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So I'm planning on buying my first interface and I've pretty much narrowed it down to Steinberg UR22MK2 and Behringer UMC404HD. Basically sound wise I'm fine with either (based on video comparisons anyhow) but while the Steinberg is less value (Less I/O and more expensive) I've seen pretty nasty comments about Behringer. Especially their drivers have been flaunted (device randomly stops working and needs detach/attach of the USB cable, does the same thing when plugin instruments, has audio issues when using multiple ports at once) But these have been rather scattered experiences with positive experiences too..

So people who have any experience with either device (or brand) AFTER 2013 share your experiences. Also in general driver issues with USB audio interfaces seem to be common? (long the Behringer Focusrite Scarlet also got a lot of flack in some places for bad Windows support) Also share in general if you've experienced this sort of bugginess in USB devices. Thank you for your time

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    Product comparison [ie shopping] questions are broadly off-topic right across stack exchange. They attract opinion rather than hard fact & are rarely useful to anyone other than the original asker. See sound.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Dec 12, 2018 at 7:49
  • @Tetsujin Hi thx for replying. I've noticed clear bans on this in some other stackexchanges so this time I did actually read the help before posting. There wasn't specific ban on talking about equipment further more I don't think my question is direct replicate of any of the questions in ban list. (I guess it is pretty close to the second one, though) Also I felt like it did have fair bit of the "invite sharing experiences over opinions" from the subjective but constructive allowed questions section. I guess I should have emphasised the opinions backed by facts more, though.
    – 3Rton
    Commented Dec 12, 2018 at 17:17

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Most USB devices use the standard USB audio device driver, as they all conform to the USB Audio standard. Behringer has a cohort of haters out there that spend all their time not making music and just bagging hardware vendors they don't like. Behringer actually make some pretty good and affordable gear. RME is also definitely worth a look - their devices are rock solid and sound great. Bit more expensive, but worth it in the long run. Good design, good components and great sound.

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    Behringer offers industry standard features at consumer prices which is incredible actually. They aren’t the most durable or reliable in heavy usage but for non commercial applications they are a great value especially for people just starting out.
    – TimK
    Commented Dec 12, 2018 at 8:10
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I have the UMC404HD and used it for recording line levels until I needed an interface with more ins/outs. Low latency allows for hardware sounds/DAW plugin integration.

It is probably the preamps that come into play if you want to record microphones and I am not sure about them - they leave a "cold", metallic impression. If I would want to record voice, I would go for "proven" preamps like in the Focusrite Scarlett.

It is still in use now with me as a playback audio and MIDI interface on a Raspberry Pi.

Btw.: It can act as a little mini-mixer for 4 inputs/headphones/stereo out and IIRC you do not even need to plug it in for that. At least not into the computer.

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  • Hi thx for contributing! Did you ever experience driver/connectivity issues with the device? Something along the lines of the devices getting stuck and not becoming responsive again without unplugging the USB cord. Or plugging in XLR device making causing the device to become unresponsive?
    – 3Rton
    Commented Dec 16, 2018 at 17:07
  • No, absolutely not. I was impressed on the other hand that I never got any issues at all (I am on Linux btw. so that means no proprietary vendor driver was included but just the standard "class compliant" audio device drivers and they worked perfectly. Used it with the ALSA/pulseaudio/jack sound APIs.)
    – Jonas Eberle
    Commented Dec 17, 2018 at 16:42
  • That is very interesting to know. Thanks one more time!
    – 3Rton
    Commented Dec 17, 2018 at 19:31

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