Behringer Studio XL

I decided to purchase the Behringer Studio XL Controller to allow me to select my recently purchased PreSonus Eris E5 XT studio monitors to listen back through. I also have a power amp driving two 12" X 1" speakers. Not being sure on how to connect everything to the Studio XL, I contacted one of the advisors at Thomann. The technical advice and assistance I received from the Thomann Advisor was astounding and I proceeded with confidence to order the controller and cabling to allow me set up my new piece of kit. Delivery of my goods were extremely fast. I excitedly opened my package from Thomann and within a couple of hours I had everything up and running. Aesthetically, the Behringer controller is very pleasing on the eye and has good quality knobs and buttons which eluminate varying colours of orange, green and red as they are activated. the number of input options are perfect and facilitate my small home studio needs. The monitor outputs allow me to have my PreSonus speakers active. I can also have my power amp playing back at the same time. I can feed the output as said to both or to one whichever I prefer. There is still room for two more sets of monitors at my disposal. Other features include a talkback facility, 2-track input, an USB input as well as direct monitoring through two sets of headphones. In conclusion, I am so happy with my choice of controllers. It is a powerful tool to have in a studio and I would have no hesitation in recommending the Behringer Studio XL Controller to anyone considering its addition to their setup. Again, well done Thomann for bringing top quality audio hardware to me, I have been purchasing from Thomann for a long time now and the service they provide is beyond par.

Although I was very skeptical about purchasing a Behringer product (I was disappointed in the past) , I decided to buy the studio XL since there was nothing else with all the features I needed, regardless of the price. And I didn't regret it at all.

This product is great. Monitor controller and audio interface at the same time in an unbeatable price. Very good built quality and nice sound. All line-ins are both balanced and unbalanced. High-Z eqt can also be connected in the two combo inputs and ASIO software driver (win 10) is great. Even in a ten years old PC there is no latency with the default settings. It can be used as a stand alone analog mixer/preamplifier.

The only con is that when you switch on or off the device, there is a small pop sound in the speakers if they are already powered on. If they are in standby state, they don't wake up so there is no sound.

If there was at least one digital input (even with a higher price) and a pair of XLR outputs, Studio XL would be absolutely perfect for me. (but these are things I knew in advance so no complaints). Be aware that if you want to use jack to XLR adapters, you can not, since there is not enough space.

I would also like to mention my communication with the Behringer staff. They responded fast and accurate in my questions before the purchase.

Thomann service unbeatable as always. Fastest dispatch ever.

Sue me, Behringer, but this is an obvious copy of Mackie's Big Knob Studio+ (or is it the other way around ? ;-))

There's one feature making it better, though: the VCA. The pot in my Big Knob Studio+ started crackling after only a few weeks, because it was without VCA. That's not as bad as Behringer's cheaper models (without VCA), which started crackling after only a few days, but at least this one sounds clean - for now (I've had it for six months).

Now I have two bad things to say about it:

Strangely, the jack sockets don't seem fastened to the chassis, unlike in Behringer's cheaper models. I'm afraid they're just held by being soldered to the board, but I'm not going to open it to check that while it's under warranty. In my experience that would make them more fragile. Since I'm not swapping cables around, and I don't let them hang with all their weight, I hope this won't be an issue.

Also, compared to the very similar Mackie Big Knob Studio+, the buttons are much less comfortable to operate. Hitting two buttons simultaneously to A/B compare sources or speakers, you can be sure to miss every other time. That's really annoying.

So, what's worse? A crackling pot, or frustrating buttons? I really can't decide.

As for sound quality: I haven't paid attention to it very much yet. I know the model below this one isn't very transparent (I actually like how it colors the sound, but it's still something you don't want from a monitor controller), but I don't know about this one.

I can only say this: when used as line inputs, inputs 1 & 2 aren't particularly noisy, while they certainly were in the Mackie version. All other inputs are all right in both models.

I can't comment on the USB interface, since I never use it.

UPDATE: After only 6 months, the bog knob became so dirty, or used, or both, that you could hear it even through the VCA (of course it doesn't crackle, but there are drops in level across the course). Also, there's now a L/R balance issue in one of the inputs. So, my final and informed verdict is: piece of crap.

Schickes kleines Pult für den Tisch (Also, im verlgeich zu den großen Pulten versteht sich). Gekauft um aufm Tisch den Mischmasch aus mehreren Interfaces mal zu vereinheitlichen - Und dafür eignet es sich großartig. Ich bin allerdings auch kein Profi-User, dementsprechend das Salz bereithalten - Mir fehlen die Vergleiche nach oben.

Alle anschlüsse sind auf der Rückseite, die Steuerung passiert von oben - Eher was für Feste Setups und nicht fürs schnelle umstecken - Für mich perfekt als Desktop Gerät.

Das wechseln zwischen den Monitoren geht "Seamless" und wesentlich entspannter als in Windows zwischen mehreren Interfaces zu wechseln - Nach Jahrzehnten macht man das halt doch lieber Analog da die Software einfach nur in den 2000ern Stehengeblieben ist.

Die Treiber laufen auf nem W10 LTSC ohne murren, sowohl der Class Comliant default Treiber von Windows als auch der von Behringer selber. Hinweis an die TS3 Nutzer: Wenn der Channel nen Musik Codec hat hört man euch nur auf einer Seite! Für mich schon bekannt mit dem UMC204HD, da war das mit dem XP Treiber umgehbar, zum Studio XL gibts den allersings nicht mehr.

Die Kontrolle über die Mikrofon-Lautstärke lässt dann doch etwas zu wünschen Übrig - Ein großteil der Leistung passiert in den letzten 20% des Potis und macht die Feinere Steuerung schwieriger. Der SC400 ließ sich bei 80% rum betreiben, das MB7 Beta benötigte einen FetAmp in der Kette um nicht grade so auf 100% hörbar zu sein.

Wo es allerdings nicht fehlt ist die Leistung am Kopfhöreranschluss. Meine Güte, ich weiß ja nicht welche Kopfhörer sich Behringer so vorstellt damit zu betreiben, aber da ist ne menge Power hinter. Ursprünglich war der C Kanal vom Interface für ein Lake People Amp vorgesehen - Spaßeshalber hab ich die T1 dann mal ans Studio XL auf halber Stufe angesteckt - Und die Kopfhörer konnte ich nicht schnell genug vom Kopf nehmen ohne dabei Taub zu werden.
Ich höre gerne relativ Laut. Aber meine güte - Das sprengt den Rahmen. Bei allem über 30% vom Potis hab ich angst um den Hörer - Eher Lautsprecher bei dem Input.

Joa... Schickes Teil, nicht sicher ob man es als Kopfhörerverstärker verkaufen sollte - Aber für den Heimgebebrauch Taugts definitiv.