Behringer Ultramatch PRO SRC2496

164159
Upsampling - is it good or bad ?
Have I found the best DAC in the World ? I can assure you - I am DAMN
CLOSE !
february 2009

I must admit, that I don't know digital technology well enough to dive deep into
explanations about upsampling.
So it must be for the time being enough to say, that the SPDIF signal is converted from
44,1 kHz to higher frequencies (96 kHz) and higher bitrate (24) so it "looks" like DVD or
SACD signal. So DACs which are capable of converting such high resolution signals -
are working in different conditions - at the upper limits of their capabilities.

I was offered to test the funny machine - the famous Behringer Ultramatch Pro- a box
made for the pro audio industry , which can convert and manipulate any digital signal
to any other.
Among 100 other functions - Behringer can simply upsample the straight S/PDIF into
96kHz/24 Bit.
The box is simply placed in series with the S/PDIF cable - between the transport and
the DAC.
I connected it in my system between my Philips Fikus Transport and two DACS which I
had at hand - the lampized Buffalo Sabre32 and Wolfson WM8742.

Normally - I hate devices which add complexity and add manipulation to the sound. I
believe in less is better.
BUT
This device is different, Unlike oversampling - which we already know is VERY bad for
music - upsampling may be sometimes VERY GOOD. It is not the panacea, universal
Hi-Fi cure, but in my system, very revealing and transparent - I tell you as it was.
YMMV.

I can tell you - after hitting the UPSAMPLE button on the Behringer - I was taken to
heaven. The DAC strarted to behave like a magic box.
The normal signal, the normal sound - was taken to another level.
Something extraordinary happened. I have big problems putting it in words, especially
English.
Music becomes smooth, liquid, magical. The same music which sounded just great
without Behringer - with the process of upsampling sends the chill up my spine.
Whhhooooa! Now this is another experience - this is high end. I CAN'T POSSIBLY GO
BACK TO NAKED DAC. The whole thing is about the PLEASURE of listening. It
increases much.

Now - the price context - we are not talking 100 000 Euro like for Goldmund heavy CD
table. We are talking maximum 150 Euro, or even less. I bought mine for 80 incl vat,
brand new with warranty etc,.
Yes, for a mere 100 Eu extra - our transport - DAC combo can be improved by a whole
level.

I can not guarantee that this will apply to all DACS - your mileage may vary. But if the
DAC is a 96 kHz/24Bit compatible - the Behringer will be your best spent 100Eu ever.
I am keeping my unit.
Or maybe - I2S - withoutr Behringer will sound even better ? I must check it.
Generally, the studio pro industry seems to have completely different price point
calculations than High End. Their product costs the cost of parts and labour plus a
margin.
Not "cost plus 10 000 Euro. " The built quality is very good, parts are good, sound is
great. Such a honest product that my hats off.

Behringer Ultramatch Pro SRC2496

What I dont like is the amount of LEDs and options on the front - but hey, it is
a PRO equipment not home lifestyle. And if it plays well, who gives a shit.
The red circles indicate the caps that can be replaced. Tantalum 10uF/10V are
good for the small ones, but not for the big blue one .
Blackgates are good too.
Generally - dont use caps bigger than 100uF - and the big blue can be a few
thousand uF by minimum 16V.
What else dos behringer Ultramatch Pro does ?

Well,
I am really impressed. Not only Ultramatch upsamples, not only it accepts AES/EBU
signals, Toslink, S/PDIF and outputs all and any of the above. It also has a very good
ADC converter for recording analog to digital. It also has a built in DAC - a superb
Japanese chip called AK 4393. You can simply add lampizator to this DAC and you
have a high end DAC with upsampling built in .

You could also upgrade the cheap electrolytic caps to the oscon , blackgate or even
SEPC Oscon level. So the sky is the limit on Behringer.
I will investigate it further and you make sure you buy one to experiment.
The only downside is the looks - it has visual design not from my preferred style to put
it mildly.

A month later.
I was sitting at home on one sunday afternoon and suddenly an itch occurred, a fire in
my fingers - to SOLDER SOMETHING. I did not feel like a long project - so just for the
hell of it I grabbed the soldering iron and I put 2 wires from test box Lampizator to the
Behringer Ultramatch Pro DAC chip - abovementioned AKM AK4393.
(I swear this SMD print is so f**g fine and thin and small that you better ask your
friendly eye surgeon to help you with soldering.

Anyway - one - two - three - the behringer is lampized.

I have floated the DAC outputs and soldered them directly to SRPP using Tesla
Goldpin E88CC and 200 Ohm resistors in cathodes.

I admit - I was expecting good sound. And it is good. It is damn good. I have direct
comparison with the second Behringer working as upsampler only and driving a hot
rodded Lampucera with the mighty DAC CS4397 and I am telling ya - The AKM DAC is
a little bit better. Even BEFORE cap tuning of Behringer.

AKM DAC (NOT EVEN THEIR TOP MODEL) is equally good as ESS Sabre32
Reference DAC, equally good as Wolfson WM8742 , but the fact that it is DIRECTLY
BUILT IN - makes it a winner. The upsampling process applied directly from Behringer
on the dac has a clear edge over two unnecessary S/PDIF processes - out of
Behringer and into the Lampucera receiver chip. The AKM omits all that and it sits right
on the music.

To my ears, the Lampized AKM is a DREAM COME TRUE: the quality is mind-
blowing, that's how good it is. We get (okay - an ugly) case with power cable, switch, all
power supplies, transformer. display LED, we get all we need except lampizator.

This device with lampizator installed - becomes my new reference

DAC - but of course only with the upsampling function active.
Above - one VERY good variant of Behringer without tubes. It uses two
sowter 9545E transformers instead. They are running from balanced DAC
direct outputs into SE secondary. The connection takes 5 minutes and the
sowters cost 140 GBP per pair. Together for 200 GBP including a new
Behringer we get a stellar performer ! Recommended. On the sound quality
scale between the stock opamp stage and the lampizator stage this is 90 % at
the lampizator's end.
To steal the signal I removed completely the integrated quadrupled R43
resistor 11K. I simply applied on the quadruple resistor a big drop of solder
which heated it so much that it fell off.
Then I soldered AWG30 silver wires to the soldering spots on the DAC side of
those resistors now removed.
Counting from top of the photo these are R+, R-, L+ and L- voltage outputs
with very small DC offset. I measured only 0,15 V not 2,5 as usual. In fact - I
believe they can be connected to tube without any caps in series - just wired
directly to tube grids.

This system does not require any filter in analog domain.

I wire it naked sauté to the tubes.

If you use single ended solution with one phase - use 1st and 3rd point, or -
2nd and 4th.

Better way is to use them BOTH phases and all 4 signals.

This product has 4 voltage regulators: two for opamps - 15 V and -15V - these
regulators are on the back wall, left of the one marked 5V above. Their role is
for output opamps and headphones. I did not need that so I have cut off their
respective AC power - the yellow pair from transformer.
Other than that - there are two 5V regulators. Main one is on the back wall
with big screw. This one supplies the DAC and some other parts. In all, 5 caps
buzzed to confirm connection to this regulator's output.
The biggest blue cap above on the photo with red circle mark is BEFORE the
5V regulator - it is the main raw supply. You need a 16 V minimum rating for
this cap, and a minimum of 1000 uF. I used 3300 uF Nichicon.
I experimented with the remaining 5 small electrolytes, and the small BG HX
HQ 22 uF were best for me. I did not like oscons there - can't say why.

Later I decided, that since I am adding the new transformer anyway - I may
replace the stock miniature transformer (the small EI below)

The stock trafo has two secondaries:

10 V for the 5V DC regulators (our good supply) and 18 V for the opamps.
Cutting the opamps supply - yellow pair - does not affect the digital
functioning of the Behringer but the trafo has easier work when the opamps
are killed.
So you can cut the yellow and keep the orange wires.
The big trafo is my new Lampizator transformer with 5 V (for rectifier tube
heating) 2 x 6,3 V, 2 x 12,6 V and 2 x 230 V ac You can do any tube circuit
imaginable with it.
I decided to use the 1A secondary 6,3 V AC for the Behringer in place of the
stock trafo, and then - build the lampizator.
6,3V rectified gives 9 V DC, ideal for 5V regulators.
BUT WRONG WAY !
This did not sound good at all.
Then I used 12 V secondary (18 V rectified) and it sounded much better but
the regulators overheat.
So I went back to the stock trafo - the 10 V AC output (15 V rectified) and it is
just perfect. Without the opamp load - with yellow wires cut - the stock
transformer is really very good.
As you see above there is a provision for the star ground point as well as
toroid transformer mounting nest. Just perfect.
If you are one of those persons who need exact recipe - use 330 Ohm Rk, 200
VDC Ua, 250 K grid resistor, 2,2 uF input caps MKP by 160V or more going to
grids, but the other phase of signal must have bigger cap - 10 uF is an
absolute minimum. I used 22 uF Tantalums, plus side towards cathodes. . All
resistors 1/4 W metalized 1% type.
Tubes - any choice from the above list. My best pick is e801cc from Siemens
or 6H6P Russian.

Below in the schematics of power supply use 20 or 40 mH choke by 20 mA or

more.

Here comes my cave wall painting power supply schematics:

OK , OK, I AM NOT GOOD AT DRAWING !!!

Download schematics of Behringer HERE (2 MB)

BEHRINGER PROPERLY LAMPIZED

The above is a one tube variation of the previous scheme. This is my actual
reference in real life. Very elegant and pure design.
===========================

July 18 2009

I want to get better results - my analog stage is almost perfect. There is not
much more one can do.
Of course everybody is more than welcome to try and do better. I am not
claiming to know anything about tubes, I just have fun trying various
solutions.

To better the above design one can:

1. Make dual mono construction with two power supplies.
2. Use exotic parts. I tried to use electrolyteless design with all PIO in power
supplies (first - 4 uF as maximum allowed by tube datasheet for the diodes,
and then - two caps of 10 uF after the choke. It is very very clean design and
sound.
3. Make it fully balanced by using one triode per phase per channel. In that
case - the minus signal is used the same as plus (to the grid) in separate
triode. (second triode of same tube).

Now I am going to upgrade the Behringer PCB again.

I already upgraded the power supply caps to a mix of tantalums and oscons.
The output analog stage can be upgraded (opamp power supply and coupling
caps) and it will give very good results. But I opted for lampization instead,
because no matter how you tweak the opamps - they will not even come
close to tubes. The energy and slam of tubes cant be matched. It is like
comparing the traffic light acceleration of a car and sport motorcycle.

Anyway - my next step is the DIGITAL INPUT SECTION

Thanks to my audio buddies relentlessly searching for the Holy Grail, I already
got some tips.

1. The digital signal comes in via a digital transformer.

Its role is a mysterious one. It sits there God Knows What For. I know that a
telecom cable buried under a desert needs a transformer to avoid the ground
potential differences and to protect from damage. (by the way - the modern
day S/PDIF receivers are offspring's of the broadly used long distance format
called RS422).
But since we are not sending our signal over a distance, under the desert,
and by the cable that's one mile long - we don't need the transformer at all.
Our receiver is a simple device - it sits there waiting for the zero to become
one or vice versa. A simple gate is triggered by the square wave going up or
down. The gate could not CARE LESS whether the signal arrived by the cable
of 75 Ohms, by a coax, twisted pair, lamp cord or else. The transformer can
not add any value added to the zero becoming a ONE. So in DAC-Transport
connections we can completely ignore the whole "75 Ohms " hysteria.
Why inside players the same digital signal can travel over one metre of thin
trace without any transformer and any 75 Ohm termination ? And in outside
cable - all of the sudden - it MUST ???
I know that I am alone here, and every audio guru, specialist, salesman, critic
or even engineer will tell you that the S/PDIF transmission MUST be
terminated at both ends with 75 Ohms and the plugs must be special and the
cable must be of characteristic impedance 75 Ohms. However NOBODY EVER
demonstrated that it matters to the sound, or even to the oscilloscope or the
"happiness" of the chips involved.

Of course - the ONLY proper way of sending a fast signal far away is to use not
coax but twisted pair and balanced signal. THEN WE DO need the transformer
at each end to de-symmetrize it. Or in case of receivers - like CS84XX - they
have already built in symmetrical inputs.

After removing the transformer, we can connect our good new RCA directly
to the output positive leg of that transformer.

This brings audible effect comparable to a MAJOR cable swap or tube

upgrade from chinese to NOS.

We can stop there.

For the open minded, Mister Andy - the Shigaraki guru - proposes to go
further and remove the first chip on the input - the analog multiplexer. It is
needed only for the people working with multiple digital inputs at the same
time. THANK YOU ANDY for being so restless.

We small mortals just need the Behringer to play one input - S/PDIF from our
transport.
Actually I may be using the second input for the Squeezebox..
What Andy did is simple: he found the input leg of the upsampler chip
CS8420 which has the S/PDIF readily available as input - and he wired that
directly via a series 100 nF cap to the RCA input. Bypassing the MUX chip
completely. Connect to the POSITIVE input of the chip, and wire the RCA
ground to the digital ground point nearest to the Upsampler chip.

HERE IS THE DATASHEET OF THE MUX CHIP

My advice is verified by first hand experience. It is excellent upgrade !!!

Just look:

With a magnifying glass or just very young eyes you can solder a thin thin
wire to legs 4 and 5 of the receiver - upsampler DAC.
Leg 4 gets plus of S/PDIF and leg 5 the insulated minus (not touching chassis).
The minus of RCA should be grounded.
The RCA can have 75 Ohms across or not
The caps from RCA to Receiver are in my case 100 nF MKP, but any value
between 10 nF to 1 uF will do. Ceramic 10 n is a good choice, like styroflex,
mica, etc. Just no PIO.

While we are at it we can remove also the toslink receiver. It wont be needed
anymore.
============================

We have no more low hanging fruits here. Going further is advanced

tweaking and in fact - not so important anymore.
We could:

1. Upgrade the upsampler chip to the newer, better model from CS

2. Change the AKM dac for the latest and best AK4396
3. Add two regulators for 5V to supply the upsampler chip CS8420 - one for
digital - pin 23, one for analog - pin 6 . To do this we need AC of 6-9V, rectify it
to circa 8-10 V DC by diode bridge, then go to a cap, like 3300 uF by 16 V DC.
After the cap - put two regulators 7805 with left legs to the capacitor plus,
middle legs to ground (cap minus) and both right legs separated are outputs.
At the outputs we put a tantalum cap - like 20 or more uF by 6,3 V or more.
We can of course use any cap there - low esr, oscon or blackgate. Or simply a
4uF MKP or something.
We will get two separate regulated supplies of 5VDC of high quality which
we can then feed to the chip inputs of power (after floating them).
The two regulators do not need heat sinks.

FIND THE CS8420 DATASHEET HERE .

SOoooooo dear folks - we can take pliers and remove that bloody brown
transformer like a rotten tooth. Just make sure - you pull the correct one.

==================
2 weeks later

The modded behringer was put to test with the Audionote champs: DAC4 ad
DAC2. Both have huge investments in blackgates inside, better tubes, PIO
caps etc.
DAC2 has the good old BB PCM63 and DAC4 has AD1865.

Behringer was for the first time an equal fighter. Even with the 17 000 Euro
for DAC4 (plus 1000 Eu for blackgates and upgrades of the A-Note) the
Behringer sound was in my opinion more interesting, with wealth of details
presented in a very natural fashion. Behringer was drawing me into the
music. Audionote DAC4 had to fight very hard to match that.
After 2 hours - the scale started tipping on the Audio-Note side because of
long warm-up of Blackgates. But the fact that such battle was almost equal -
is phenomenal success. Behringer is a real mature champion. In my case - the
cost did not exceed 200 Euro. Even without my cheap buying price and with
somewhat more realistic lampization price - the total cost should not exceed
800 Eu. Wow !

Concerning AN DAC2 SE - the battle (in completely different system) was also
interesting. In that system I preferred AN DAC2 because of its super natural
"jazzy atmosphere" but on detail, space and rhythm - AN had no chance. So it
was down to a personal taste thing.

My friend ANDY has made two more discoveries:

1. You can remove the entire front panel and use the PCB alone. The last
settings by buttons are memorized in non volatile memory - the settings
remain even after power is down for the night. So we can put the pre-set PCB
in a new beautiful box.

Andy went even further - he cut the pcb on the line just left of the DAC
(analog stage, Analog output, input, ADC) and the DAC still works. Don't
forget - we already removed the yellow wire power, the input transformer,
the input multiplexer chip and many more.

JUST LOOK:
Here is also another product from Behringer worth mentioning - Lampizator
version of Ultracurve

ONE YEAR LATER

I have an audiophile friend who borrowed my Behringer and he was blown
away and he sasid it is the best CD sound he ever heard and he heard a lot.
So thats how an idea of a commercial production at Service was born.
I designed the new Behringer machine and Waldemar built his first DAC from
sctratch (what a rhyme !)
My design was to make use of the Ultramatch with the best of everything we
can come up with.

Tadadada drums rolling - here comes the world first Lampized Boxed
Ultramatch on Steroids. A monster of DACS.

Without a need to skip to the verdict here it is: the sound of this monster is
the best I ever heard from CD period. It beats the Audionote 4 and the
Buffalo and the Wolfsons and the Satch - it beats them all. Such ENORMOUS
power, slamm, resolution, not even the electron microscope but a whole
goddamn HUBBLE telescope into the musical event. This experiments almost
redefines my whole thinking about whats possible with digital.

I drove it by my squeezebox (untouched virgin one) and the result floored

me.
Enough bullshit - here is what I did (by the good hands of Valdemar)

I used a large box because there is NEVER enough space.

I cut away the empty parts of the Behringer's front panel (I mean the alu
profile) so the shorter "version" fits inside
I upgraded all 5V carrying caps on the main PCB with Oscons (mandatory).
I bypassed all circuitry of the digital input, transformer and selector MUX and
I wired digital in - straight to the chip input leg via just one series cap 10 nF -
as described above.
I connected the AK4393 chip outputs to the tube grids via small 10 uF/ 6V
oscons in series.
Opposite phase of DAC output is left unused.
I designed a VERY oversized and overspecified power supply for the anodes:
with 50 VA core, CLCLC filter, two 40H chokes, one (first) pio cap 1 uF / 600 V
followed by a 470 uF rubycon and then the GIGANTIC vintage siemens 1500
uF / 385 V .
The tubes are e88cc philips goldpin SQ series in SRPP config and 300 Ohm
cathodes.
The lower cathode resistor is bypassed with an oscon 470 / 16.
Ua = 220 V
The rectification is provided by a symmetrically driven dual diode tube 5u4C
The total stored energy is BIGGER than in most amplifiers.
The heaters are DC and regulated. We overheat the tubes by just 1 % where
they sound more open. We used a 4004 diode from center leg of a 12 VDC
regulator to the ground, making it a 12,7 VDC regulator - just for the tubes in
series heater arrangement)
My new naval power switch with a ring led glow.

Detailing of the metalwork

Th switch again
The whole huge box - I mean it is really BIG.
on the back side I designed two digital inputs and two parallel outputs.
There is also a fuse and AC inlet with a RFI filter.
Analog section general view.
The horizontal tube on the right is the rectification diode (octal type)
Above the detail of a hidden Behringer front panel

This capacitor is so big - the internal volume is HALF LITER I used a same cap
for Loredana's DAC with the Sabre chip.
To avoid any hum we used a thick 1,3 mm copper wire for the GND.
These Philips tubes are drop dead gorgeous (soundwise I mean, I am not
THAT crazy about tubes to call them gorgeous looking. Not that crazy) ,
beaten only by the siemens.
The famous soviet paper in oil - the MB means maslienno- bumaznyj. They
are 95 as good as PIO jensens.
Nice glow of the dual diode
Isnt that switch cool ? It will become Lampizator's characteristic unique
selling proposition.
Now, the tricky part: will the new owner like it ????

a month later

(He did)

Also read this story of a Mikrolampizator in Behringer Ultramatch

Ultramatch Mikrolampized
March 2010

In order to keep the Ultramatch inside its own box and to have it lampized I
had to come up with a really compact solution.

Having spent one year on the Behringer improvements, I already knew most
of the tricks:
1. Input bypass - all the way from RCA to the receiver chip.
2. Oscons everywhere
3. Lampization with signal straight from DAC chip

To keep the tube arrangement fully inside and concealed - I decided to use
these great subminiature tubes from Soviet Union: 6H16.

Below you will see what I did.

New RCA's - two for output and one for input. Digital transformers removed.
Above: very good arcotronics capacitors. (output decoupling)
Main PSU block has just CRC with 2 x 820 uF / 250 V Rubycon caps and 10 K
resistor. (the cap values are HUGELY oversized)
Above: signal stealing points and oscons in the supply of DAC chip.
General view
My transformer: 20 VA, 160 VAC + 6,3 VAC
Above: two mikrolampizator tubes mounted horizontally on a vertical PCB
(Thank you Valdemar for providing your ideas here)
Just look! What a joy! Some people get excited by the all MBL system with 8
monoblock amps 500 W each. I get excited over THIS.

This system sounds great - equally good as the normal noval version in bass
and treble department, and audibly better in midrange department.
It is not simply a "midrangey" sound - no - it is well balanced, simply there is
more magic and inner lighht in the mid range.

Highly recommended.
I used following settings: no dither, no emphasis , mode: sample rate conv,
clock: internal, Word 24 bit, Upsampling to 96 kHz.