In this article we have comparing two of the cheapest interfaces on the market i.e. the Behringer UM2 and the Behringer UMC22.
You might be excited to find out what’s the difference is between these two but before we get into that let’s briefly talk about the build quality.
Build Quality
Both of these interfaces have the exact same features they both have XLR combo jacks instrument inputs, direct monitoring computer playback output, volume control and 48-volt phantom power. The main difference between these two interfaces is the layout of the dials and the Behringer U-Phoria UMC22 has an all-metal chassis and feels really well put together while the Behringer U-Phoria UM2 is all plastic.
The U-Phoria UM2 has the xenix microphone preamp it and has an XLR combo jack. It records up to 16-bit 48 kilohertz and on the other hand the Behringer UMC22 also has the XLR combo jacks making this interface the behringer mightest preamp and it records it up to 16-bit 48 kilohertz.
Testing Behringer UM2 and Behringer UMC22
We test these two interface by looking at the latency for the UM2 with the sample rate set at 48 kilohertz with an i/o buffer size of 128 samples we have a round-trip latency of 10 and 1/2 milliseconds or an output latency of 4.7. If we drop it to 64 samples we have 7.7 milliseconds round-trip or 3 1/2 milliseconds output and if we jump to 256 we have 15.7 milliseconds round-trip or 7 and 1/2 milliseconds output.
Looking at the latency for the UMC22 also recording at 48 kilohertz with an i/o buffer size of 128 samples we have 11.7 milliseconds round-trip or 4 1/2 milliseconds output drop to 64 samples we have nine milliseconds round-trip or 3 1/2 milliseconds output and if we jump to 256 samples we have 17 milliseconds round-trip or 7.4 milliseconds output.
When testing the raw audio signal from both interfaces there’s no real winner and when tested in terms of the noise floor both of these interfaces performed pretty similarly but the UM2 was slightly louder and it also had some additional digital interference or RF interference and if we had to speculate about what causes that we’re pretty sure it is due to the plastic chassis which likely is not going to block as much RF interference as a metal chassis does. Thirdly when we measure the latency of the interfaces the output latency was identical for both of the interfaces but when we looked at the round-trip latency there was actually a 1 to 2 millisecond favor for the UM2.
Lastly, for the DI instrument inputs we think both of these interfaces really underperformed. We should have had about 9 decibels of gain to increase the input before we started clipping but when you go back and listen to that raw input source you can tell that there’s clicking throughout the entire recording so we don’t think either of these interfaces are really ideal for any kind of di use.
Conclusion
To summarize, reason why we select the Behringer UMC22 over the Behringer UM2 it really comes down to two factors.
The first one being the build quality. We think if you pick up the UMC22 it will be immediately apparent that this interface will last quite longer than the UM2 which feels like a plastic but equally as important in our opinion the UMC22 did have a slightly quieter noise floor because it didn’t suffer from that RF interference or that digital interference from the UM2.
We hope our article would have been helpful and in case you have any question or concern feel free to leave a comment down below.
1) Behringer UMC22
2) Behringer UM2
Editor's Review
Summary
Reviewed After Testing Both Interfaces.
