ProSoundWeb Community

Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => SR Forum Archives => Product Reviews: Sound Reinforcement FUD Forum Archive => Topic started by: Andy Peters on May 25, 2005, 12:31:48 PM

Title: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: Andy Peters on May 25, 2005, 12:31:48 PM
A band brought in a couple of these last night and I ended up using them, since I'd already used all six of our usual boxes.

Holy crap, these things are noisy.  I mean: hissing noise audible and annoying between songs.  Mute the channels and blessed silence.

There are many better $20 DI boxes.  As they say in the Village Voice, "Must To Avoid."

-a
Title: Re: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: Adam Kane on May 25, 2005, 04:33:45 PM
I've used several of these until recently.  5 have quit working on phantom power...they continue to work with the 9v battery.  The remaining functional ones seem to be fine so far but the power light which normally glows brightly with phantom turned on seems to be getting dimmer by the week.  And, as you said, noisy.

I don't trust them anymore...having one go bad on a bass guitar mid show (large event at that) was a bit too much for me.

I've used other B stuff before and have come to like some of it FOR THE PRICE, but I'd stay away from these silver DI's.

adam
Title: Re: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: Simon Tucker on May 27, 2005, 03:02:48 AM
Hi,

I AB'd these with 2 other DI boxes once; an MTR active one and a Monacor cheapy passive one.

I did find that the DI120`s (at least the 2 I had) were no noisier than the other 2 when set on 0dB.  As soon as you start cutting, essentially what was labelled as a 20dB cut seemed to be a lot more than that; and as such it required more gain to get a decent signal level at the input, hence more noise.  This was by no means a scientific test, just a listening test.

The conclusion at the time :- Ok to use if the source doesnt need any attenuation.  If it needs attenuating forget them.

I think one has since failed, dunno about the other one.

My 0.02

Simon
Title: Re: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: Adam Robinson on May 30, 2005, 12:57:00 PM
I try to avoid these things at all costs.

One day, I found that it's possible to "clip" this DI.  I've had instruments send it too much signal and the sound comes out distorted.  I've also had a couple crap out on me during shows.  At $20 a pop, some people will argue that they are disposable, but how many will people dispose of them before coming to the conclusion that they could have spent a little more on a better DI that wouldn't fail.  

I generally try to stay away from anything with that B word on it.

On a similar note, I have a couple ART passive direct boxes (of about the same price range) and had one crap out on me not too long ago.  The shipping to get it fixed almost as much as the direct box cost.  The Proco DIs I have (for a bit more) have been beat around for a while now and have never had a problem.

I guess in the end, you get what you pay for.  
Title: Re: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: Bennett Prescott on May 30, 2005, 04:56:31 PM
It's possible to clip any DI, just with some it's not as obvious. If you're using cheap (less than $100) passives on hot sources (say, keyboard) you're probably saturating the transformer all the time.

However, my experience with the Behringer DIs has been identical to Andy's. Noisy as hell, cheaply constructed, prone to failure. I just won't touch them.
Title: Re: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: Bob gardam on August 30, 2005, 01:04:31 AM
the Ultra DI-120's are truly terrible...

However the DI-100's arent to bad.. I've used them quite abit and never had one quit out on me (though I could just be lucky) and they definately sound better than any other DI *I* have used in the price range
Title: Re: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: ThomasA(lbenberger) on September 07, 2005, 01:54:35 PM
Hi Andy!

There is no model DI-120 from Behringer, at least not that I know of or that I would have found on their webpage.

If you're talking about the DI-100 (silver BSS style) I can't report the same problems you've experienced.

In case you were working with the DI-20 (2ch version), thanks for the warning. I only attempted to work with those once, and out of 3 brand new ones, two were not working with phantom power - thus, back to the old passive ones I had in my suitcase.

Apparently this really is a piece of equipment to stay away from!

Cheers, Thomas
Title: Re: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: repairman on September 09, 2005, 12:07:26 PM
If its the DI100 you mean, something must have been wrong with that unit.

The national broadcaster in Denmark made a blind test of DI's and the DI100 came out as the best sounding unit.

And the test contained lots of much higher prised Di's
Title: Re: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: Andy Peters on September 09, 2005, 01:30:44 PM
ThomasA wrote on Wed, 07 September 2005 10:54

Hi Andy!

There is no model DI-120 from Behringer, at least not that I know of or that I would have found on their webpage.

If you're talking about the DI-100 (silver BSS style) I can't report the same problems you've experienced.

In case you were working with the DI-20 (2ch version), thanks for the warning. I only attempted to work with those once, and out of 3 brand new ones, two were not working with phantom power - thus, back to the old passive ones I had in my suitcase.

Apparently this really is a piece of equipment to stay away from!

Cheers, Thomas


My mistake -- the piece of shit to which I was referring is indeed the DI-20.  I apologize if I can't keep all of these similar-sounding part numbers straight.

-a
Title: Re: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: Andy Peters on September 09, 2005, 01:35:50 PM
repairman wrote on Fri, 09 September 2005 09:07

If its the DI100 you mean, something must have been wrong with that unit.

The national broadcaster in Denmark made a blind test of DI's and the DI100 came out as the best sounding unit.

And the test contained lots of much higher prised Di's


As I just noted, the piece of shit is the DI-20 dual job, not the DI-100 clone of the BSS box.

The DI-100 should sound similar to the BSS AR133, since for all intents (to deceive? you decide) and purposes, the two units are identical.

However, as I've detailed in the past (search!), there are significant differences between the BSS and the B-Unit, and the most important difference is in the output transformer.  The BSS unit is oversized and magentically shielded and the Behringer is undersized and not shielded.  Magnetic shielding is a vital property for a direct box.

-a
Title: Re: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: John Roberts {JR} on September 09, 2005, 02:52:34 PM
Andy Peters wrote on Fri, 09 September 2005 12:35



As I just noted, the piece of shit is the DI-20 dual job, not the DI-100 clone of the BSS box.

The DI-100 should sound similar to the BSS AR133, since for all intents (to deceive? you decide) and purposes, the two units are identical.

However, as I've detailed in the past (search!), there are significant differences between the BSS and the B-Unit, and the most important difference is in the output transformer.  The BSS unit is oversized and magentically shielded and the Behringer is undersized and not shielded.  Magnetic shielding is a vital property for a direct box.

-a


Another potential consequence of less iron is saturation on loud low frequencies but some listeners may prefer the distortion. I would put broadcasters one click above DJs for sound quality, but who knows Denmark may be different. Razz

JR

PS: I wonder if the BSS unit was in the double blind test?
Title: Re: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: repairman on September 09, 2005, 11:10:53 PM
I Dont know what the Behringer was up against, but it was a range og the usual populat di's

FWIW the outputtransformers on mine DI100 stock are magneticaly shielded.
Title: Re: Behringer Ultra DI-120
Post by: Andy Peters on September 10, 2005, 03:52:13 PM
repairman wrote on Fri, 09 September 2005 20:10

FWIW the outputtransformers on mine DI100 stock are magneticaly shielded.


That must be a relatively new feature upgrade, because I can assure you that the DI-100 that I tested hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmed when put on top of my Test Rig ('67 Ampeg Portaflex B-15N).  A Countryman and the BSS AR133 in the same position were dead quiet.

-a
Title: If Behringer made cars...
Post by: Paul Magro on September 11, 2005, 08:45:42 AM
  If Behringer made cheap cars and 8 out of 10 of them crapped out, why would anyone still buy them to find the two that lasted a little longer? Confused  Rolling Eyes
Title: Re: If Behringer made cars...
Post by: John Roberts {JR} on September 11, 2005, 09:11:37 AM
Paul Magro wrote on Sun, 11 September 2005 07:45

  If Behringer made cheap cars and 8 out of 10 of them crapped out, why would anyone still buy them to find the two that lasted a little longer? Confused  Rolling Eyes


Perhaps the appropriate analogy is PCs... In today's paper the Dell special is $299... how can that be very robust (it isn't), but a lot of people have adjusted their expectations downward and tolerate the new normal.

JR