BehringerU-Control UCA202 USB Audio Interface

This is my second device. I bought one ~ 7 or 8 years ago at the recommendation of an Audacity sound engineer on their forums. I wanted to record my college team's games from my stereo to listen to later. It worked perfectly for that. I am also able to stream videos or songs from my computer over my stereo system... much nicer than my computer audio. I can also plug in my headphones to the 3.5 mm jack on the Behringer unit to listen without disturbing my family.This unit is being used to stream audio for a small Church service & is working well. The RCA jack inputs and outputs are geared more to consumer level audio systems and works very well for that functionality. I have had my 1st unit for a long time & although it is made of plastic, and has been bounced around a bit from home to office to other places it has never failed me. It is plug & play so there is no need to install any software, though I highly recommend Audacity for doing the recording, mixing & perfecting the sound quality... eg digitally boosting recordings that were made at low volume level up to the maximum without clipping.The one thing to be aware of is the audio setup. You will probably need to click on that to switch the audio input &/or output to the USB device. Otherwise your computer may still want to output the audio to it's own speaker system, or to use the computer microphone rather than the stereo audio feed. Not a big deal, but it won't work without telling it which audio stream to use or which playback device to use.For a big commercial setup with balanced cables you would be better off getting a different audio interface with TRS 1/4" &/or XLR connectors, though you could use this unit with adapters.

If you want better quality sound than offered by your laptop or computer’s onboard mic/headphone jack, look no further than the Behringer.It isn’t the most robust build but it does its job well and will last a decade or more if you take care of it and store it properly.It’s not flimsy or poorly constructed but it’s plastic so if you use it for gigs you set up and break down - just buy a small padded bag for the 202’s and use it to store them.Mine, and I believe all, have analog in or out as well as a headphone cue port with volume dial. It’s an external DAC, so the USB goes to your computer/tablet or phone, sending digital audio to the DAC which as the name implies - flips ones and zeroes into analog (how we hear) externally and without the noise of the built in jack. As it’s surrounded by heat and noise (electrical noise) from the packed together system that makes a computer. From your C/GPUs to storage power supply and a couple dozen radios (WiFi Bluetooth NFC - dozens of cellular bands and signal types 3G/Edge, LTE, 5G and mm Wave - and multiples of frequencies under each. As well as the different types of controllers; USB, Thunderbolt and HDMI, MagSafe and SD readers - display and battery, you get the point).$25 way of getting excellent audio for amplification out of a computer bypassing the noisy, hot and lesser sounding built in jack.Weighs less than a deck of cards and is plug and play on both macOS and Windows.

I wanted an optical digital audio output on my Mac to connect to my receiver. AirPay has way, way too much latency and was annoying. This works well for that purpose. I plugged it into a USB hub since Macs don't have many USB ports, and it works flawlessly. Zero latency as expected. The only negative is that he little plastic door that covers the optical port fell off while plugging it in, but that's not a huge issue given I'll likely never unplug it. The USB code is hard-wired, which is also a minus, but it's reasonably long.

Thank goodness that I found this device. I have an AIO (All In One) computer that I use a lot, including recording and watching TV and the sound is just plain terrible.I've tried everything possible to improve it, including buying an Asus Xonar USB card that was a bit cleaner in some ways, but still totally unsatisfactory, with its screechy Asian type sound. I'm an audiophile from way back, even working in the industry, selling sound systems, as well as working in the record industry and I have zero tolerance for distorted audio, specially from the devices made in Asia that are always full of white and pink noise that can drive you mad after awhile. If you don't know what I mean by P & W noise, think of it this way. You are listening to loud music and trying to talk to your friend who is right next to you and you have to scream to be understood = Asian system.The same scenario and despite the sound being very loud, you can still talk in a fairly normal voice and be heard. The P & W noise causes a type of interference to the actual sound that you're trying to listen to, and it drowns out mid range audio, like our voices. The effect of listening to music through such a system is that after awhile, you just want to turn it down or off, as it starts to get on your nerves, whereas the good sounding systems made in USA, Canada and Europe, sound so good that you might want to turn it up even higher, and it never hurts your ears = American sound.Anyhow, enough info about hifi audio, this little device (I don't know where it's made) has a neutral American type sound.There are surely better devices on the market at much higher prices, but if we compare it to that Asus Xonar that sold for as much or more, it makes the Xonar look like a total piece of junk, which it is, but this one is absolutely excellent, neutral, clean, musical, etc.I'm listening to the audio through a pair of Audio Engine speakers out of California, they are very clean too, specially for the price, so the net result is fantastic, specially when compared to what my sound was before, more or less the same as what you'd get out of a laptop, I suppose.So, the short of it is that I have no idea how well this device works for all the other things it can do, recording, RCA in and out, etc. All I know is that the sound coming out of the headphone output that my speakers are hooked up to, is everything I hoped it would be and 100% satisfactory.Now I can enjoy my music, TV and movies from this AIO computer that I have next to my bed.If anyone wants improved sound from their laptops without spending $100 and more, this is the device they want and need, no two ways about it.