Please do not buy Behringer

[Ahoy Hoy]

I dislike Behringer products not because of the product but because of the company. Some of their products are very good but the company is a terrible company. 

Today Behringer has crossed the line and announced its no longer going to sell products to small companies and instead focus only on major e commerce such as Amazon, Thomann, Sweetwater and Alibaba.
As a small distributor my self I had a Behringer whole sale account. I no longer have access to that as well every local music store, small install company, even reasonably large national companies have lost access. These companies are the backbone of the audio industry. 

The company is well know to have some of the worst customer service. Have a look at reviews on trust pilot.

"Appalling customer service!"  "Good products but the worst customer service imaginable"
They also have terrible QA testing so its a common problem to have faulty equipment so don't think you wont ever need to call up their custom support because trust me you do.
Personal experience I was installing a Behringer X32 (professional large audio mixer worth about £1.5k) it took 3 replacement mixers before we got one which was working fully.

Behringer are also a terrible company to work for and steal designs and reverse engineer from other companies. If you care for audio and want research to continue and improvements to be made if you buy Behringer you are spitting in the face of progress. Glass door reviews for Behringer Reviews for Music Group/Tribe
Behringer is sadly such a large company it became Music Tribe and is now a parent company of many major brands who also have become tarnished by Uli Behringer's terrible company.
I recommend you do not buy from any of these companies;
Midas
Klark Teknik
TC Electronic/TC Helicon
Bugera
Turbosound
CoolAudio
Tannoy
Lab Gruppen
Auratone
Lake

Photo evidence from emails and reviews inside spoiler

Spoiler

On this forum we recommend a few Behringer products more then others so I'm going to put some other products below to choose instead.
I realise some of these products are more expensive but design and research cost more than theft.

Audio interfaces
Steinberg UR12
Mackie Onyx
Tascam US 1x2
M audio Air
Presonus AUDIOBOX

NI Komplete Audio 1 

Mixers
Yamaha
Allen and Heath

 

Linus Tech Tips forum please do not let Uli and his companies sleazy business practices win. Please vote with your wallet and do not buy Behringer and Music Tribe products and show that these kind of business practices are not acceptable.

[STRMfrmXMN]

I thought it couldn't possibly be that bad until I checked out the Glassdoor ratings. So many of them dislike the CEO. Never a good sign.

 

I'll sit with my Mayflower O2/ODAC.

[Mark Kaine]

I dislike behringer too but only because I think it sounds dumb and this kind of "audio stuff" is usually horrendously overpriced and of poor quality. 

 

I like how he goes completely against the "support local" mantra that everyone here seems to follow, seems a bit insane overall haha. 

 

is this a German company? cause it sounds like it. maybe Austrian? they have the same "support" local philosophy... lol 

 

[Ahoy Hoy]

Just now, Mark Kaine said:

I dislike behringer too but only because I think it sounds dumb and this kind of "audio stuff" is usually horrendously overpriced and of poor quality. 

 

I like how he goes completely against the "support local" mantra that everyone here seems to follow, seems a bit insane overall haha. 

 

is this a German company? cause it sounds like it. maybe Austrian? they have the same "support" local philosophy... lol 

 

Uli Behringer is Swiss. But music tribe is based in Philippines even though he owns it. Music tribe has offices and companies around the world. Im aware of USA, UK and German offices/factories but I couldn't say where else. Probably china and Philippines if I was a betting man

[Mark Kaine]

1 minute ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

Uli Behringer is Swiss. But music tribe is based in Philippines even though he owns it. Music tribe has offices and companies around the world. Im aware of USA, UK and German offices/factories but I couldn't say where else. Probably china and Philippines if I was a betting man

oh Swiss,, well that was pretty close then! 

 

yeah it seems really weird "customer obsession vision"... what is wrong with the guy... 

[The Flying Sloth]

I've only ever had one defective Behringer product and when I raised the issue they asked for video evidence and then immediately shipped me a replacement without asking for the defective unit back. For sure Behringer shamelessly copies other products but by releasing the exacting copies (as is the case with their guitar pedals) they show exactly how much you are being milked by other brands. You'll find no argument from me that every product produced by the parent company is a good product as there are certainly some shite products coming out of that company (such as studio compressors from both Behringer and KT) there are also may brilliant products from Tannoy, Klark Teknik and BEHRINGER that I have first-hand experience with.

 

It's no secret that I care most about value for money and efficiency, my brand loyalty is non-existent beyond this sole factor.

While Behringer continues to offer quality products for the best prices in the industry I will continue to recommend their products to consumers, while their actions may have hurt you as a business they remain the best value for their consumers and from many years (and purchases) of their equipment I am confident they continue to be the undisputed king of the entry level studio.

 

3 hours ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

I thought it couldn't possibly be that bad until I checked out the Glassdoor ratings. So many of them dislike the CEO. Never a good sign.

 

I'll sit with my Mayflower O2/ODAC.

Take a look at the glassdoor ratings for all the other brands they have recommended. For sure the ratings for Behringer aren't great but neither are many of the companies’. It's fairly clear what drove the creation of this post and Behringer being materially/managed worse than the competition isn't it.

[Derkoli]

After I saw the news from Behringer, it's really put me on the fence about them.

 

If you need something cheap, fairly good and functional, Behringer is a fairly good bet.

 

If I was spending enough to get something from another brand, I would get another brand unless a Behringer product did the same for much cheaper.

 

I doubt my 100-2000 pound purchases would affect a company if I didn't put that money into them. For expensive stuff, I always go for something very reputable, such as Genelec, RME, MBL, PMC etc.

 

I've never had any issues with Behringer stuff. Neither has the college I teach at. We use 15 Behringer ULTRALINK MS8000's among other things, and it gets put to use with lots of gear, most of it extremely expensive. (1000 dollar microphones, 250k line arrays etc.) and we have had no issues with any of it.

 

It's pretty well made, especially for the price. I've had no issues with their customer service either. Had to warranty some items after "incidents" with students, and they've asked for photo or video evidence and sent new stuff out fairly quickly.

 

They have some fairly shitty business practises, but alot of companies do. (Apple springs to mind)

 

Really, if you want excellent customer service, get something from Genelec, RME, Focusrite, PMC, Focal Pro, Drawmer, Radial Engineering, Palmer, Lake People, ART, etc.

[The Flying Sloth]

48 minutes ago, Derkoli said:

Really, if you want excellent customer service, get something from Genelec, RME, Focusrite, PMC, Focal Pro, Drawmer, Radial Engineering, Palmer, Lake People, ART, etc.

On the topic of good customer service, when it comes to microphones the boutiques almost always have the best. I've spoken directly with the owners of Xaudia, ADK and 3U audio regarding audio without the promise of actually purchasing anything from them. The owner of Advanced Audio can get a bit (read: extremely) defensive at times but other than that, if you want customer support (and great prices) on a mic purchase I say go boutique.

[rice guru]

Will also add monoprice has excellent customer service 

[LogicalDrm]

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