Quality:
all the cosmetics are great and it is light weight etc . seems to be mechanically well made but the bit rate switch should be mounted on the front of the unit (not in the back where it currently is).

Value:
you get what you pay for, these are cheap preamps and they sound ok

Sound:
I am using this ad converter/preamps with a digidesign 002rack unit for recording in protools. I guess you get what you pay for. I purchased this unit because it was the most affordable unit around I could find to expand my inputs from 8 to 16 (using adat optical connections)and it works fine but the sound quality is not nearly as good as the sound of the digi's preamps. In addition the AD8000 must be used as the master clock with my protools rig (this is a feature that could definately be fixed). If I try to use the digi as master clock,and the AD8000 as the slave, there is a lot of digital error clocking noise. So I end up using the inferior of the two clocks to synch my system. the result is that unless I am recording a full drum set, where I need the additional inputs, and I am not as particular about the preamps for drum mics, I don't use the behrenger at all it just fills up a rack space. I would use the unit more if I could use it as a slave rather than the master. The up side is that this unit is considerably less expensive than it's nearest competitor.

Ease of Use:
this product does not play well with others. It should be able to use as a slave without all the synch noise

Overall:
as soon as I can afford it and have more studio business that requires the additional imputs, I will buy a better one

• User: a customer from sbcglobal.net
• Submitted: 2/15/2008
• Style of Music: rock, alternative, blues
• Location: san francisco, CA, USA

Sound:
I needed an d to a converter. I was considering purchasing a surround sound receiver and using the digital in to convert my computer output (Sonar) to analog for monitoring. When I found the Behringer ADA8000 with a d a and mic pres for under $200 (blemished) , I got pretty excited. However, I could only get a digital signal with my flute of -10 with my Crown SASS mic. An email to Berhinger suggested using a preamp, but that defeated the idea of an all in one unit. So I was back to using it only as an d to a converter for monitoring. Unfortunately, there was some minor distortion present. I can't say that it was the Behringer ADA8000 as I don't have another d to a converter to check that out, but I have never had the problem before with my old now defunct converter. Rather than try to follow this up any further, I am shipping it back and will go ahead with my original idea of a surround sound receiver for my monitoring since the pres are not workable. zzounds.com was very understanding and emailed a RA with no questions.

• Submitted: 1/3/2008

Sound:
Sounds decent. Definately needs to have phantom power separate for each channel but that would probably jack the price up. Other than that, it works great.

• User: a customer from villanova.edu
• Submitted: 12/25/2006
• Style of Music: rock
• Location: Norfolk, MA

Feature:
simple. line ins, line outs, volume, phantom power & the adat connections. it's a great interface for my creamware card. i can route audio pretty much any way i want with this thing.

Quality:
the only thing that bugs me is the volume knobs. they dont quite line up uniformly so if you are trying to boost in stereo (say 2 mics or a stereo in), you have to check levels elsewhere or trust your ear. otherwise it's solid. not top of the line by any means but anyone shopping in this price range should expect that.

Value:
good bang for the buck if you want multiple inputs & have an adat friendly soundcard.

Desirability:
perfect solution for my multi input problem. i wanted to use my creamware card to capture jams. drums, guitar, keys, ext... with 2 of these connected to the adat pipes on my creamware card i capture 16 channels of audio at once. straight to the hard drive. it's a clutch position in my setup.

Sound:
sound is clean & flat. doesnt colour the tone positive or negatively. i'm sure more expesive pre's have more oomph to them, but for the price this thing is great.

Ease of Use:
it's pretty basic. all controls are there. i have yet to play with the word clock. be sure to send adat light pipe both ways & slave it.

Support:
havent dealt with behringer yet. so far no trouble with any of their gear.

Overall:
only reason i can see to replace this is if i start recording past it's 48khz limit which seems kinda pointless at the moment. i'd like to pick up a higher end mic pre for vocals & lead instruments & keep this for drums & synths.

• User: a customer from brainwashaudio.com
• Submitted: 8/30/2006
• Style of Music: electronic rock
• Location: Chino, Ca

Feature:
Needs separte phantom for each mic input

Quality:
I've owned this unit one year. So far very reliable.

Value:
For the money and compared to other simular products, worth the money.

Sound:
Transparent enough to use for instruments with built in preamps, Like guitars and rohdes pianos. I use the line inputs to ADAT for about 20% of my recording. Which I think is saying alot considering my pres, API-312, Neve-73, Summit-tpa200, and UA 610. I wouldn't use it for major vocals or instruments in a mix. But not bad.

Ease of Use:
I'm using this with a EMu 1212 sound card. The ADA 8000 was a snap to hook up. The EMu recognised the ADA 8000, But setting up the Emu Patch software took about 40 min.

Support:
Not Used

Overall:
This unit is worth the money. I've recomended it to home studio owners.

• Submitted: 7/31/2006
• Style of Music: RnB, Jazz, Gospel
• Location: Arlington, TX

Feature:
Typical Behringer feature-richness.

Quality:
Not bad. The principal moving parts, the gain knobs, are a bit flimsy, have excessive play, and are non-uniform in stiffness, suggesting some problems with the quality of build and/or materials. The signal LEDs do a funky little dance when phantom power is switched on or off; this makes me wonder a bit about the quality and consistency of the electronics. The connectors seem okay, although I don't know how many plug/unplug cycles they could stand. Overall, not something I would be likely to take on the road. Pity, since it's not really suitable for critical applications in a studio either.

Value:
For what it does, the price is pretty good. If price is more important than high fidelity and long life, this might be a good choice.

Desirability:
Behringer doesn't generally go for sex appeal. This item is in that "get the job done cheaply" category.

Sound:
This is basically two units in one. On the input side, it's quite usable. The preamps are nothing to write home about, but are adequate for stage use. It might also be useful in a studio setting if you need a bunch of pres for miking, say a drum kit, and quantity is more important than quality. You probably don't want to run your vocal mic through these. On the output side, again nothing stellar, but adequate for non-critical applications. My particular unit exhibits some really nasty high-frequency aliasing that renders it completely unsuitable for critical listening. I don't know if this is a design problem, or if it's specific to my unit. [If you have one of these, try running pure sine waves through it at, say, 10k, 12.5k, 16k and 20k. If your unit has the problem that mine does, this test will make it very obvious.] I have this unit connected to the ADAT in/out on a Creamware SCOPE card. A/Bing the Behringer against the AD/DA converters on the SCOPE's line in/out makes it pretty clear that Creamware's converters are vastly superior. So much so that I don't really use the Behringer unless I'm really tight on I/O.

Ease of Use:
Pretty straightforward -- not a lot you can do wrong. It would be nice if the +4 and -10 positions on the gain controls were detented, or if there were some other way (pushbutton or whatever) to lock it to those settings. It loses some points for the all-or-none phantom power, as well as for the fact that the phantom switch could easily be pressed accidentally by a fat finger on its way to the power switch.

Support:
No experience.

Overall:
The bottom line is that I basically don't use it. I bought it for studio use, basically to take advantage of the ADAT I/O on my sound card and move the AD/DA conversion out of the noisy computer. Unfortunately, the degradation of sound quality relative to the analog IOs on my high-end sound card is just a bit too severe to be useful to me.

• Submitted: 4/18/2006
• Style of Music: Name it
• Location: New York, NY, USA

Feature:
For the money, you tell me who beats it?

Quality:
Awesome

Value:
Can not beat it.

Desirability:
it's not sexy but neither is the toyota prius, but it gets 60mpg, nuff said.

Sound:
The sound of this is great. I have owned this piece since the first day it came out. Have you wondered why they are always sold out. Never on ebay used? Come on people get with it. If you have good ears and know how to record and mix properly then this will work wonders. I have loved it since day one. Has been in my 002Rack for over 2 years now, never a problem ever.

Support:
I called Behringer for how to sync this my 002R slaving it in my digital chain for word clocking purposes. They where very helpful.

Overall:
Buy it now.

• User: a customer from yahoo.com
• Submitted: 2/7/2006
• Style of Music: All
• Location: South Florida

Feature:
I was primairely looking for a 8channel pre-amp with Adat-out. That's what is does. Not a single optical-cable included . . But I got them for free so I'm not complaining.

Quality:
Finish and style is okay (typical behringer) but sturdy enough. Those huming channels are a real bummer, though. Unit is only 1,5 years old.

Value:
If nothing would have buckled it would have read 10. But channel 2 and 4 . . .

Sound:
Sound quality was okay, still a differente between the MOTU828 pre-amps and the ADA8000. But lately two of the 8 channels hum even when there is nothing connected to it. Never tried the outputs.

Support:
Haven't tried support yet.

Overall:
Whenever I have some money left I'll go for a Focusrite, Macky or presonus 8-preamp adat unit. I was warned on forehand and sadly enough the warning was justified . . .

• User: a customer from gmail.com
• Submitted: 1/24/2006
• Style of Music: Funk
• Location: Almere, The Netherlands

Feature:
I would give this a 10, but there is one thing I think it is lacking. There's no switch to connect the inputs to the outputs for use as an analog mic pre. The Behringer is basically two units in one. The mic preamps on the front convert into optical digital TOSlink OUTPUT. The XLR outputs on the back carry whatever signal is coming in from the TOSlink INPUT. The circuits are separate. I bought this primarily for use as a live mic pre-amp (8-in, 8-out). Without a TOSlink cable to slave the INPUT to the OUTPUT, it doesn't work as a live mic pre-amp. Fortunately, I had an optical cable with me when I bought it, because I bought it the day of a concert I was running sound for. Not a big deal, since it's CHEAP, sounds GREAT, and wasn't intended as a plain 8-in/8-out mic pre. On that note, it's a terrific mic preamp for running live sound.

Quality:
Well constructed, solid metal. As road-worthy as the rest of my rack-mount gear.

Value:
Look at the competition. Hands down, this is an unbeatable value. None of the 8 input mic pre's in this price range provide ADAT optical in's/out's. Use this for live sound, take it home and use it for digital recording. I like it!!

Desirability:
It's aesthetic in a utilitarian cold-steel-kind-of-way. Clean lines, simple layout, brushed metal. Looks solid, feels solid, inspires confidence. It's not "sexy" like Focusrite or Avalon mic pre's, but it's not competing with that high-end market.

Sound:
Clean, clear, pure. Far, far better than my Behringer low-end mixer.

Support:
Never had to deal with them, but have a friend who has. He's very happy. He had a bad V-Amp, they sent him the rackmount pro version as a replacement which he was thrilled about. Have used Behringer products for about 7 years now. Never had problems with mine.

Overall:
I like it cause it was a very good price, it saved my butt a few hours after buying it (live concert needed mic pre), works as advertised, and it does two things for me. (1) Live analog/analog mic pre for live sound. (2) Analog/digital 8-channel conversion for recording studio.

• User: a customer from pobox.com
• Submitted: 11/29/2004
• Style of Music: acoustic rock

Feature:
Considering the size...how much more could you want?

Quality:
It works. i agree with a previous reviewer that it seems resistant to spikes...either it has amazing head room that the knob doesn't access, or there is a limiter circuit...listen to me, sounding like I know what I'm talking about:)...I recommend it.

Value:
I can't complain for the price. I bought it primarily for drums. I'll use my neves for the detailed recordings.

Desirability:
got a digi 001, 002? get it!

Sound:
The preamps are fine. I recorded a live cocert through another mackie board, using the inserts to send signal to my behringer and then into my digi002. I was surprised at the quality.

Support:
never had the need but the rumor is that they are horrible!

• User: a customer from hotmail.com
• Submitted: 4/10/2004
• Style of Music: acoustic and worship
• Location: new york