My new favorite blog .

http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/behringer-uca202-review.html

Holy moly, look at those graphs - all twenty of them!

Graph porn!

Interesting. Tks, Doc.

Yeah. They go for about $35 in Canada. I am going to pick one up but will have to wait a bit since both the UCA202 and UCA222 are out of stock right now (5-10 days). Go figure?

Thanks Dr House. Bookmarked as a favorite site.

This person seems to review affordable priced gear which is great (sometimes too affordable ). These reviews in his blog are MUCH better IMO than most specialized A/V review sites. The great thing about this device is that it can act more than just a basic DAC. The bonus is the headphone connectivity. Though limited to high impedance headphones for best performance because of its high output impedance of 50 ohms. It's not really suited for portable headphones which in turn are suited for portable FLAC/MP3 players.

If you read his Sansa Clip+ review you will see the importance for the lower output impedance of portable music players with certain headphones. The rated 1 ohm output impedance of the Clip+ vs. 7 ohm of the Apple iPod Touch and the non-linear frequency response variations that are exhibited with iPod because of this.

I was very interested in the Matrix HiFi Behringer vs High End Gear link where they blind tested an A500 and cheap Sony DVD player hooked up by corner store RCA cables and perched on an old wooden chair vs the $12,000 hifi setup. Excellent!

Here are some 3rd party measurements of the A500 and they are impressive. This amp delivers at that price and then some...

http://theaudiocritic.com/plog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=22&blogId=1

Thanks, Doc. I think I read that article, or one like it, a while ago. I'm wondering if the A500 can go below 4 ohms, can't find much info.

It will be able to go below 4 ohms. It should drive almost any speaker, however I would be leery driving a speaker that has demanding impedance and phase interactions that dip anywhere as low in the 2-3 ohm region. The amp would run very hot (scorching?) at the very least.