Behringer UCA202 usb dac/hp amp

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washburn

washburn

Audioholic
not a big review...I had this gizmo for a while but only recently started using it as I started listening to laptop music more in the evenings ....

What an amazing difference this little $30 Behringer USB DAC/headphone amp makes compared to the sound quality of stock soundcard of the Lenovo laptop!
It improves SQ a lot for my cheapo Yamaha headphones and my Yamaha 2.1 pc speakers. However it may not have enough driving power for higher impedance.higher quality HPs

But for now i am very pleased with its function USB DAC function as a 'clean up' device for regular laptop music and makes the 2.1 Yamaha PC speakers sound WAY better than by themselves: Increase in detail, clarity, and much better defined lows and crisper highs

Definitely worth more than $30
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UCA202.aspx

Pic taken today :

 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
I was preaching this dac for around some time here, I finally broke down and decided to get it - not sure if it'll solve my current (minor) ground loop issue, we'll see :D

Amazon has it now for $26.49. Zzounds offered me a slightly better price (not by much). I'll try to connect it this week. I don't expect to improve sound quality, but hopefully to get rid of hum and high pitch noises...
 
krzywica

krzywica

Audioholic Samurai
I like mine a lot, there are however a few issues....

Every now and then I have to unplug and plug the USB cable from my tower as I get a hissing sound out of my left or right speaker, its completely random whether it is the left or the right. As soon as I plug it back in the sound goes away.

Drivers, Win7 x64 drivers don't work for 24/96 for some reason...I'm not sure this was supposed to be a feature but I thought it was....

Other than that I agree 100% with everything washburn said, I have been looking around for a little bit better USB DAC lately but its hard to get an objective review of these things....I do most of my music listening at my desk so it only makes sense to have the best 2 channel system I can afford in there..
 
B

bikemig

Audioholic Chief
BoredSysAdmin said:
I was preaching this dac for around some time here, I finally broke down and decided to get it - not sure if it'll solve my current (minor) ground loop issue, we'll see :D

Amazon has it now for $26.49. Zzounds offered me a slightly better price (not by much). I'll try to connect it this week. I don't expect to improve sound quality, but hopefully to get rid of hum and high pitch noises...
Click to expand...
I've heard good things about this dac for some time as well and the price makes it a real contender. I'd like to get one and test it against my HRT music streamer II, which costs 5x as much (and we all know that price does not necessarily mean a better product). But the HRT does a really nice job of isolating the computer from the audio system and it is asynchronous rather than adaptive. Here is a helpful review of some of the technical details, http://review.techworld.com/audio/3224196/hrt-music-streamer-ii-review/?view=review&intcmp=rv-ia-tb-2. Is it worth 5x as much? Beats me since I haven't tested them side by side but the HRT sounds great and does a nice job of playing hi res files. Perhaps it's time for a usb dac shoot out?
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
bikemig said:
I've heard good things about this dac for some time as well and the price makes it a real contender. I'd like to get one and test it against my HRT music streamer II, which costs 5x as much (and we all know that price does not necessarily mean a better product). But the HRT does a really nice job of isolating the computer from the audio system and it is asynchronous rather than adaptive. Here is a helpful review of some of the technical details, http://review.techworld.com/audio/3224196/hrt-music-streamer-ii-review/?view=review&intcmp=rv-ia-tb-2. Is it worth 5x as much? Beats me since I haven't tested them side by side but the HRT sounds great and does a nice job of playing hi res files. Perhaps it's time for a usb dac shoot out?
Click to expand...
My real problems are probably related to electrical issues more than anything else - I don't believe my SB Audigy2 ZS is the one to blame to hiss etc, I get similar issues with onboard sound... We'll see what UCA202 will do...


btw: UCA202 doesn't supposed to do 24 nor 96. It's limits are at 16/48
so it says in it's manual...

btw2: Re: NwAvGuy blog - he seems pretty technical and knows his stuff, besides praising little Behringer he had some harsh critique for NuForce product
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
update:
bad news - looks like mine uca202 is DOA :( - speaking making random annoying noises every 20 seconds...

Going to replace it with vendor tomorrow - Zzounds...
 
B

bikemig

Audioholic Chief
BSA: I was teasing about the HTR. We've had this discussion on a few different threads. I don't really have a dog in this fight and for all I know the little behringer unit could be a kick *** DAC that beats the pants off the HRT. I've learned a lot more about dacs (and audio gear) after I set up my system and one thing I've learned is that pro gear costs a heck of a lot less than "audiophile" gear and it may be the way to go. That said, I think the HRT streamer is pretty darn good for what it does since it nicely isolates the computer from the audio (which can be a problem) and async is supposed to be better, from what I've read, than adaptive. One thing I'm curious about (and you probably know the answer better than I do) is why we might all think that a $150 CD player is probably better than a $30 one but there might be some disagreement whether it is worth paying more for a dac when it comes to computer playback. A CD player does a heck of a lot more than a dac but a more expensive dac might offer a sonic improvement. I know I've heard some poor dac implementations (the analog out from an apple express, for example, is just not as good as the digital out).
 
washburn

washburn

Audioholic
Ah - I have seen it - now THAT's a review, unlike my lame one :)
btw, are you still friends with Nuforce people? LOL! Aren't you the one who blogged about the Nuforce uDAC2?
 
anamorphic96

anamorphic96

Audioholic General
Wasn't me. But that reviewer did the uDAC2 review and its in his review section. There is also a blog on the drama that ensued.
 
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