BehringerU-Control UCA222 USB Audio Interface

The most attractive feature of this product is probably the price. Thirty bucks won't set anyone too far back as long as the UCA222 really works. I've been burned on a few more expensive audio interfaces by well known brands that just did not sound very good, but I am happy to report that Behringer delivers. I'm a musician, and good sound is important to me. I expect to have to pay more for good sound, and you can do better than this product if you pay more, but for the price, this is a steal.Advantages:1. It is pocket size, light and durably built.2. It sounds quite good, especially if you install the ASIO drivers that are included with the software. Actually, the drivers are unnecessary to run it, and the basic sound is still probably better than what is produced by your on board laptop card even without the ASIO drivers.3. It is incredibly simple to use. Just plug it in your USB slot and either attach your speakers or plug in your headphones (mini jack only). The drivers are optional.4. It works automatically with Windows, Mac or Linux. The optional drivers, however, are only for Windows and Mac.5. It's USB powered and requires no wall wart.Disadvantages:1. Obvious functional limitations, hence the low price. It is designed for recording and playing back through analogue inputs and outputs. It is great for digitizing vinyl albums or old cassettes. I recorded some old minidisc recordings to my hard drive (remember minidiscs?), and the results using Adobe Audition were excellent. Very simple and quiet.2. Some reviewers have bemoaned the loss of a larger headphone input. This is not a problem for me. Most current headphones use mini jacks with adapters.3. The optical slot is only for output. When I was copying my minidiscs, since they are digital it would have been nice to use an optical cable for input. No biggy. It just afforded the recordings a little analogue warmth. They sound great.4. If you are copying from an older turntable, the UCA222 has no grounding screw. For that, you will need the Behringer UFO202, which costs about ten dollars more. If you are under 40 years old, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. That's OK. For many newer turntables and other analogue sources, the UCA222 is fine.For what it does, the UCA222 is effective and inexpensive. It is great for copying analogue media to your hard drive and for hooking up powered analogue speakers. The USB interface dramatically improves your PC sound by bypassing the internal sound card, making the UCA222 an inexpensive DAC. For a whole lot more money, you can certainly purchase a better DAC, but I suspect that for most listeners, this will be a very satisfactory interface--much better than some of the name big box brands out there. Behringer designs reasonably priced gear mostly for musicians, so the emphasis is not on gimmicky surround sound settings and 3D audio trickery, but just clean unsweetened stereo audio. If that floats your boat, then for the price, this is hard to beat. You will almost surely hear a dramatic improvement over your factory installed sound card, especially on a laptop.

I bought this with the intention of using it as a DAC/external sound card for my laptop. I expected better sound quality overall, and got exactly what I wanted and then some. I was hoping this just plugs right into a USB port and you can plug headphones right in to the port and that was indeed the case. The I/O is as simple as it looks in the picture. As for the sound quality, don't expect $80 ASUS Xonar quality, as that is specifically a sound card, while this is a DAC. This did preform as good as I hoped it would. It pulled things out of songs I never knew were there...and indirectly revealed how crappy my headphones sounded. With a good pair of cans and a good amp, this should preform very well for the price. I bought this over the UCA202 version for the added software, but apparently it is free for anyone on Behringer's site, good thing it was the same price as the UCA202. Overall, this is worth every penny...this thing works for quite a bit of audio related stuff. I was skeptical at first because it's cheap and it looks to be just another product, but this thing is capable of quite a bit. My only gripe is the plastic is of very cheap quality, but can't expect much for it being so cheap. I haven't used any other feature, so I cannot really say if it does x and y that well, but I can vouch for the sound quality.UPDATE: I didn't realize this at first, but on the back of the unit it claims the device is a UCA202, not that it really matters as the UCA222 and 202 are similar/the same, but thought that was pretty odd. Regardless, I do have an update. I was using this as a DAC/external soundcard and had crackling when using heavy bass...so I decided to try my USB 3.0 port (had it in a 2.0 before) and what happened next simply made my jaw drop. Not only did it fix the problem...but it sounded 10x better. It was good at first, but now it is magical compared to an old ALC269 Realtek on board soundcard. If you have USB 3.0 then use it if you can, it will benefit tremendously. This turned my normally average Numark Electrowaves into a pretty good pair of cans...they sound more open than they were before. The silence was tamed, the bass was bumped up slightly and the vocals now come out so clear it's ridiculous. I am excited to see what these sound like when I get a pair of Fidelio X2s.NOTE: It also does not say that these have a built in amplifier. This only works with the headphone jack, but it's there if you need it. While I'd recommend springing for something better (i.e. A Schiit Magni 2 for desktop, or any FiiO amplifier for portable) it is nice to have when my amplifier runs out of juice.If I could give this 6 stars, I would. This is a great device for the price, don't disregard it because of how cheap it is...I certainly would have if I had not decided to look into it.As a member of Head-Fi, it has my seal of approval for a budget oriented portable DAC.