The Behringer UM2 and the Behringer UMC22
What's the difference other than price?
we're going to look at that in this video plus we'll do
some audio tests coming up
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I'm radio zane and in this video we're going to be comparing
The Behringer UM2 to the
Behringer UMC22 and I've linked
to both of these audio interfaces in the description
below just in case you just in case you want to check out more information
and see the latest pricing both of these
Behringer USB audio interfaces are basically the same
they're just made out of different material and have a bit
different layout first let's look at the
Behringer UM2 and the first thing you're going to notice is
that it's a plastic shell around this and
it does feel kind of cheap so if you're travelling with it
you're going to want to make sure that it's in a protected place
so it's not going to get bumped around too much
now on the front you have your XLR input and it's
also a line input so you can plug in your XLR microphones
but you can also plug in line inputs
such as an external preamp or an external
mixer, something along those lines. Then you have
channel 2 - which is your instrument input
so a guitar, bass guitar something like that
and then over here you have your direct monitor button
which is quite handy because when you record into a computer
there's some latency and that's the time that it
takes for the audio to go into this
into the computer and then back out into your ears
and it's only in milliseconds
but this can really throw you off if you're recording
some guitar or something that requires
you to keep beat and when you press this button in
you're actually just listening to the sound that's going into this
and it's not being affected by the computer at all
which is great for keeping time and then on the front
you also have your headphone input. Then on the back you
have your unbalanced RCA outputs which will go to your
speakers or studio monitors and you also have
a 48 Volt on/off switch
for your phantom power looking at the top
you have 3 controls channel 1 gain
channel 2 gain and your volume knob
that controls both the speaker volume and your
headphone volume. So that's about it for the Behringer UM2
now let's move on to the UMC22
now one of the first things you notice when you pick up the UMC22
is that it's got a little bit of weight to it and that's
because it has a metal case around it and
it actually feels
quite solid. Then you'll notice on the front
one of the big differences between the UMC22 and the UM2
is where the controls are so you
have your channel 1 gain here channel 2 gain there
and then your overall volume right here. But
you still have your XLR and Line input here
your instrument input there and then you have that
direct monitor button just like on the UM2
around the back you have balanced outputs
these are 1/4 inch outputs that will go to your speakers or your
monitors. and you also have that 48Volt
phantom power to power your condenser microphones
and studio microphones that require phantom power
and that's about it for the differences here
now on the inside
this one, the UMCS 22 claims
to have Midas preamps
and the UM2
has Xenyx preamps now
I've heard this is just a marketing thing and that the chip
inside both is exactly the same. now we're
going to do an audio test and we'll hear if there's
any difference in sound quality right now
alright. I now have the Behringer UM2 Audio interface
connected to the computer and I'm using the
Behringer XM8500 dynamic mic
to record with. And the reason for this is because this is a
fairly gain hungry mic which means we're going to have to
crank the preamps up so we get a usable sound
so I'm just going to do a quick test with this
and then we'll connect the UMC22 and do a test with that
this is a test of the Behringer UM2 audio interface
with the Behringer XM 8500 microphone
the audio has not been edited
alright we now have the Behringer UMC22
audio interface connected. An we have
the Behringer XM8500 dynamic mic
going directly into it and the gain setting
is about the same as what it was on the Behringer UM2
so lets test this out
this is a test of the Behringer UMC22
audio interface with the
Behringer XM 8500 dynamic microphone
the audio has not been edited
now lets add the Triton Audio Fethead preamp to the mix
and we'll be able to turn down the gain level on both the
UMC22 and the UM2
alright. I now have the Triton Audio Fethead connected
directly to the Behringer XM8500 microphone
and you can see that right here on the microphone. Thats the Fethead
right there and we're connected to the
Behringer UMC22 audio interface
so lets do the same test
this is a test of the Behringer UMC22
audio interface
with the Triton Audio Fethead Preamp connected to
The Behringer XM8500 dynamic microphone
the audio has not been edited
this is a test of the Behringer UM2
audio interface with the Triton
audio preamp being connected to the Behringer
XM8500 dynamic microphone
the audio has not been edited
this is a test of the Behringer UM2 Audio
interface with the Behringer XM8500 microphone
the audio has not been edited
this is a test of the
Behringer UMC22 audio interface
with the Behringer XM8500 dynamic microphone
the audio has not been edited
alright. So I'm going to let you decide what you think is better
really the only difference is that metal
casing on the Behringer UMC22 vs
the plastic casing on the UM2
and the preamps apparently are different
but I'll let you decide from the audio recordings
that we just did. Now from a personal preference
I like the Behringer UMC22 just because
I like the knobs on the front I like to put
my audio interface on a shelf and this allows me
to easily adjust those knobs. The only
drawback, and this is on both of the audio interfaces
is that the 48 volt Phantom power is on
the back of the interface and it's kind of annoying to get at
if you have it on a shelf let me know in the comments below
which interface you think is best for you
maybe it's the UM2 because it's cheaper and
it's essentially the same audio interface
or maybe it's the Behringer UMC22 because
you like the layout and the design let me know in the comments below
thank you so much for checking out this video
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Simple Green Tech. I'm Radio Zane and we'll talk soon