Behringer ADA8200 Ultragain

I ordered the ADA8200 to expand the I/O on my Motu 828 MkII as I have 5 synths that I like to use and don't want the hassle of plugging and unplugging them. Also it is a good way of future proofing my project studio as my needs change.

The unit itself is one rack unit high and seems sturdily made and looks good in the rack. Hooking it up to the Motu was easy, but the documentation supplied is a bit thin in content. I ended up following the setup done by the reviewer in Sound on Sound magazine, which is where I had read about the unit in the first place.

I am only using the line inputs so I can't comment on the Midas mic pre-amps but it's nice to have these for when/if I record some vox in the future. I would have preferred for there to be fewer mic inputs in order to make space round the back of the unit for the inputs. These are all located in the front with only the outputs located on the rear panel. This means I need to use a patch bay and cables in order to keep the clutter of leads at the back. I'm sure It couldn't push the cost up too far to move to a 2U unit and tuck everything away at the back, perhaps with a couple of inputs at the front as other manufacturers seems to do.

Since I've had the unit I have to confess that I have barely noticed it. I set the input levels of the analogue inputs and accessed the sound through the Motu software or as inputs 9-16 in my DAW. This is the highest recommendation I can give really - the ADA8200 just works without any fuss.

I used it in the studio for a while now. For the price you can't beat it.
The built quality is really nice, feels solid an sturdy. I've been using this midas designed preamps for a long time and I can't say anything bad about them, they do the job.

I use it as a preamp bank with my Audient id22 via optical cable. The only concern is, that sometimes when I turn on the unit, it fails to connect to Audient interface. But if you flick the Sync switch, it connects without any issues. Not sure, where the problem is, but it's not a big deal. Still pleased with purchase.

I got this to use as an ADAT add on to my UMC1820, giving an overall 16 channel recording interface. It all worked together with minimum effort in set and it sounds good. There is a couple of things that I'm not totally happy with, but can live with.
There is no pad on the channels, a pad for each channel would have been great. The other is phantom power. Phantom power is all channel or none, would like to have the option to not have phantom on everything at once. Also the LED for Phantom power, for some strange reason this is Green when Phantom Power is Off and it is Red when Phantom Power is On.
Other than that I would have given it 5 stars. Dont forget to get two ADAT cables when ordering this as an add on.

If you want a half decent set of pre amps without killing the bank, this is an option worth considering.

I honestly expected these pre amps to be noisier than they actually were. With all the spiel I hear about behringer using poor converters or components, I honestly couldn't tell the difference between this and the pre amps in my RME babyface. The build quality is good, and unlike some behringer products the red metal front makes it look rather cool. I tested the converters into my RME babyface and monitored the Db noise floor, and found their to be roughly 10 Db noisier than the RME mic pres. If that bothers you, then this won't deliver the exceptional specs of higher grade mic pres and converters, but if you are just using your ears, then chances are you probably won't notice too much of a difference between this and say a focusrite octopre.

Overall, it's a quality unit which has served me well so far, and I have no real negative issues with it.