Can I connect a headphone preamp here?

[MS-DOS]

 

I want to buy this interface to plug my Magni 3:

 

 

 

My question is, can I do this? I need to plug my Adam monitors too, they use XRL to TRS cables. So I assume these would go to the 204HD "MAIN OUT" ones, and "Main Out" knob controls the volume of the monitors.

 

Then where I plug the Magni 3??

 

 

[PorkishPig]

22 minutes ago, MS-DOS said:

So I assume these would go to the 204HD "MAIN OUT" ones, and "Main Out" knob controls the volume of the monitors.

You're looking for a dual 1/4" TS to dual RCA cable. 1/4" from main out on the UMC204HD to RCA in on the Magni.

[MS-DOS]

10 minutes ago, PorkishPig said:

You're looking for a dual 1/4" TS to dual RCA cable. 1/4" from main out on the UMC204HD to RCA in on the Magni.

Where do I plug the monitors then?

 

On my interface (before it broke) I plugged my monitors on 1/2 out and magni 3 on 3/4 out, and I had 2 separate knobs for each:

 

 

For some reason I cannot find something like this anymore.

 

 

[PorkishPig]

21 minutes ago, MS-DOS said:

Where do I plug the monitors then?

Whoops, I'm blind.

 

I believe you're going to need to use two 1/4" to dual 1/4" splitter cables. You may want to fact check me on this, as I have not personally use this type of configuration.

[MS-DOS]

@The Flying Sloth maybe can solve this?

[Ahoy Hoy]

Easiest way in my head

jacks L/R to speakers like before
But now you buy a jack to stereo RCA cable and go out of the headphone jack and plug that into the Schiit stuff.

Otherwise I don't think you will have separate control over volume levels. And another apart of me thinks the XLR inputs may also go through the RCA cables.
Also if you go that way you wont need the 204HD as your not using all those outputs and could save a little getting the 202HD.
If you want to just use jacks youll have to step up the interface to the 404HD which is double the price and big, and probably useless.

[MS-DOS]

1 hour ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

Easiest way in my head

jacks L/R to speakers like before
But now you buy a jack to stereo RCA cable and go out of the headphone jack and plug that into the Schiit stuff.

Otherwise I don't think you will have separate control over volume levels. And another apart of me thinks the XLR inputs may also go through the RCA cables.
Also if you go that way you wont need the 204HD as your not using all those outputs and could save a little getting the 202HD.
If you want to just use jacks youll have to step up the interface to the 404HD which is double the price and big, and probably useless.

I still don't get it. Would it go like this?

 

[Ahoy Hoy]

2 hours ago, MS-DOS said:

I still don't get it. Would it go like this?

 

Using that to go from the headphone port on the front to the headphones.
Unless you dont care about having separate control for the volume. where you could just do that like you drew.


Also do you have a XLR mic? If not could you just use two audio outputs from a computer instead.

[MS-DOS]

31 minutes ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

Using that to go from the headphone port on the front to the headphones.
Unless you dont care about having separate control for the volume. where you could just do that like you drew.


Also do you have a XLR mic? If not could you just use two audio outputs from a computer instead.

I don't have a mic.

 

And I don't understand. What do you mean by "headphone port"?

 

Are you saying that I plug that TRS balanced 1/4 on the front of the 204HD on the headphone out, then these 2 RCA would go in the inputs of the magni 3?

 

I don't want to plug anything on the headphone port of the 204HD because i've always read the headphone jacks on these cheap units are crap.

 

Should I just buy the M4?

 

 

I can plug the speakers on "MONITOR" and then on "LINE OUT" plug the Magni 3 and stay balanced isn't it.

 

Not sure how the knobs would end up working

 

 

I assume the big Monitor knob would control once again both the Magni 3 and the speakers, but honestly I dont care that much, I barely use the speakers, and luckily my monitors both have knobs each so I could find a sweet spot in the Motu Monitor big knob, a safe one so at no point it goes above that volume even if the monitors knobs and magni 3 knob are set to max, then basically never touch the monitor knob on the Motu if it makes sense.

[Ahoy Hoy]

7 minutes ago, MS-DOS said:

I don't have a mic.

 

And I don't understand. What do you mean by "headphone port"?

 

Are you saying that I plug that TRS balanced 1/4 on the front of the 204HD on the headphone out, then these 2 RCA would go in the inputs of the magni 3?

 

I don't want to plug anything on the headphone port of the 204HD because i've always read the headphone jacks on these cheap units are crap.

Its a Behringer interface its all cheap crap. Doubt there is any difference between any of the outputs.

[MS-DOS]

3 minutes ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

Its a Behringer interface its all cheap crap. Doubt there is any difference between any of the outputs.

Well according to these tests theres barely any difference in sound quality compared to expensive units

 

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/budget-dac-review-behringer-umc204hd.1658/

[PorkishPig]

Are you looking to use both your powered monitors and headphones simultaneously?

 

If not, a Schiit SYS would let you do a single button press to toggle between your different outputs. In this case, you'd want a configuration like: Modi -> SYS -> Powered Monitor 1 (RCA Out 1 L via RCA to XLR cable), Powered Monitor 2 (RCA Out 1 R via RCA to XLR cable), Magni (RCA Out 2 L/R).

[MS-DOS]

5 minutes ago, PorkishPig said:

Are you looking to use both your powered monitors and headphones simultaneously?

 

If not, a Schiit SYS would let you do a single button press to toggle between your different outputs. In this case, you'd want a configuration like: Modi -> SYS -> Powered Monitor 1 (RCA Out 1 L via RCA to XLR cable), Powered Monitor 2 (RCA Out 1 R via RCA to XLR cable), Magni (RCA Out 2 L/R).

Yeah, I would like to use monitors and headphones at the same time to quickly A/B without pressing buttons or moving some knob.

[H713]

5 hours ago, MS-DOS said:

Well according to these tests theres barely any difference in sound quality compared to expensive units

 

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/budget-dac-review-behringer-umc204hd.1658/

There are still differences. Whether you will notice them or not depends on the person and the setup. Noise and distortion are higher on the Behringer than on the Focusrite or the MOTU. Whether it's noticeable is up for debate. Build quality is noticeable to anyone however, and that's one are where the cost of the Behringer starts to show.

Also, just another Behringer rant... their documentation is absolute sh!t in most cases. Not that anyone writes product manuals in a useful way anymore, but the Behringer ones are particularly bad.

[The Flying Sloth]

Use the headphone out to go to the magni as suggested by ahoy and then the main outs to go to the speakers.

 

As for Behringer being shit, Ahoy has a personal issue with their products because they decided to cut out the small retailers from their business model among other things. There are in-depth conversations between myself, Ahoy and others where we all present our opinions on the issue if you really want to go looking.

 

Short answer is that I like Behringer for their cost efficiency and Ahoy dislikes them more or less for the way they create their cost efficiency.

[Ahoy Hoy]

9 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Use the headphone out to go to the magni as suggested by ahoy and then the main outs to go to the speakers.

 

As for Behringer being shit, Ahoy has a personal issue with their products because they decided to cut out the small retailers from their business model among other things. There are in-depth conversations between myself, Ahoy and others where we all present our opinions on the issue if you really want to go looking.

 

Short answer is that I like Behringer for their cost efficiency and Ahoy dislikes them more or less for the way they create their cost efficiency.

You also forgot how they copy cat, terrible custom service, terrible ways they treat their staff, and the racist product they made to get back at a reviewer, how they sent lawsuit cases to people on a audio forum for saying a Behringer product was a blatant copy of another product.
Never mind the fact the owner is basically a narcissistic psychopath. (every single point I just made if you look deeper into it the worse it gets)

They make EA look like an angle. But if you think that company with moral values so low deserves your money don't listen to me and every other professional in the audio space who doesn't support them.
If a major computer company did this kind of stuff the Linus would make a video about how its unacceptable.

They also are a cheap equipment company which is slightly better then rivals at the same price point. But in the end they are still low end. Its just low end acceptable. What's the point having £200 to £300 in headphone amps and preamps etc if at the start of the chain is a Behringer. Its buying a sports car and putting the worst make of tyres on it available. 

[The Flying Sloth]

23 minutes ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

You also forgot how they copy cat, terrible custom service, terrible ways they treat their staff, and the racist product they made to get back at a reviewer, how they sent lawsuit cases to people on a audio forum for saying a Behringer product was a blatant copy of another product.
Never mind the fact the owner is basically a narcissistic psychopath. (every single point I just made if you look deeper into it the worse it gets)

They make EA look like an angle. But if you think that company with moral values so low deserves your money don't listen to me and every other professional in the audio space who doesn't support them.
If a major computer company did this kind of stuff the Linus would make a video about how its unacceptable.

They also are a cheap equipment company which is slightly better then rivals at the same price point. But in the end they are still low end. Its just low end acceptable. What's the point having £200 to £300 in headphone amps and preamps etc if at the start of the chain is a Behringer. Its buying a sports car and putting the worst make of tyres on it available. 

I'm not interested in having this conversation again here, I explained to OP that the conversation has been had in great length elsewhere and if they want to see both sides in their entirety they can go looking. I completely stand by my previous comment as the short answer I provided is just about the best single sentence summary of each of our positions.