El Cheapo AliExpress USB Audio Interface

[rubinstu]

Today a targeted spam ad to my email from an AliExpress USB Audio Interface: "Q-24 Q-22 Q-12 Audio Interface Sound Card With Monitor Mixing Console Studio Recording Microphone 48V Phantom Power Sound Mixer"
I was wondering if anyone had any experience with these. The lowest cost one from this is set is only about $19!
Any idea how is would compare to other "consumer" grade interfaces like the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 (which my son uses and like a lot).
I'm not looking to produce the next Dark Side of the Moon, but I am looking for a cheap mic interface for screwing around with for my DIY mics.
Thanks!

 

[ruffrecords]

Interesting. At least they publish a spec but 85dBA dynamic range is not encouraging. Might be worth a punt just to see what is inside it.

Cheers

ian

 

[rogs]

I bought the cheapest one from that range, just for fun.. ( https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004501401478.html )
I wasn't expecting much, but it actually performed quite well. I was quite shocked.
The mic preamps - with phantom power - were way better than I expected!

As to producing Dark Side of the Moon .....
I have an old friend who played with me in our first rock and roll band, way back in the mid 1960s.
We're pensioners now of course, but we still muck about occasionally -- mostly with DIY mics and Behringer interfaces!
We decided that it would be fun to try a track or two from DSOTM, 50 years on, using cheap computer interfacing...

Extract here : https://tinyurl.com/DSOTM-ext (don't laugh! )

As I say, only a couple of pensioners mucking about, but when you think about just how much money was spent on studio kit when the original was made, compared to todays' costs......

There is one excuse we can no longer make..... We used to say we didn't sound very good because we didn't have access to good kit....
Now we know we didn't sound good because we weren't actually very good!

Still enjoy mucking about though....

 

[k brown]

Sold on Amazon as 'XTUGA'

I think these Chinese companies name their products by throwing a few Scrabble letters on the table.

https://www.amazon.com/XTUGA-Interface-Microphone-Podcasting-Noise-Free/dp/B09VXCNNGW
Wonder how difficult it would be kludge a SPDIF output.
https://www.ti.com/product/DIT4096

 

[ruffrecords]

Are you going to open one up to see what chips it uses?

Cheers

Ian

 

[k brown]

Extremely likely . . . ; - )

Supposed to arrive Thurs.

Will be interesting to see if the A/D is any better than that in my little MicroTrack, or my ancient 24 bit Flying Calf.

 

[rogs]

I've opened mine up ..... Single densely packed PCB which contains:
7 x 4580 op-amps and 3 x MC34063 switching regulators.

The main device seems to be a JL AC22BP0O487-51C8 device.
Presumably from these people ? : 珠海市杰理科技股份有限公司-珠海市杰理科技股份有限公司|杰理芯片
(Haven't found any reference to that chip online so far)

Remarkable that they can build, market and then ship these things halfway across the world for less than the price of a couple of packets of cigarettes!

 

[k brown]

I've opened mine up ..... Single densely packed PCB which contains:
7 x 4580 op-amps and 3 x MC34063 switching regulators.

The main device seems to be a JL AC22BP0O487-51C8 device.
Presumably from these people ? : 珠海市杰理科技股份有限公司-珠海市杰理科技股份有限公司|杰理芯片
(Haven't found any reference to that chip online so far)

Remarkable that they can build, market and then ship these things halfway across the world for less than the price of a couple of packets of cigarettes!

"Chips Delight the World" . . .

 

[rogs]

"Chips Delight the World" . . .

There's a whole world of 'new' English phrases to be derived from translating Chinese automatically

Some photos of the PCB below... As I say, pretty impressive for the money.
I've even tried it connected directly to a plug in USB adaptor just providing 5 volts to the device....
Quite a useful analogue 2 channel mic preamp for simple testing.
OK, there are limitations -- the phantom power is only c.40v offload for example - but it still performs better than I was expecting for that price...

 

[rock soderstrom]

There's a whole world of 'new' English phrases to be derived from translating Chinese automatically

Some photos of the PCB below... As I say, pretty impressive for the money.
I've even tried it connected directly to a plug in USB adaptor just providing 5 volts to the device....
Quite a useful analogue 2 channel mic preamp for simple testing.
OK, there are limitations -- the phantom power is only c.40v offload for example - but it still performs better than I was expecting for that price...

How good are the drivers? Are there ASIO drivers for it or standard class compliant? Bitrate and resolution in KHz is how high? On Amzon someone writes only 16 bit, is that right?

Is it not better to use a Behringer interface? The price difference is not that great.

 

[rubinstu]

I bought the cheapest one from that range, just for fun.. ( https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004501401478.html )
I wasn't expecting much, but it actually performed quite well. I was quite shocked.
The mic preamps - with phantom power - were way better than I expected!

As to producing Dark Side of the Moon .....
I have an old friend who played with me in our first rock and roll band, way back in the mid 1960s.
We're pensioners now of course, but we still muck about occasionally -- mostly with DIY mics and Behringer interfaces!
We decided that it would be fun to try a track or two from DSOTM, 50 years on, using cheap computer interfacing...

Extract here : https://tinyurl.com/DSOTM-ext (don't laugh! )

As I say, only a couple of pensioners mucking about, but when you think about just how much money was spent on studio kit when the original was made, compared to todays' costs......

There is one excuse we can no longer make..... We used to say we didn't sound very good because we didn't have access to good kit....
Now we know we didn't sound good because we weren't actually very good!

Still enjoy mucking about though....

@rogs that was f'ing amazing! Don't give me that "don't laugh" BS ! Spot-on production, lovely finger picking, electric guitar "incidentals", and tasteful organ. And I really enjoyed the vocals - you can tell it's not Pink Floyd, but it has your (or whoever is singing) character and sounds great. Hopefully, someday when I'm retired (or become a "pensioner" as you guys say over the pond), I'll be able to put the time in with friends to make some recordings like this for fun. Unfortunately, I still have a few years of work to do!

 

[rogs]

How good are the drivers? Are there ASIO drivers for it or standard class compliant? Bitrate and resolution in KHz is how high? On Amzon someone writes only 16 bit, is that right?

Is it not better to use a Behringer interface? The price difference is not that great.

No supplied drivers..... 48KHz 16 bit only. So, yes I think the Behringer interfaces are a better option for any serious work.
This unit is plastic. Units like the UMC202HD are substantial metal structures -- and have up to 192KHz 24 bit resolution.

But for around £10 ( plus shipping + tax which brought it up to around £20) This was a bit of fun...

 

[rogs]

@rogs that was f'ing amazing! Don't give me that "don't laugh" BS ! Spot-on production, lovely finger picking, electric guitar "incidentals", and tasteful organ. And I really enjoyed the vocals - you can tell it's not Pink Floyd, but it has your (or whoever is singing) character and sounds great. Hopefully, someday when I'm retired (or become a "pensioner" as you guys say over the pond), I'll be able to put the time in with friends to make some recordings like this for fun. Unfortunately, I still have a few years of work to do!

I think you're being very kind..... there are a lot of rough edges .... It's clearly not a 'pro' recording, but it was fun to do!
My friend sang the main vocals and played the finger picked guitar part.... I did the backing vocals and added all the other parts using a Yamaha synth, and recorded the MIDI using Reaper (mix screenshot attached ).
Microphones were a couple of my own RF mics : ( www.amx.jp137.com ) routed through a Behringer UMC 404HD.
EQ, compression and effects were added either from within Reaper itself, or from the Yamaha synth....
Final mix (complete with over the top drum compression! ) is all my fault....

As I say, great fun to actually do...and no pressure if it all goes pear shaped !

For those of us that looked at high quality recording kit in the 60s and 70s from a distance, the idea of being able at copy some of the sounds these days pretty accurately - and for not very much money - still amazes me...

 

[rubinstu]

No supplied drivers..... 48KHz 16 bit only. So, yes I think the Behringer interfaces are a better option for any serious work.
This unit is plastic. Units like the UMC202HD are substantial metal structures -- and have up to 192KHz 24 bit resolution.

But for around £10 ( plus shipping + tax which brought it up to around £20) This was a bit of fun...

Were you able to get an impression of the USB latency in the cheapo model? When my son bought the Focusrite, the latency was a big concern. We had tried a cheaper one and the latency drove us both nuts and we returned it.

 

[ruffrecords]

No supplied drivers..... 48KHz 16 bit only. So, yes I think the Behringer interfaces are a better option for any serious work.
This unit is plastic. Units like the UMC202HD are substantial metal structures -- and have up to 192KHz 24 bit resolution.

But for around £10 ( plus shipping + tax which brought it up to around £20) This was a bit of fun...

From reading the specs no drivers are required. The base level one is 16bit 48KHz but the other models that look more like your regular USB dual channel interface are speced at 24bit/192KHz roughly equivalent to the Behringer UMC202HD but half the price.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Tubetec]

Some of the high spec smart phones have high quality USB headphone adapters with good D/A chips in them ,
They can easily give good quality line out , they incorporate a mic input as well.
They can work with windows computers with an adapter , they guy in the phone shop showed me one for 7.50 the adapter another 3 or 4 .
The Meizu Dac seems to be off the shelves now ,its a pity that was one of the best .

 

[k brown]

No supplied drivers..... 48KHz 16 bit only. So, yes I think the Behringer interfaces are a better option for any serious work.
This unit is plastic. Units like the UMC202HD are substantial metal structures -- and have up to 192KHz 24 bit resolution.

But for around £10 ( plus shipping + tax which brought it up to around £20) This was a bit of fun...

What's the 'Rec' button do - marked 'Mic/Mic+P'?; at first I thought it was phantom on/off, but there's a separate button for that.

 

[rogs]

What's the 'Rec' button do - marked 'Mic/Mic+P'?; at first I thought it was phantom on/off, but there's a separate button for that.

It allows you to overdub onto an existing recording. With the switch off you simply record whatever is connected to the inputs. When pushed 'on' you record the input signals together with the playback of an already recorded input.
I have yet to see what the latency is like.
One thing that does concern me is that the unit seems to draw quite lot of current from the connected USB port....
The spec quotes the power requirements as 'equal to or less than 5W' -- which is quite a lot! I've even had one of my USB3 ports drop out with the device connected, and it needed to be restarted.
I've yet to check just how much power it actually draws..... but it looks like it could be a problem.....

 

[k brown]

It allows you to overdub onto an existing recording. With the switch off you simply record whatever is connected to the inputs. When pushed 'on' you record the input signals together with the playback of an already recorded input.
I have yet to see what the latency is like.
One thing that does concern me is that the unit seems to draw quite lot of current from the connected USB port....
The spec quotes the power requirements as 'equal to or less than 5W' -- which is quite a lot! I've even had one of my USB3 ports drop out with the device connected, and it needed to be restarted.
I've yet to check just how much power it actually draws..... but it looks like it could be a problem.....

Thanks.

That 5W figure seems a bit high for such a device. I was actually planning on running mine off a power bank, or a USB AC power supply. Thanks for the warning.

 

[k brown]

The Q-12 arrived; what a sh*t-show.

After working impressively well at first, soon the Input 1 went mostly dead, the HP jack became intermittent, and the thing now has huge broadband noise on the output - both via USB to the computer and from the line out jacks.

Amazon sending replacement; hopefully a fluke.