Rodney_gold
R.I.P. 5 June 2018
I was looking for a USB to SPDIF convertor and was dismayed at pricing , $200+ and often in the $500+ range
and then I saw this
Behringer UCA222 - R400.
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UCA222.aspx
It's a USB dac
Spdif conversion (to toslink only)
An AD
A headphone amp.
Well made product , nice ally case etc , does what it says on the tin , comes with some software and nice drivers - snap to set up.
I tested it's DAC vs a Squeezebox Touch's one and my meridian 568.2 24/96 dacs into a Graham Slee solo headphone amp... As good as the Squeezebox and doesn't lose much to the meridian. Tried the optical out vs a squeezeboxes optical out - 6 of 1 , 1/2 a dozen of the other.
Its own built in headphone amp is just adequate - drove my Sen 650s ok , but doesn't go very loud.
I did not bother to test it's AD or record anything with it.
Fly in the oinkment is that its limited to 16/48 or 16/44 or below..so no high rez.!!!
Anyway , speaking to the pro guy at the pro shop , explaining my system , he said he had something much better for me.
The Behringer firepower FCA1616 interface
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/FCA1616.aspx
Different beast altogether , more of the UCA222 but much better implementation and high bitrates.
R3500 or so.
It's basically an audio interface and a recording studio type thing , lots of functions and things an audiophile wont use , but there are things an audiophile WILL
1) Usb or firewire DAC
2) USB/Firewire to SPDIF converter - both toslink and coax (and vice versa)
3) Toslink and SPDIF Coax input in addition to usb/firewire for the dac , 24/96 dac
4) Has 2 VERY good headphone amps built in
5) A reasonable pre for active speakers too
6) Balanced or single ended analog output
7) Balanced or SE input
8 ) Would make a nice mic pre for REW and other room measuring software
9) 24/96 AD f
And lots of other stuff...
So I have tested it in various guises
1) DAC is as good if not better (a little different) to my meridian 568.2's dac on a headphone system.. for the money its great. I tested its Toslink and its COAX dac inputs too.
2) Its headphone outputs are really good , drives the phones to very high volumes (600ohm phones) , great bass , clarity etc - worth it for that alone.
I checked its pre section sent to my headphone amp - I cant really say much , same as using the volume control on the headphone amps so I don't know the quality - it reputedly uses MIDAS pres which are considered top notch..
3) Tested its firewire and USB to SPDIF convertor
I ABed into a digital pre , feeding the SBT's digital and coax and the FCA1616 digital and coax into the digital pre into various inputs and switching between them .. amazingly the FCA usb to Coax sounded better than the SBT's coax , optical sounded identical. Firewire performed identically to the USB.. its is supposedly the best interface...(my Dell workstation has usb and firewire)
4) Just for laughs I stuck in a mic and did some kareoke
5) Comes with DAW software and some other stuff , I know nothing , but fiddled a bit , looks impressive to me (tracktion 4 and other bits and bobs and stuff)
6) I used its midi interface to drive my behring DEQ2496 (digital eq) which allowed my to remote control it.. was quite cool..
The only issues are
1) Manual , it's hardly acceptable , it kinda expects you to be a recording engineer and know what all the stuff does. Setup isn't difficult ,but its not plug and play, you need to DL drivers from Behringer if you aren't running a mac.
2) Switching outputs is a mission
For eg , if you use it as a headphone amp you have to go to windows control panel and tell the puter to use line1/2 on the fca 1616 as output , if you want to switch to SPDIF output , you need to go to control panel/sound and tell it to use FC1616 spdif as an output device , same for recording.. at least it DOES have switchable coax/toslink/midi/s/mux input on the front panel.
Evidently there is some software "control panel" for the device , but I cant find it...maybe you need to run the DAW or something to access it..
There is a FCA610 thats cheaper and does whatever the FCA1616 does , less analog inputs ,would make no difference to most audiophiles so if you want to save a bob or 2 go for that one...
As I said , both units are great value for money and wont break the bank.. always worth having a look at pro audio before committing massive sums of cash in the high end world..
and then I saw this
Behringer UCA222 - R400.
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UCA222.aspx
It's a USB dac
Spdif conversion (to toslink only)
An AD
A headphone amp.
Well made product , nice ally case etc , does what it says on the tin , comes with some software and nice drivers - snap to set up.
I tested it's DAC vs a Squeezebox Touch's one and my meridian 568.2 24/96 dacs into a Graham Slee solo headphone amp... As good as the Squeezebox and doesn't lose much to the meridian. Tried the optical out vs a squeezeboxes optical out - 6 of 1 , 1/2 a dozen of the other.
Its own built in headphone amp is just adequate - drove my Sen 650s ok , but doesn't go very loud.
I did not bother to test it's AD or record anything with it.
Fly in the oinkment is that its limited to 16/48 or 16/44 or below..so no high rez.!!!
Anyway , speaking to the pro guy at the pro shop , explaining my system , he said he had something much better for me.
The Behringer firepower FCA1616 interface
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/FCA1616.aspx
Different beast altogether , more of the UCA222 but much better implementation and high bitrates.
R3500 or so.
It's basically an audio interface and a recording studio type thing , lots of functions and things an audiophile wont use , but there are things an audiophile WILL
1) Usb or firewire DAC
2) USB/Firewire to SPDIF converter - both toslink and coax (and vice versa)
3) Toslink and SPDIF Coax input in addition to usb/firewire for the dac , 24/96 dac
4) Has 2 VERY good headphone amps built in
5) A reasonable pre for active speakers too
6) Balanced or single ended analog output
7) Balanced or SE input
8 ) Would make a nice mic pre for REW and other room measuring software
9) 24/96 AD f
And lots of other stuff...
So I have tested it in various guises
1) DAC is as good if not better (a little different) to my meridian 568.2's dac on a headphone system.. for the money its great. I tested its Toslink and its COAX dac inputs too.
2) Its headphone outputs are really good , drives the phones to very high volumes (600ohm phones) , great bass , clarity etc - worth it for that alone.
I checked its pre section sent to my headphone amp - I cant really say much , same as using the volume control on the headphone amps so I don't know the quality - it reputedly uses MIDAS pres which are considered top notch..
3) Tested its firewire and USB to SPDIF convertor
I ABed into a digital pre , feeding the SBT's digital and coax and the FCA1616 digital and coax into the digital pre into various inputs and switching between them .. amazingly the FCA usb to Coax sounded better than the SBT's coax , optical sounded identical. Firewire performed identically to the USB.. its is supposedly the best interface...(my Dell workstation has usb and firewire)
4) Just for laughs I stuck in a mic and did some kareoke
5) Comes with DAW software and some other stuff , I know nothing , but fiddled a bit , looks impressive to me (tracktion 4 and other bits and bobs and stuff)
6) I used its midi interface to drive my behring DEQ2496 (digital eq) which allowed my to remote control it.. was quite cool..
The only issues are
1) Manual , it's hardly acceptable , it kinda expects you to be a recording engineer and know what all the stuff does. Setup isn't difficult ,but its not plug and play, you need to DL drivers from Behringer if you aren't running a mac.
2) Switching outputs is a mission
For eg , if you use it as a headphone amp you have to go to windows control panel and tell the puter to use line1/2 on the fca 1616 as output , if you want to switch to SPDIF output , you need to go to control panel/sound and tell it to use FC1616 spdif as an output device , same for recording.. at least it DOES have switchable coax/toslink/midi/s/mux input on the front panel.
Evidently there is some software "control panel" for the device , but I cant find it...maybe you need to run the DAW or something to access it..
There is a FCA610 thats cheaper and does whatever the FCA1616 does , less analog inputs ,would make no difference to most audiophiles so if you want to save a bob or 2 go for that one...
As I said , both units are great value for money and wont break the bank.. always worth having a look at pro audio before committing massive sums of cash in the high end world..
