Behringer DEQ2496 Ultra Curve Processor

Purchased for use in small demo studio. A few years ago Behringer used to be AKA for cheap and nasty but lots of "nice" flashing lights. Times have changed. Behringer's keen pricing has obviously let them achieve some volume and economies of scale despite the tough economy, which they've clearly ploughed back into R&D. This unit is extremely easy to understand and configure. Feature packed, yet easy to navigate menus. I place the unit between desk and monitors using the digital s/p DIF. It is low noise and input/output levels are fully controlable and accurate. The RTA is great for analysing / autocorrecting the listening space and for tweaking different monitor sets, although budget about another 40GBP for the linear measurement mic (sold separately). (The mic is also amazingly linear considering it is around a tenth the price of competing products.) Only minor complaint would be no soft(i.e. muted) shutdown/ startup, which leads to pops and cracks on power-up/down, so a little care is needed to protect amps/ speakers. You can't complain at this price level. A really useful piece of equipment in a semi-pro set-up. Well done B!

I have been using one of these in various PA setups for quite a while now. For the price it is an incredibly powerful piece of DSP processing equipment. The user interface is excellent, making it really easy to change configuration on the fly. This is really handy for live sound. It isn't so great for studio work unless you are using the digital IO. The analogue inputs and outputs are a bit noisy for recording, but ok for live work in medium size venues. Now for the bad stuff... I have owned 3 of these units over the years and two out of three broke! There is a ribbon cable connecting the IO PCB and the processing PCB together inside this unit and it has a huge flat ferrite on it. If the unit is used in a portable rig, this ferrite bounces around and causes the ribbon table to fail. So its great for an installed rig which will never move, you get a huge number of features for your money! However if you are building a portable rig, steer clear of this unit!

I wanted this as a mastering tool for home recording projects, but also as an EQ for my system. I use a pro amp driven by the preamp out (before the tone stack) of an old integrated. Its a great amp, but has an overly strident midrange. So, kill two birds with one stone - set up so that I can ensure recordings sound good after mixing (I have a CD recorder) in my usual listening space whose characteristics I am used to, and give me a really good EQ to tweak the sound of my old pro amp. There is quite a steep learning curve with this unit. I confess to not reading the instructions properly initially, to the detriment of my speakers. Be careful that levels are properly set if you intend to use the auto EQ feature. Pink noise kills tweeters stone dead. Others have gone into more detail , but you have a choice of parametic or graphic EQ There is a dynamic EQ so you can change the parameters with volume (say more bass at low volumes, lessening as the volume rises) The stereo expander is a nice little touch as are the compression tools. If you use a trs to RCA lead you can connect the aux out to a spare input on the hi fi and listen to what the optical digital out sounds like - usefull if you are mastering, as you can A-B between your project and a "target" recording whose sound you are aiming to emulate.

I use this all the time to fine tune my home Hi Fi when listening through headphones. You can do almost anything to alter the sound to your personal liking and it can memorise your different settings too. I have two that have lasted several years without problem. It takes some time to learn all the features using the well written user manual. I would not buy one unless you can get the manual as it's very sophisticated.

If you buy one, it will fail. When it works, it works well. I've bought 3 at different times and so far, two of them have failed after 3..4 years. The capacitors on the power supply board end up leaking due to a poor design. They are located right next to the power transistors, which get hot. There are no heat sinks for the transistors, so the heat transfers into the PCB (which discolours due to the heat over time). The heat spreads to the capacitors and causes the electrolyte to degrade. The fix is easy enough (replace the 2x 50v 470uF capacitors), but that shouldn't be necessary for such a moderately priced product. They could have done several things to fix the problem (heat sinks, or design the power supply board such that the transistors bond to the case).

Using this for room EQ - great product and auto EQ effectively removing unwanted room resonances (not using any of the other features at the moment) 4* as had to send first unit back as faulty but getting 5* performance at the moment.

After some research I purchased a Behringer DEQ2496 and calibration microphone from Amazon as a "last resort" attempt to solve a problem with my (expensive) hi-fi - a noticeable and distracting bass boom. Previously I had spent many months repositioning my speakers (PMC OB1i's), experimenting with different listening positions, and trying foam bass traps and lots of extra soft furnishings as it was obvious that the boom was a problem with my room acoustics, not the equipment. The Behringer unit was connected between the digital output of my Cyrus CD player and DAC as it seemed to me that any additional analogue conversion in the signal path would be detrimental. As the CD player has 2 digital outputs I was able to easily compare results by switching inputs on the DAC. To cut a very long and tedious story short what the DEQ2496 did for me was to identify and allow me to correct a very significant 80hz spike. Brilliant. The musical magic of my Cyrus/PMC system is now fully restored. Advice for users who are trying to solve a similar problem to mine; Take time and trouble to get to grips with how to operate this unit (it's not easy), experiment with different EQ/PEQ settings, and use the memory functions to store results so you can compare. Whilst it's tempting to play around with equalisation over the full frequency range, the overall effect can destroy the sonic "signature" of the hi-fi system - so only use the DEQ2496 to target very specific bands. Let your ears be the judge of how much correction to apply - in my experience much less than the RTA/Auto EQ functions would indicate. If you have to boost any frequencies make sure you compensate by reducing the EQ gain setting in the Utility menu to avoid any clipping. With patience, perseverance and a lot of critical listening I've solved my room acoustics problem and whilst the DEQ2496 might not be accepted by some as a true "audiophile" solution, I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

ok the bad news first,on its own useing only its own dac-bad fuzzy messy noisey but but good news run out into a better dac oh gosh wow wow then is toneal heaven at your command.