Small Analog Mixer vs Audio Interface?

missE

God's Baby
I'm looking to buy my first piece of gear, I need it be portable. I'm down to two choices within my budget (I'm getting new headphones and a usb midi controller too) the mixer is a Behringer Xenyx Q502 USB (I like that it has an eq and compressor built in) and the interface in question is an M-Audio M Track. This will be for 'studio' use only, no live gigs and one of the most important factors for me is the headphone jack audio quality. I need an audio interface primarily so my question is, is there any advantage of getting the mixer over the interface and which will have better sound quality? I've been making beats for a while now bt my knowledge on this gear stuff is still quite elementary so please bear with me :p thanks!

ps: In the near future I'll be getting a mic but no guitars etc for now...
 
better to get the M-Audio - Behringer's production quality is laughed at in the industry - it is so variable that even sequential units (i.e. units with sequential serial numbers) can have very different audio characteristics. As a result most people say, "why risk it?"
 
Thanks Bandcoach! You're saying exactly what a lot of people have been saying about Behringer products on LOTS of sites! This particular piece did have generally have positive reviews that's why I even considered it, but like you said...why risk it? :) May I ask for your opinion though, If I found another mixer I could afford like say an Alto Professional ZMX862
Would you still recommend I take an (M-Audio) interface instead? One more question about this type of mixer, they talk about sending the buss output to a pc or monitors etc but can you do the opposite as well i.e send busses from your DAW to the mixer like a typical studio mixer? (Again sorry for my noob questions) I read a lot of the stuff you say on here so your opinion holds weight, to me at least..thanks in advance.
 
Alto is the Italian Behringer with even less quality control according to many people in the industry

Think Allen and heath and you might be getting closer, although all of these budget usb mixers seem to be made in the same factories in China
 
:4theloveofgod::rolleyes: looool wow it keeps getting worse and I think you're right about the china part *sigh*
Ill check out A & H and see if they have anything portable within my budget, If not M-Audio it is! At least i'm a little familiar with their products. Thanks again! :)
 
Not that Behringer is considered high quality nowadays - but I think a lot has changed since they got that super unreliable reputation: most of the time their stuff tends to be just fine. Maybe not built to last, and maybe not sounding like a high-end console, but usable. Of course there are exceptions and probably things that still flat out suck, but it's not nearly as bad these days.

Btw, I'll bet just about anything in this price range - or even a few notches up from it - is probably built in China anyway.
 
Their site says "Conceived and designed by BEHRINGER Germany" no mention of China but from what I've read in other places the boxes do mention China..maybe ...
 
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Most of our consumer electronics - from your iPhone to your dishwasher to your laptop to your microwave oven is most likely at least partially manufactured or assembled somewhere in Eastern Asia. The stuff that's not costs more. Simple as that. But of course also lots and lots of very respected and high-endish brands manufacture their stuff there; it's another age-old misconception that "made in China" is synonymous to "cheap knockoff".
 
Their site says "Conceived and designed by BEHRINGER Germany" no mention of China but from what I've read in other places the boxes do mention China..maybe ...

they own their own production city in China, much like Apple does (except Behringer was doing it first)
 
Most of our consumer electronics - from your iPhone to your dishwasher to your laptop to your microwave oven is most likely at least partially manufactured or assembled somewhere in Eastern Asia. The stuff that's not costs more. Simple as that. But of course also lots and lots of very respected and high-endish brands manufacture their stuff there; it's another age-old misconception that "made in China" is synonymous to "cheap knockoff".

That's true, I have a number of products made in Thailand and few in China. I guess the "made in china" argument is somewhat comparable to the Beringer product quality debate.
 
Made in China isn't the stigma it once was just as made in Japan isn't the stigma it was in the 60's

Behringer has ISO 9001 quality control processes in place for their manufacturing processes but there is nothing in place to ensure that the components they receive from other manufacturers are consistent in quality and specification and performance in the circuits they are used in; i.e. it makes no difference if you have your own quality control processes in place if you do not have measures in place to ensure that your suppliers are meeting similar standards

to quote the oft stated homily about audio: sh!t in = sh!it out
 
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Yes, Behringer is moving up in the world. Their strategy seems to have been to flood the market with very "affordable" equipment, and increase market share to near ubiquity (quality control and reputation be damned), before re-focusing on actually making rather high-end product. Similar to what First Act has been doing with their starter instruments lines; they are now offering fairly expensive guitars. It is a risky strategy; Behringer became known first as a source of decent affordable gear, then quickly became known in the music/audio/broadcast industry as synonymous with the worst sense of the word "cheap" due to the quality control issues BC mentioned, and they are now in the process of trying to turn that rep around after virtually taking over the low end market (nobody likes to admit to owning/using Behringer, but somehow, somewhere, they've sold millions of units). They really are making pretty decent stuff, but they have a lot of public relations rehabilitation work ahead of them.

I will admit that I own and have used several Behringer products, and have never really had any major complaints; however, I do know that a lot of folks have had different experiences. If you buy from a company that has a decent warranty/return policy, you should be fine.

GJ
 
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Made in China isn't the stigma it once was just as made in Japan isn't the stigma it was in the 60's

Behringer has ISO 9001 quality control processes in place for their manufacturing processes but there is nothing in place to ensure that the components they receive from other manufacturers are consistent in quality and specification and performance in the circuits they are used in; i.e. it makes no difference if you have your own quality control processes in place if you do not have measures in place to ensure that your suppliers are meeting similar standards

to quote the oft stated homily about audio: sh!t in = sh!it out
Agreed. Its funny because my guitar teacher told me about how back in the '70's, Japanese guitars and gear were considered crap, but now a Japanese guitar is basically every bit as good and pricey, if not better than, US made instruments. I had to understand that its not the country of origin, but a company's specific manufacturing standards that determine quality.
 
Part of Behringers PR push now is that it now owns outright several major brands

RME
MIDAS
TANNOY

to mention a few

Agreed. Its funny because my guitar teacher told me about how back in the '70's, Japanese guitars and gear were considered crap, but now a Japanese guitar is basically every bit as good and pricey, if not better than, US made instruments. I had to understand that its not the country of origin, but a company's specific manufacturing standards that determine quality.

most of that started to change once Fender and Gibson started shipping their low end guitar manufacture to Japan, Mexico and Indonesia and later Korea and now Taiwan and Thailand...

Also consider that most of Roland's products were considered to be great examples of Japanese technology including the revered JC120 - I was using one of these at high school in 1979/80 and it was spectacular and set the market for their later products

Also Boss, a subsidiary of Roland, defined the guitar pedal market then and still defines it today
 
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