behringer UCA202 vs UFO202

[aud409]

hello

as per recommendations and research for connecting an external tape deck to my windows 10 laptop
i see the behringer UCA202 is a very well recommended device.
as far as i can tell the UFO202 also supports a turntable but there is not nearly as much review information on it.
am i correct in assuming the UFO202 does all the UCA202 does plus support a turntable?

also
if i choose to use an external microphone for basic voice recording on my laptop would i require a pre-amp with the use of the UCA202?
i have a few basic 3.5mm microphones the type that come with the basic windows desktop machines.

[kozikowski]

Couple of differences.

Straight, plain turntables are three-wire devices. Left sound, right sound, and grounding strap. The UFO-202 has a place to screw the grounding wire.

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The UCA-202 has a switch so you can listen to the computer playback with or without the 202 send audio. That's the one you need for overdubbing. I have no idea what normal monitoring is on the UFO-202, but it's not switchable.

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The UCA-202 also has a digital optical connection. I don't know anybody who ever used that.

Koz

[kozikowski]

i have a few basic 3.5mm microphones the type that come with the basic windows desktop machines.

Those are designed to plug into the MIC-IN of a soundcard.

https://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/LaptopMicIn.pdf

You can't plug one of those microphones into anything but a MIC-IN (red or pink).

https://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix ... Final2.jpg

It's more complicated than you think. It gets power up from the connection in addition to sending sound back down to the connection.

https://www.kozco.com/tech/audioconnect ... ctors.html

Koz

[kozikowski]

You can get an external USB soundcard with a MIC-IN on it. I use the StarTech one.

Screen Shot 2020-04-01 at 16.59.07.png (165.09 KiB) Viewed 1756 times

That's it adapting my Mac to an Olympus TP-7 telephone recording microphone.

Koz

[kozikowski]

basic 3.5mm microphones

Very basic. Neither the PC Soundcard nor the microphones will win any awards for sound quality. What they will do is teach you what to do and not do with a microphone. Yes it will pick up the computer noise and the dog barking down the street. No you can't hold it with your hand while announcing. Yes, it's going to pop and bump if you announce too close and be very hissy and noisy if you're too far away.

Much more expensive microphones have the same problems, but you have to ability to solve all the problems without costing anything.

We have lots of tips and hints once you get rolling.

Koz

[waxcylinder]

The UCA-202 also has a digital optical connection. I don't know anybody who ever used that.

I have one on my comparable Edirol UA-1EX (now discontinued) I used the optical connection with my MiniDisc deck when I converted my MiniDiscs.

Peter.

[aud409]

thanks koz for all the details
trying to make productive use of this time and i consider this my "continuing education" of sorts

i have the olympus tp8 device also
to be certain before i buy - will i be able to use that or any other basic mic with the StarTech adaptor you reference?

[Muse]

So, I have a couple UCA202. I see the UCO202 supports attaching a turntable, with a built in phono amp. So, I can't use my UCA202 with a turntable without some kind of phono preamp interface? I'm wanting to digitize some of my vinyl records, at least some tracks and looking at my options.

[DVDdoug]

I see the UCO202 supports attaching a turntable, with a built in phono amp. So, I can't use my UCA202 with a turntable without some kind of phono preamp interface?

Correct. You need a phono preamp and if it's built-into your turntable or stereo, you're good-to-go.

If you don't have one, you can buy a stand-alone preamp.

If you have an older stereo that works with the turntable there is a preamp built-into the stereo and you can record (with the UCA202) from "tape out" or from a headphone output.

Some newer turntables have preamp built-in. All USB turntables have a built-in preamp and virtually all of them have line-outputs, but then you don't need the UCA202 for digitizing.

[waxcylinder]

Or you can buy something like the Artcessories USB Phono Plus: https://artproaudio.com/product/usb-pho ... ct-series/

which is a combined pre-amp and USB soundcard (DAC/ADC)

WC