Steinberg UR22C

It’s a solid purchase overall.

Use:
- I use it mostly to drive my HS5 Monitors, and to record vocals.

Pros:
- I like that I can use it without powering my Mac.
- I like the future proof USB-C connection on the back.
- Hardware DSP for Reverb (Rev-X), Compressor and Equalizer

Cons:
- I wasn’t pleased to find that there isn’t a power button on the back, but the switch between the 5V USB external power and the USB-C connection will indirectly act as a power switch, as I only use the USB-C connection.

- I don’t like the USB-c input connector. It has a very small depth, so when you connect the USB-c cable, it sticks out too much and as a result it wobbles a lot and doesn’t feel like a stable connection at all.

- I don’t like the inputs on the front. It doesn’t make sense, but most USB interfaces seem to think it’s a good idea. If you have this on a desk with your computer, you’ll have your cables over the desk. I would usually disconnect my cables from the instruments and not the interface. So, these interfaces will always have bad cable management.

- The D-PRE pre-amps seem to be the most noisy pre-amps you can get, out of the most popular interfaces out there. This is fact, not opinion. It’s an observable, verifiable fact. However, it probably won’t matter for 99% of people purchasing this. You’ll get noise at around -120 decibels, compared to -126/-127 from competing products like behringer and focusrite. So, like I said, it probably won’t matter anyway.

- I don’t like the disposition of the input gain knobs. One is on the left of the first input, and the other is on the right of the second input. But like I said, inputs should be on the back, in my opinion. The front is where the controls should be.

- At this price point, I would have liked to see a line input on the back

Some final notes:

- The Behringer UMC204HD would be my first choice considering the crazy price diference. I only picked this one because I wanted the hardware DSP that it provides.

So, what can we say about this unit. The first thing you notice when you take it out of the box is that it is a very strong and rather weighty item. The assembly is top notch, the design is pleasing to the eye and will merge with most interiors. There are no backlashes and creaks, the connectors have a distinctive click, the knobs rotate with a slight emphasis, in general, the card gives the impression of an expensive, reliable product.

Further, by going to the official site, we easily find the version of the latest drivers that work correctly on any system, which is quite rare among competitors, for 3 days, the card did not cause a single problem, the delay indicators are also encouraging, on a fairly average computer by today's standards (i5 3330, 8Gb), with a delay of 128 samples, projects with 20 or more tracks load the processor by only 60-70%, with 256, the load does not exceed 50. The lack of a built-in equalizer upset me, but it was gladly replaced by a free equalizer Apo, the sound does not produce exorbitant edges By, but being at the same level with the asus xonar d1, at the same time, the panorama is read with enthusiasm, good detail is a pleasure in the mix. T

he preamps proved to be quite worthy, when connecting a relatively cheap Epiphon guitar, a good input signal is reached closer to 12 o’clock, but the card didn’t make friends with my dynamic Shur, I’ll have to take a condenser one, I also want to note that there are no noises, clipping and extra sounds I did not hear.

We were pleased with the separate headphone volume control and midi input; my 70-ohm Sinheisers produced pretty decent sound. Conclusion: the card does not have enough stars from the sky, but it is an “turn on and forget” option, which is sometimes much more important than a couple of extra frequencies that you won’t even hear if it’s worth its money, definitely, yes.

This device is as simple as you’ll get if you’re not particularly computer-savvy like me. I need plug and play, no complication, and UR-22C pretty much gives you that. Registering it isn’t the most straightforward thing I’ve done in life, but with a bit of patience you’ll do that successfully too if you’re anything like me.

I use it 98% for listening music, occasionally I plug my guitar or microphone into it, and it does the job decently. Vocals are ok with basic effects (all you need is reverb), guitar modeling is not good, but if you’re too lazy to plug into a real amp, this will do.