Behringer Microphono PP400

Very basic to set up and sounds great. For the price it cannot be beat. Lacks gain control but I didn't find myself needing it. Small enough to fit nearly anywhere.

Behringer has done it again. The PP400 Ultra-Compact Phono Preamp is exactly what it looks like:It's ultra-compact. It takes up a very negligible amount of space. It will sit comfortably between a turntable and another component.In its compactness, though, it does NOT sacrifice usability. It has no trouble amplifying a turntable's signal to line level. Before buying a preamp, amp could only boost my turntable to a 'easy listening' level. The noise was evident in the signal due to far too much amplification being necessary. With the help of this preamp, my amp no longer acts as a crutch and I can comfortably listen to music without my amp's 'I'm turned up to 11 and struggling' noise.The build quality is far superior than anything else at this price point. It's not cheap plastic like many companies would try to sell, the entire enclosure is fairly thick metal. This makes for a nice interference shield and overall pleasing look. It also features a ground terminal which will hook up to many turntables and amps to further reduce interference.Unfortunately, there is no option to buy it in black. Judging from the accessible screws on the side, though, it would be a small task to take apart the enclosure and paint it myself if I wanted.This preamp also does not have a power switch, but this is not much of an issue. It's one small complaint on an otherwise amazing product.Summary:If you need a preamp, buy this one. It has the same build quality and performance as much more expensive preamps.

UPDATED REVIEW:I have left the original review here for reference, but have updated with a much more positive review. This is due the fact when I first recieved this preamp it did not really seem to be working too well. The sound seemed flat, one dimensional, lacked naturallness, less bass, less crispness, etc. And being this was a very nice higher end Technics turntable from 1974 I was using, and I actually do have a phono input on my reciever and had it runing direct, I was able to determine if this Behringer unit was working well enough or not.The reason I needed it was because I wanted to run my turntable into a 20 band EQ first. The issue is runing the Technics through it then to the phono input, there was a low level hum and it was very annoying. So that is why I got this pre-amp. I already had another one made by McClelland pre-amp on another Technics in another room and I have had it for more than 17 years and it still works but it also was much more expensive and RIAA certified.Anyway when I first hooked up this Behringer unit the sound seemed to take a dive. However for reasons I do not understand it appears that it might have needed to be broken in.? Maybe it needed to be run for awhile. That is all I can figure was happening because days later it sounds way better. At first the Mclelland hooked up on this turntable sounded far superior and natural compared to this unit. Several days later I can't tell any difference in the sound at all. They both result in clean clear smooth well belanced sound. plenty of bass, mids and crisp highs. The Mclelland was nearly $80 if I recall and both sound nearly identicle. But that was not the case before. This Behringer did not deliver very good sound. The more I used it over several days the better it sounded until it leveled off. Now the sound is every bit as good as going direct with no EQ and sounds as good through the EQ to the CD input as it did to the Phono jack, only now without the low level hum that was there before.I am at a loss as to why this unit would need to be broken in but that appears to be the case. So if you purchase this unit give it some hours of use. if it doesn't so great it is possible you will notice an improvement the more you use it. I am glad I gave it another chance. It appears to be working extremely well. My only gripe is that you do need to push the volume up about 6% higher than you would if going direct. Hence the reason for the 4 and not 5 stars. Generally on my top notch 1990's Yamaha reciever I was able to get the volume I get now when it was turned 6% lower. But this is not a deal breaker. Over all this unit is very impressive but might need to be broken in. Sound is clean, pure, crisp, and pretty much accurate going direct- minus a little volume.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ORIGINAL RATHER NEGATIVE REVIEW:I had high hopes for this unit and I read a lot of good (and some bad reviews), and I was realistic that I may be disappointed. And unfortunately I am pretty disappointed. The two biggest issues with this unit is if you have a really decent turntable even if it's not the highest end model and you're used to hearing it into a direct phono input through good receiver or through a graphic EQ setup and into another input? You are going to be disappointed.Putting it bluntly this unit is not capable of allowing a pass-through of the full expansive sound and the natural smooth sound that some turntables are capable of and you will notice a clear lack of quality in the sound although not a deal breaker for some people. If you have a very particular ear like I do you will notice that across the full spectrum you're going to get less Bass. The sound also won't sound as expansive. It won't have that meaty smooth sound that everyone loves from turntables. It makes everything sound a little bit less impressive. A little more unnatural.The other issue that others have mentioned is it doesn't put out a great amount of volume and it's not really what I would consider line level. On my Yamaha receiver if I had it set at anywhere from 32 to 39 that was more than enough volume for the music to shine and for it not to be too low or too loud. Unfortunately with this Behringer unit it does not put out a lot of volume. Now to get the same volume on my Yamaha receiver as I had before I had to raise the volume to where it shows 18 or less. On this Yamaha unit the more you turn it up the lower the numbers go. So in other words to get the same volume that I got when it was in the 30s I have to raise it now into the teens. This translates to about a 15 to 18% less volume than what would be if you ran the turntable directly into the phono input.If you happen to be a person who is not into pristine sound or really understand just how good a really great turntable can sound you may have no complaints except for the fact that this unit doesn't really pump the volume up very high. It's a huge difference between plugging your phono into a CD Jack for example and turning it all the way up to even barely hear anything. It will increase the volume dramatically compared to that. But it will not be anywhere close to the line level of say a CD player, DVD, Blu-ray, etc.I had another turntable that had a built in preamp which was actually a decent turntable but it was nothing special. It had surprisingly great sound for being not really a high-end model or even a middle of the road model. I was fine with it and I used that instead of two different Technics models that I had. The reason for this is I wanted to run it through a graphic EQ which I've used for a long time. And that turntable had its own preamp. And it so happens that my Yamaha receiver DOES have a phono input but I preferred the sound of my EQ to going direct. This EQ does not have its own preamp. It's more of a process and pass- through unit. Unfortunately recently that turntable began to have a problem and it no longer works right. So I presently have my old technics SL-5200 quartz unit set up. This is a mid-range model that even today has been known to sell for as much as $600 used.Of course it does not have a preamp so I ran it direct into my Yamaha receiver and I was disappointed and how much better smoother clearer and more expensive the sound was going direct into the phono input.. Because the receiver produces a beautiful amount of bass and mid-range but I was used to the crisper higg end I was getting from the EQ. I just didn't care for the direct sound because it was just so straightforward and not enough clarity for my taste. Simply because my ears are used to a really good quality graphic EQ that I can set to my own taste. And I slowly just stopped listening to my records because all of the many different nuances and character of the sound just weren't there anymore. So I decided to run the turntable into a regular CD input on the graphic EQ and then the output into the phono Jack. This works beautifully and the EQ allows all the certain characteristics of the sound and what the turntable is capable of to be undisturbed, yet you are having the sound curve you're looking for on your graphic EQ. The bad news is it produces a low level hum in the background because that's not exactly how you're supposed to hook it up. However all the beautiful sound quality of the turntable and what it is capable of was intact.I realized since this turntable does not have a built-in preamp I had to get one. And I did my research on nearly a dozen different units. If you go on YouTube and look this unit up there's a whole bunch of side by side comparisons between it and a dozen different units. Some costing over $100. And for the most part this Behringer sounded equally as good if not better than any of the other models including the ones that were much more expensive. There wasn't much of a difference in volume between these different units that were shown in side by side comparisons either. This was convincing enough for me to realize I don't need to shop around anymore.In reality the sound quality of this preamp isn't that bad but if you're used to clear expansive sound and a natural sound you're not going to get that with this unit. It's simply not capable of allowing all of the different characteristics and nuances of the natural sound that comes from your turntable to come through in all of its glory. If you are used to a higher quality of sound you're not going to get it with this unit or frankly with a lot of the other units that I heard you won't do much better. I am thinking about returning this item and running the turntable through the graphic EQ and then into the phono jack and put it like I had it because the sound was undisturbed and it sounded pure and beautiful. And just live with the very low level hum.Basically what I'm saying is this unit will reduce the quality of the sound of just about any turntable and it will sound less impressive than it would if you just went direct or through a graphic EQ. Based on this I can't recommend this unit unless you simply have no other choice but to buy something like this in order to hear your music through a receiver. Just expect that you're going to not be hearing the full ability of a decent turntable with this unit.PROS:Virtually no buzz hum or any other interference even when it's turned up loud with no music playing on your turntable. This unit excels in keeping interference out of the picture which is a good thing.Reasonably good sound if you are not a purist and you are not aware of the full ability of your turntable. This will get the job done and if you don't know any different you will believe this is more than efficient to make your music sound like it sounds pretty decent. You're definitely getting some low-end mids and decent crisp highs. But at the same time you will be losing some of all three of these attributes by going through this unit. However if you don't know any different and this is the only option you have you should be reasonably pleased.Solid build quality. The unit doesn't feel cheap.CONS:This unit does not allow the full expansiveness of a decent turntable to be heard. There will be some loss of the overall sound quality compared to just going direct into a phono input. Some expansiveness of the natural sound will be lost as well as some bass mids and highs. The best way I can describe it is a cheaper sound though it may not be dramatically noticeable for persons without trained ears. Having said that even those persons will notice if you were to hear the same turntable direct through a photo input and then through this unit they would notice that this unit does lower the overall quality of the sound if not by a massive margin.Unsatisfying volume level that does not put the turntable at the line level you are expecting from other units such as a CD player DVD player Blu-ray player cassette player etc. this is one of the most disappointing aspects of this unit. It doesn't boost the volume up real loud and you'll find you're having to turn your receiver a rough amount of at least 35 to 30% higher to get the same volume you would get if you went direct or that you would expect from your CD player.

I recently bought a Audio Technica AT-LP60 Turntable. It had numerous issues, but the worst was that it had a horrible throbbing static when you turned on it's built-in pre-amp, and there was no ground wire connection to try to reduce EMI (electro-magnetic interference). I purchased this re-amp to try to alleviate the problem having no idea whether it would actually help or not.Thankfully, this small, simple item COMPLETELY eliminated the problem. The sound on the turntable went from static-filled and distorted to so clean you could mistake it for a music CD if not for the characteristic naturalness of the sound and the deep, smooth bass.The device DOES have ground wire connection, but I found I didn't even need it as the EMI was completely gone without a trace. There appears to perhaps be a very slight cut-off of range, but it's so small you'd have to have incredibly sensitive ears to notice it. The device also does not amplify as loudly as the built-in pre-amp does, but my stereo receiver can easily compensate for this by increasing the volume a tad, with no noticeable loss of clarity.There is no power button/switch on this unit, but it always is cool to the touch so I don't see any fire hazard. You will hear a large thumping cackle if you move the device, so turn off your receiver or at least turn it down before moving.All that said, this is an absolutely essential purchase if your receiver does not have a Line In or if you don't have any means of amplification (or if your built-in amp on your turntable is junk like mine was).Excellent.