It was never my intention to make comments about individual HIFI products, but for this little device I felt that I had to.
I bought the Behringer U-Control UCA202 to convert some old LPs and 45s to digital music files.
It performs brilliantly. It has plug and play operation and when used with the Audacity software it makes the process of converting your analogue sound media to digital very easy.
It has two RCA analogue "line inputs" which you connect to the "line outputs" out of an amplifier, phono -stage or cassette player. The device does not come equipped with the cables so you will need to buy the cables if you do not already have them. But, you probably do if you connect a turntable to a HIFI system.
For cassette players which sometimes only have a 3.55mm stereo line output you will need a "one to two RCA" cable.
The device, however, is fitted with a USB cable.
All you have to do is connect it to the amplifier at one end and a laptop at the other after you have downloaded the free software from Audacity. Audacity is reasonably easy to use after a little experimentation and by using the ample help text on Wikipedia.
It took me less than 10 minutes to digitise my first 45 record.
The sound quality was simply amazing. I digitised my records to 16 bit/44.1KHz WAV files. The U-Control cannot make 24/96 "HIRES" files but for a one off recording 24/96 is unnecessary.
I made a copy of an Errol Garner LP - "One World Concert" recorded in Seattle in 1961. Garner was a jazz genius and his piano playing is immaculate. The record itself was in good condition and I did not need to remove any crackles, pops or hiss using Audacity functionality.
My wife and I could not hear any difference between the LP and the Digital conversion when played back through the same amplifier and speakers. Other members of my family could not tell the difference either; the digital conversion sounded exactly like the LP with the odd crackle between the tracks. To all intents and purposes the U-Control and Audacity had made a perfect facsimile. I could see no reason why making a 24/96 "HIRES" copy could improve things.
The U-Control is small and very portable so you can place your laptop near your turntable or cassette player to make recording easy. If you only have a PC then plugging a USB cable into the front of the box is easier than directly trying to connect a Cassette player or Turntable to line inputs on the back of the computer.
The device is not just an analogue to digital converter (ADC) it can also perform the other way round. It can playback music from a laptop or PC and act as a Digital to Analogue (DAC) converter connected to your HIFI.
The U-Control has analogue RCA outputs and an Optical output which could be connected to another external DAC or the optical inputs of an AV receiver. I tested these and they work perfectly to give really good sound reproduction.
The U-Control also has a headphone amplifier to monitor your recordings or just to playback music form the laptop when you are out and about.
The U-Control sound card will probably be better than the one in your laptop or PC unless you have bought computer equipment specifically designed for music.
For about £40 including VAT this device represents excellent value for money. It is well designed and economies of scale allow for a cheap price but the performance is very competitive.
You could also use this device to record audio from a TV set top box if it has line outputs but I have not tried it. It could also be used as part of a portable recording studio.
I recommend this highly, if you just want to archive old analogue recordings or to save new LPs from wear and tear by digitising them for playback over a digital system. An ADC and DAC and headphone amplifier - all in one - this is fantastic sound engineering from Behringer.
This review explains it all.
http://nwavguy.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/behringer-uca202-review.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdBFLqK76w8
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