outboard gear in my actual studio is a LOT greater than the difference between the cheap Behringer and my studio's more expensive interface/converters. I should also add that the Midas preamps in the Behringer are totally fine, just a bit characterless for my taste so I prefer to use outboard transformer based preamps if possible. Still, the Midas preamps are definitely not useless like the Behringer preamps of the past. For example, these Midas preamp are FAR superior to the preamps in the ADA8000. I might also add that I absolutely LOVE the fact that Behringer has included inserts on this cheap little interface. This means it's possible to use outboard compression/eq even when using the internal Midas preamps which is a HUGE improvement compared to many other cheap interfaces.

-Size. This was important to me. It fits nicely in a backpack together with a laptop so I can go anywhere (provided there's electricity...) and work on my music.

-Stability... Well, like I mentioned I've had some problems with the Behringer suddenly becoming "disconnected". I'm still not 100% sure if this is a fault with the Behringer or something else in my system (although everything points at the Behringer). But apart from these incidents it has been VERY stable and running efficiently at acceptably low latencies/buffer settings. I'd say the laptop it is connected to is far more likely to be the limiting factor for efficiency.

-Zero latency monitoring. While there is no fancy on-screen mixer it still works really well with a single knob adjusting smoothly between monitoring playback or incoming signal. Great, simple solution that just WORKS.

So, what's the verdict?

I guess the long term reliability will decide whether this is a good investment or not. There are signs that the build quality isn't the best but it sounds VERY good and is VERY cheap.

I'm generally not a fan of recommending stuff that's poorly built but in this case I'm making an exception. I really feel Behringer has pushed the limits of what is possible at this price point. I might eat my words if my unit breaks down in a years or two but still:

Highly recommended!

9 years ago

Good audio interface

I've purchased the Behringer U-Phoria UMC204HD audio interface to run my desktop audio through it. I am using it mainly for video editing and every now and then to record some voice overs with it. So far I haven't had any problems using the interface. I like that it's solidly build and it's housing is made out of metal. Feels sturdy and nice on touch. It also looks good. It has the Midas microphone preamps which I can say are pretty good and a great steal for the price of the interface. They are quite and I am pleased with the produced sound of my voice recordings. I don't use the MIDI on it currently but it's a nice feature to have if I decide to compose some music in the future. The sound card has all the needed features for small or home studios such as balanced TRS inputs and outputs, RCA output, XLR inputs for your mics, pad on each of the two channels, line or instrument levels selector, A/B monitoring, headphones out etc. I haven't experienced any delays but as I said I using it for video editing so don't load many audio effects to test that. All in all it's a great little audio interface for your sound needs and at this price point totally recommended by me!

9 years ago

Nice and cheap

I bought this equipment for amateur use and can connect a guitar and a microphone to the pc to make voice recordings and also to achieve different effects for the guitar with some free software that is on the internet.

The box is in metal and appears to be resistant.

In the first uses I did not have any problem with drivers in the connection to the pc and I liked the functionalities that the product offers but one thing that is missing is the on\off button.

The product arrives fast and very nice packaged

I will recommend this product to my friends that want to start in the music world

It does what they propose at a very pleasant price.

9 years ago