The Behringer preamps are probably almost identical to the ones in the SM Pro Audio box, at least in design, and perhaps better in some respects. The SM Pro Audio PR8 (analog only) has only 40 dB of gain which could be a major problem depending on which mics you have and how much gain you normally need... Normal mic preamps, such as the Behringer stuff, has more like 60 dB of gain.
I can say I don't know for sure what's in the guts of the SM Pro box or in the Behringer, but reports I have read about the innards of a PR8 and what I know first-hand from the pres in a Behringer compact mixer indicate that at least those products are really similar. Input is capacitively coupled and uses cheap bipolar transistors for mic gain, feeding an op amp line stage, which is pretty much the same as Mackie et. al. Pretty standard. The rest of the "channel" gain is done by dual op amps, in the case of Behringer, TI 4580 parts which are pretty decent (specs-wise) amplifiers that tend to sound forward and a bit hypey in the upper mids. Mackie uses a noiser, cheaper op amp for the same purpose that may be more musical. I replaced these 4580s in a Behringer compact mixer with select parts from Burr-Brown and other TI parts, and while the character of the tone changed considerably (forward midrange gone, more "sweet" and laid back), the graininess and distortion in the mic pre was unaffected, and the sound off of the insert was obviously unaffected...
I guess what I'm getting at is, the Behringer mic pre is going to be in the same kind of specs/performance camp with Mackie, SM Pro Audio, Alesis, you name it, cheap stuff. I don't really "get" why everyone's so down on Behringer but I don't want to get into that debate. SM Pro Audio may not be a whole lot different... Same Chinese stuff with a non-Chinese name stuck on it. I don't think I'd buy SM Pro stuff over Behringer at the same price out of some moral conviction. Behringer is a more established company with at least some record of quality. Reports I have read on the SM Pro Audio stuff is that their QC makes Behringer look like Neumann.
On the note of the sound of the thing, you know Behringer's digital mixer has gotten some pretty good reviews. I could not find one that complained about the sound of the thing, but they all simply focused on features (certainly there must be one somewhere). I would expect their digital Pro-8 to be in the same kind of camp, probably using the same exact design.
FWIW my Behringer mixer is in a disassembled pile collecting dust in my garage. I decided I was not going to record another track with it because of the strident/aggressive upper midrange and lack of high-end extension. This may not be very different from any cheap console though.
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Topic: ULTRAGAIN PRO-8 DIGITAL ADA8000 (Read 6790 times)