Behringer U-Phoria UMC22 Reviews

Great

best sound card value for money

Its a very decent product for the price

Like just about everything Behringer makes at this price point, the UMC22 is chiefly one thing: cost-effective. You don't get best-in-class sound quality. You don't get a flashy brand name. You don't get the most features. What you do get is an audio interface that works, and honestly does a surprisingly good job. Setup is easy. Plug it into your computer. USB2 is fine. Plug in your headphones. Plug in your monitors. Plug in your mics/instruments. Done. Drivers aren't obscure or finicky. Don't worry about it. Outputs in the rear need two 1/4" TR cables for left and right channel. Output in the front needs a 1/4" TRS cable. Make sure you've got semi-decent studio headphones and/or monitors, too - an audio setup is only as strong as its weakest link, and if you're looking up 1/4" adapters for your Beats or whatever, maybe skip this and invest in better headphones instead. Craftsmanship's okay. It's a Behringer audio interface, not an SM-58. I wouldn't go throwing it down flights of stairs for fun. You have two audio inputs - the XLR/TRS hybrid jack going through the Midas preamp, and the second TRS jack that goes through a Xenyx preamp. Neither are particularly touted for their sound quality (the Midas is better than the Xenyx by far, though), but it's miles above motherboard-integrated stuff. Both can record at 48KHz tops - as far as I'm concerned, if you're looking at this interface instead of something higher-end, that's plenty. The "direct monitor" button you see on the front ducks your computer sound output and lets you listen to your connected inputs through the hardware, which has its uses. The interface outputs to headphones and to external monitors by means of 1/4" TRS and TR cables, respectively. Sound is clean - mind you, my ears aren't well trained to that sort of thing, and if yours aren't either then the sound quality should be fine. It's important to note that it will always output to both headphones and monitors - if you want to listen to just headphones or just monitors on-the-fly, this won't provide a convenient solution to that. It does, however, eliminate the need to go through your OS's sound system, which can be useful when working with ASIO or CoreAudio exclusive modes to reduce latency. If you want the best and have the money to back up your needs, consider looking elsewhere. Again - an audio setup is only as strong as its weakest link. But if you want the pretty solid, and you're on the kind of budget that has you saving up for purchases like these, I think you can't go wrong with the UMC22, or the U-PHORIA series in general. TL DR: It's cheap. It's fine. If you need it, get it

such a good interface

such a good interface...

Could have been better!

I was hoping for better with this little interface but! The drivers are a real let-down,as behringer only supply asio4all which is free on the internet.The interface is well made and solid, but if proper drivers were made, then maybe the whole user experience could have been worthy of this purchase.

Unbeatable for the price

I am pleasantly supprised how much quality you get for the price!

Absolutely fast set up, the preamp is quiet enough for a dynamic mic and the headphone out is absolutely good enough.

Ok

I you want to use it on windows maybe go for something different as it doesn't have drivers specially made for it so by default you can't use the second insturment port unless you install a driver which is very hard to find and doesn't work that well. But over all it's really good becuase the sound and build quality are great.

not working

I bought this to give it a try with amplitube, but I can't make it work. The instructions in the user manual are very, very short. I had to look for help on youtube, but also with those instructions, I couldn't get a signal transferred to my PC.

I have no idea if the product is broken, my PC's sound card is not compatible, something else is wrong, or I am too stupid to use this thing. (I doubt that last one, though)

Good product at a reasonable price

Simple and basic product that has everything you need to record podcasts or single instruments in decent quality. The drivers are easy to install. Low price and good performance

Simple to use for the not-so-dedicated!

I would like to preface this by the fact that I am by no means someone well educated in the field of audio. I bought this to go with a cheap microphone setup from Amazon, just so I could talk to my friends with something of a nicer setup.

So, after getting the product and setting it up on my desk, finding the right drivers when getting it to work with my PC was a little difficult initially, but after following a few links and finally getting it downloaded, it worked there and then. So, a plus to getting it to a state of 'just about working'. I've heard from other places that it isn't exactly this simple when trying to use it for something more than just a microphone input, but that doesn't quite affect me. Setup outside of the drivers is as simple as adjusting audio levels in Windows.

For audio input, it works just fine with my current microphone, a cheap Neewer NW-800 that I got from Amazon. Setting everything to max in Windows and then using the adjustments on the interface itself felt right to do, and the little indicators were perfect for telling me if I had set the gain a little too high or not. Though, the Signal LED doesn't appear to be too sensitive, as in, even if a program I am using (Discord/Teams/Zoom) is detecting input, the signal indicator is usually off. I don't necessarily speak so loud, and it only comes on when I start to raise my voice.

In terms of using it as audio output for my headphones, the built in DAC/amp works wonderfully, and is a tonne better than the output on my laptop of course. I can't say too much about it as I have not got much to compare to, but it provides a wide range of listening volumes (I usually have it set at 11 or 12 o'clock with my AKG K612 Pros, with all volumes in Windows set to max) and the direct monitoring feature is wonderful to help me realise if I'm talking just a little bit too loud. I don't particularly like how it quietens down the output signal a little bit, but that's just nitpicking.

The build quality of the unit is perfectly acceptable. Looking from the front, the slightly glossy front facade isn't distracting with reflections as the gloss isn't overly done, and each knob feels nice and buttery smooth to turn. Though, the small size of the knobs isn't that satisfying personally, but that's not exactly a problem, is it? The unit sits just a little higher than the surface on some small, rubber feet which do a good job of protecting the surface from scratching from the case of the unit. Speaking of which, the metal case feels of high quality, and does not feature any sharp edges. My biggest complaint about the unit would be that the phantom power switch is on the back (I like having all of the controls and switches on the front, for ease of access), but as the average person wouldn't be fiddling with that switch too often if at all, it isn't too big of a problem.

Overall I find the unit to be really quite good, especially for the price you can get it at! The build quality is great, and the provided features are very nice.

Amazing for the price

Purchased on a tight budget. I would highly recommend it for the price as the metal provides very nice build quality, and it feels great in your hands. The connectivity works well with both XLR and input jacks from my guitar simultaneously, and it takes up little to no space with my current setup. Overall, would completely reccomend to people on a tight budget.

Great equipment

It will definitely fullfill any beginner amateur music producer or hobbyist.

Great unit - bad driver

The only huge letdown is the fact that it has to use the generic asio4all driver and for some windows 10 users its a huge pain to get it working okay. Otherwise build is amazing for the price and outright super overall. A bit of a shame such an old design still doesnt have and probably will not have its own driver. But other than that it worked great - if youre on mac its a non-issue and then its an easy 5 stars.'

All from the point of view of a basic home user - I doubt it has the quality for pro studio work but it will do you great for home use.

Dont buy tbh

This audio interface is good when it works, however setting up the drivers is a fucking nigtmare. Put extra money in and get a focuserite solo

Not as expensive as other Audio Interfaces but just as capable

Bought this audio card to connect my guitar with di box to it and it does capture sound pretty well. Completely satisfied with this purchase. It's not top of the line Audio Interface but for personal use it's more than enough. Build quality is good, metal case gives it a solid feel.

Super solid little device, just wish it had MIDI

This interface is heavy and solid as a brick, I feel like I couldn't break it if I tried. The dials and buttons all feel nice and solid with no play. The sound quality is fantastic, especially considering it's a cheaper/budget device. Strangely it did give a bit of a buzz with my PC but a few software updates fixed it. I got it specifically for use on a Linux PC, for which it works plug & play with no drivers required, and with Linux-RT and JACK you get a super clean sound and no detectable latency.

Only nitpick is I wish there were MIDI ports, there are some devices in a similar price range that allow for this but that's me just being picky.

Very good intercafe for home recordings.

Overall quality is good. Nobs and case is sturdy. Sound is great. One minus is the lack of good drivers. I would recommend this to anyone doing small scale productions at bedroom settings.

Does the job

I purchased the card to calibrate my speakers using Sonarworks Reference but turned out to be a good friend when on the go and need a headphones amplifier. Excellent for the price.

HEAT!!!

This interface is so awesome cant say anything, just get it!!!

Great sound card, but there are more interesting options to buy

This is a good sound card, but if you are looking for a cheap sound card, it is better to buy UMC2, they are very similar to this version, and they both do not have official ASIO drivers, but if you need something more expensive, it is better to take the older generation UMC202 which have official ASIO drivers.

On this card, there is only ASIO4ALL, and the old version of the ASIO driver, which works quite well. In computer plugins I get about 7-10 seconds.

Superb budget friendly!

What can i say? well excellent job for this cute size audio interface :), i am having problem regarding latency issues when i do recording before, using this will ease all my pain, using both mic and instrument is also great! I recommend this for those who's looking for a budget friendly device.