Behringer 369-KT vs Neve 33609/J. Round 2! 

If you really want to hear the difference between what’s going on in these units go to the mixbuss part between 8:00-9:00. That’s where he starts to get them balanced against each other. Listen to what happens to the guitars when it’s switched from Behringer to Neve. Then listen to what happens to the low end in the middle image when you switch from Behringer to Neve. Then listen to what happens to the combination of the guitars and the low end when you switch from Behringer to Neve. Here’s what I hear (for whoever gives a shit): The Neve makes the signal wider, and retains more low mids, more life, and more color in the guitars, while simultaneously maintaining the solidity, separation and image clarity of the low end. The Behringer eats up a lot of low mid and low info, and narrows the stereo image slightly (relative to the Neve). The guitars lose their fullness, lose a little bit of their width, and the low end loses quite a bit of fullness and roundness. There is also quite a difference in the saturation characteristics. At first listen, it seems like the Neve is almost muddier, but as he matches the time constants a little more you hear the transient info glue with the body of the mix more on the Neve and the guitars sound more colorful and richer. The Behringer really pushes the snare forward and a little more definition and color come into the high mids, and that top end lift and low end thinning are reminiscent of ITB compression. That said, the actual time constants sound identical. So if you simply adore that specific aspect of the OG, I guess getting the Behringer would be a good move. My personal opinion is you could spend that money more effectively. The only reason these units are being cloned so much now is because it’s slightly more esoteric than a G-Buss and some other iconic units that have been endlessly cloned. This is an uninteresting compression sound imo. The whole point of using Neve is the tone. The tone isn’t there on the Behringer. It’s simple as that. If you don’t care about the tone then why exactly would you buy this thing? Here’s the real skinny: stop buying clones unless they’re high end clones. I don’t even think the Heritage Audio 33609 sounds that great. None of this gear will make you a better engineer. You still need to know how to mix. The vintage units are overpriced, but when you get your hands on a proper piece of analog hardware compared to a literally cheap knock-off, the benefits are obvious. Invest in things you can use over and over again on a mix. This compressor design is not flexible whatsoever. It’s good on drums and mixbuss primarily. This is a luxury piece of kit, not an essential. Highly recommend investing in a preamp in the same price range. Tracking/running all your shit through that will do acres more for your mix than one instance of either of these.

Soooo close!! Good job Behringer!!! I want 2!

Dude. You are a legend! Well done, I subbed hard!

I´d say at the same settings the NEVE compresses slightly more ... Great video!!! 👍👍👍

There will always be disagreements in the comments section; I for one think the differences, especially in “box tone” are rather significant. But I REALLY appreciate you making and posting the video! Thanks 🙏

Excelent job! Thanks.

I was going to say that on the drums the Behringer sounds more "spikey" on the transients and the Neve has a rounder (and consequently "warmer/fuller" sound) but after reading some comments i realized the attack time is not the same on both units. Still, both sound great. I'm impressed, never imagined Behringer getting at this level of quality/price.

I prefer the Neve for the rounder low end, but holy smokes that is close. Really excited for all this new Behringer hardware and I'm also taking a hard look at the Klark Teknik stuff they've built as well.

Now I want to hear you shootout the new Behringer 1073 clone vs a real one. I have a 1073dpx unit but was thinking of getting a second one for guitars -- if the Behringer is close enough I would probably get it for like $3,000 less.

Awesome video!!!

It's ultimately just physics and math. If they replicated the circuit exactly with electronic components of same electric specs, regardless on the country of origin, then the circuit has no choice but to sound identical. The slight differences are most likely the cumulative effect of slight variations in each individual component as allowed by the tolerance spec. For example if the origonal uses a 5%+/- resistor or cap, that allows for five percent variation of nominal resistance or capacitance. Same for inductors, transformers, etc. In this sense, two separate Neve's could've sounded just like this, one with a slight air lift, the other one slightly rounder, but with overall same behavior and characteristic tone.

Thanks for setting up this test!!! The difference you are hearing is the attack the 33609/j only has the 3 millisecond fast attack on compression where the Behringer has both 3 and 6 millisecond. I think Behringer had to keep Klark Teknik and Midas alive as brands for a period of years as part of the buy out and I would venture to say that time os over and they will begin to fold Klark into the Behringer brand. Midas on the other hand has a great reputation in the live world and is more valuable to keep alive as their premium brand.

sounds great, cool video

Thanks for doing this shootout. I finally got to listen in my studio. Although, you can't deny that Behringer stepped up their game with this unit, the one overriding sonic thing I noticed on the mix bus is the upper mids on the OG unit sounded smoother on my monitors. This makes me wonder about how it sounds when you have a mix with vocals, how will the mid range profile sound in comparison to an instrumental. Will it stand-up or will it start to sound edgy or harsh?

On my Kali LP6s, I cna't hear enough of a difference to justify the cost of the Neve. I'm impressed enough with your show to get me to subscribe!

Wow! Nice demo man! I kinda like the lift of the B myself… crazy.

I totally agree with your findings. Tons of people on Gearsapce were claiming they could "clearly" hear the differences - so I posted a blind test and almost everyone got it dead wrong. I will say that people seemed to adjust their attitude quickly thereafter, but it has devolved a bit again lol. All that being said, I will likely go with the new audioscape version :)

Thanks for the video.

I own 9 Behringer synthesizers and 2 Behringer drum machines and I knew I wouldn't be disappointed by this shootout. Now I'm super excited about buying their new ouboard gear!

Amazingly, for this demonstration I preferred the Behringer! It hugs the bass drum in the perfect way almost like how the G Bus does. Cost aside, I could see myself applying one or the other to different mixes.

Men thanks, for sharing the world this fantastic and brilliant video, and the difference it's too small between the original Neve 33609 and Berhinger 369, i have to say thank for Berhinger for done a great job hire, for helping people around the world with this brilliant unit am really love it sound great and will buy Berlinger for the price and sound quality, sorry for the legendary Neve.

THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO, SIR.

Great vid by the way! Subscribed :))

Incredible! Behringer did a great job again !

In your quick back and forth, I think the output knobs on the Neve are set a touch higher than the Behringer(accounting for the slight volume difference I hear). Both sound great and a $499 option is pretty stunning.

If money were no object, I'd get one of each. I like the berry on guitars and I like the Neve on bass and kick. Revisions were mentioned, and that's a good point. It sounds like they are different revisions of the same circuit.

The only difference I perceive is the original Neve tends to display a little more the low mids, which heps make kick and snare more even in the attack.

This’ll be good - going to give this a listen/look

Thanks for the shootout! You should add the 33609 uad plug-in in too. My ears like the the neve way better and usually I find between the cheaper HW and good plug-in i like the plug-in counterpart plus some harmonics from Saturn, black box or decapitator with it.

They use the name Behringer because the 369 and 1273 are designed by the same team as the one that made a lot of their successful synths, they have are really good reputation in the synth world! (if a remember correctly) Awesome video thx👍

They're tonally different, but sonically supply the same thing. The Neve sounds like it's warmth and punch is more present, but the the behringer sounds brighter and a bit more modern in my opinion. I'm digging the behringer a bit more.

Listen to how the Neve handles the transients compared to the Behringer.

I dare to say the Behringer sounds more articulate!! Unbelievable!

The thing to me is, could anyone make a great recording-mixing with the Behringer?…absolutely yes! And I’m an absolute Neve fan

The Neve is tighter, but not too much difference.

They went with the Beringer name because in the synthesizer world Beringer absolutely on fire and people love it so for brand recognition, Behringer is a huge name right now with a lot of people due to their cloning of synthesizers.

you had the behringer on slow attack - neve doesnt have this switch in the compressor section. it does sound as if the behringer should be on fast because the neve is grabbing much more transients.

I’d be willing to bet if the behringer unit had the Midas name on it it they wouldn’t,’t be able to manufacture them fast enough. I honestly believe this is an outstanding tool.

Thanks for the video. They do sound a little different, but not in a way like one is better than the other. As I hear it, Berlinger has a little bit more snap and Neve little bit more thump. How do they compare in the build quality and is there weight difference?

You can’t make a comparison between hardware and VST. So thanks for doing it proper justice by hardware vs hardware.

wow ...subscribed!

i want this now

If you still have it do a null test! Lets see how much they cancel out! Man that Ber is CLOSE!! 😅 Edit: I don’t think it’s a top end lift, but the Real Neve has that vintage cloud.

I like the Neve Lows! It seam's a bit more round. But I like the highs better on the Behringer. I think they hit it out of the park with this one. I have had Behringer! some times its great. Sometimes its not. I have no problem saving money. I have had more trouble with Presonus gear taking a dump. Back in the day doing FOH one of the most used EQ's in touring rigs was Klark Teknik DN360 31 band EQ. So back in the day they did have a hit... lol thanks for posting.

Good comparison, please hire a Behringer Wing console and go through its effects. You can hire from ultra light sound. Please also do a couple of mix session on the Wing.

Behringer murders the low-end and adds some grainy tones to the top-end, IMO. Sometimes I might want that. I liked it more than the plugin in your last video, for sure. Great value for the money though!! Thanks for doing this work so we all can see and hear!

KT back in the day was a very respectable brand. Their graphic eqs were top notch.

What is the input impedance of both comps? Makes a big difference. The J version was 600 ohms so dark sounding. It's an easy mod to lift one leg of a resistor on each channel.

The Behringer added more harmonics into the mid frequencies, the Neve unit has more clarity hearing individual sounds better. Each one could be better depends on the situation.

I love how much you sound like Garth Marenghi

Very interesting. I hear a tiny bit more top end in the neve, in opposite to what you are hearing ;) Anyway I'm keeping my unit beause I think it sounds great. Well done Oliver!

There is a mantra in audio engineering world 'if sounds good it is good' but there is also another mantra there 'Behringer is a peace of... ". So let's see which one is the stronger ;)

I like the incessently smokey flavour of the Neve; although the Behringer seems to have a slightly more refined, shiny bouquet.

The more you were to use it the more you will get to know it (good and bad). It just sounded really good here regardless of price. I have an ART Pro VLA II (has Revive-Audio mod) that after really getting to know it, I wouldn't get rid of it. Like $800 total invested Lower prices help you buy other gear you need but many worry if it's not costly then it's not that great but this is one of those cases I think from your demo you easily get your money's worth with this and then some. Could pair that up with a pair of AudioScape EQP-A's and still be at about the price for the actual Neve hardware unit. If it's lower cost but sounds great .... it's great! Really great review here. Sounded excellent to me.

Would love to see an Elysia Xfilter 500 series hooked up to this beast

At this price. i would go with Behringer

Good shootout, although there’s a small but noticeable output level difference when you’re comparing units on the mix bus (Behringer being the louder).

good shootout, suggestion for next time is to record each pass so you can just solo back and forth as the pumping between each live pass is a bit distracting and my listening has to reset. B is allowing more transients through whereas the AMS is gelling a bit more. both sound good one more modern the other vintagy

From what I understand one of the main analog synth designers helped to design these newer pro audio clone gears. That’s probably a big reason why these are good, b3cause the analog synths are pretty darn good too, at least the ones I’ve heard.

I wish they'd put a 0-100% blend function and a HPF on it, to improve on the original design .

Sorry, but I hear the difference, the key world is balance, what I love about Neve is how the compressed frequencies are perfectly balanced. You say Behringer has more low end, or that it sounds more articulate, I agree, it does but the Behringer low end jumps out of the mix too much, the same with articulation, Neve packs all those frequencies and transients into a perfectly shaped box. I love the Neve sound and I love Behringer for delivering good sounds for great price.

you compared the slow attack from behringer with fast attack from neve. why you haven't use the fast attack also in the behringer?

As an audiophile the Neve is clearly the winner but as a gear head the Behringer sounds good! I think it’s very easy this day in age to compare and call something sub par just due to the many different options and price points available. That’s all this is, a price point. As a new user I’d love that thing, big step in understanding outboard gear and for a fraction of the price. As someone who is a gear head and experienced with mixing the Neve has my heart.

Behringer has really stepped up their game!

Give the Behringer a few years of use. Over time the transformers/opamps etc. will start to impart a different color. Usually warmer/more saturated because those parts have been broken in. Transients can sometimes sound a lil bit more hifi/bright/spikey on newer gear; pres/eqs/compressors, etc.

They do good stuff

I'm not audio engineer or expert but at the begining Behringer has more transparent sound and little opened (also faster release), but the Neve more glue compression and warmer (even sound much at the center). For the minute 9:27 Neve was the winner.

Please tick the subtitles function. Thank you.

Sweetwater says it won’t be available until October 😳

The two devices are very close together. The Behringer sounds a little more modern / transparent and the Neve more vintage / warm. But that could also be due to old capacitors or some other parts.

The Behringer has a lot more boxy sound, more 200Hz to 300Hz. The compression itself is quite close. Overall the Behringer is a bit "softer" on the transients, which I actually prefer!

Not a brand snob, but that neve much smoother. Especially in the top end.

My ears hear a Nice high end lift from the 369 and the 33609 is a bit mushier/ woolier in the low end and over all I think the 369 is punchier and I prefer it. Wow.

If I had a couple of millions lying around I would get the Neve, since I don't I got the Behringer. Perfect 👌🏼 By the way, thank you for this comparison. I think I made a good decision purchasing the 369 blindly 🔥

Everyone hears how the Behringer sounds like shit and cheap until you stop telling them which is which 😂😂

We had the neve at our studio and didn't use it very much. Much prefered the Alan Smart ssl comp

The neve definitely sounds better to me . They are similar without a doubt . But definitely not the same ! I find the Neve has more depth and the bottom end feels better to me, the behringer top end sounds a bit thin to me too. Obviously through the YT codec we can only comment on this . But the behringer does sound good for sure . I have vintage 1073s modern SPX and a warm audio wa73, and funny enough the warm sounds closer to the vintage 1073 than the SPX Does Funny that

They did a good job

If struggle to hear the difference in that price point, then it doesnt matter. I should start trying hardwares buy using Behringer gears.

The Behringer sounds more 'tucked in' overall, and the Neve mildly broader in the high mids...and they do converge to the same goal.

So, even the it's a relatively cheap unit I'm sure that somebody will figure out some mods that will bring it even closer. And not that one would have to, but because it would be fun to just see what happens.

I def hear the top end thing you’re talking about - as you mentioned, it could be an asset potentially. But I would worry that - esp with more abrasive instruments like guitars - it could introduce unpleasant poky feel that could be hard to eq out. Think it could go both ways, be useful in some cases, but could sabotage in others. Personally, I did feel like there was diff in low-mids…like, the Neve seemed to have more “thump” in it for lack of a better word…it’s possible I hear more lows since it lacks the highs of the Behringer. I too wanna believe it’s as good…but to this day, I still hear MOST people claiming the Klark units are “every bit as good as Universal Audio hardware. I owned all 3 of them, and I NEVER found that even close to true. I felt the UAD plugins were more solid / retained low-end better than the Klarks, and feel my Audioscape and Hairball units decimated them (sold all 3). Like, I really didn’t see any comparison when I had them in front of me, listening through monitors and tracking with them…yet most others seem to think I’m crazy, splitting hairs, etc. The devil is in the details - that said, I wanna hang back and see how this kinda plays out. I guess if enough people swear by this I may give it a go (like 33609 sound) - but that’s what I did with Klark units, and ended up regretting it…I dunno, we’re all splitting hairs here, no doubt for its price, it’s probly totally worth it for stereo comp. For me, I don’t wanna pull the trigger on ANY bus duty comp unless I’m totally certain it won’t have inferior aspects that could make it less usable (eg, harsh crunchiness in the top end). Personally, I’m dreaming of the Audioscape D-comp for drums, and Stams new MKIII bus comp…

They've been making good clones for years now, I think that soft relaunch happened years ago.

The Behringer sounds good but you can’t deny how the Neve brings out all the emotions in the music and that is immeasurable

Eve sounds more vintage woolly! But the behringer sounds pretty good!

@15:00 the kick is almost burried by the Behringer compressor, while the Neve maintains the punch. There's a very strong difference in the way they both handle low end. The Behringer struggles with the kick while pushing the snare drum way more upfront (@01:40). The Neve keeps and kick and snare transient equally punchy and upfront. That's a massive difference. And yeah, once you've catched it, you can easilly tell them appart with your eyes closed, even on the mixbus. The midrage is also tighter with the Neve, you can spot that on the guitars, through the Neve they almost sound louder. I'm pretty sure that, if you push both compressors further, say 6 or 9 db of GR, you're clearlry gonna hear the difference in behavior. Btw, I'm listening in a decently tuned room through Genelec and Neumann speakers.

Close enough!

369-kt sounds almost identical. But please add at least an overhead of both units side by side with the lids off. Then we will quickly see the differences.

I guess there are 33609 owners that comfort themsevles that there is a difference that goes their way and that's understandable. The 369 has a different grab with it's slower attack and the frequency response is different to the JD and current AMS version. It's clean and different, obviously difficult to match perfectly but clearly competitive, i feel the Behringer suits current music styles a bit better, bet a lot of mixers will prefer its behavior. Let's not shame a compressor you haven't tried for your mixing style and workflow. I would have liked a s.c hi-pass filter though. Allround It's good news people ! Newcomers will be able to access analog gear and it will surely help the industry in different ways, i just hope the build will last or repairability is ok.

The behringer Is a bit less coloured, a bit more forward but is less rounded, warm, and the saturation is thinner especially in the low mids. Still great for the price but I ear a difference, maybe the behringer would be more useful in a darker/Muddy mix

Im hearing a little bit more musical Pumping on the Neve. On the Full mix it is realy noticable when all the Instruments play. The guitars have that little bit of a ducking effect in grove with the Kick, to leit it through a bit more. But still very close.

I suggest you to test the Heritage Successor is an amazing 609 clone, not cheap as Beheringer but better.

The Neve and the UAD plugin are more similar to each other to my ears, the behringer kinda has more of its own thing going on with a slower attack (especially in fast attack mode) which is I think what made it feel more "open" as you mentioned in the previous videos. The Neve and UAD version are both more grabby.

Its like listening to slightly different revisions of the same gear. Subjectively, none sounds better than the other. All down to personal preference. If money no issue, you simply buy one of each. Going by these two particular units, the Ber for top end duties with the Neve for the bottom- once again subjectively of course. Ultimately, for me this does highlight the fact that some of these older hardware brands do take the absolute mickey when it comes to their prices. No one can ever convince me that in this test- at least between these two units- one is worth 4-5x the price of the other.

The Behringer does a good job, but there is a difference between the two. What I’m hearing the Neve, has that typical weight you hear on many different Neve processors. It also sounds slightly more controlled and solid in the low end. You can hear it on the drum and full mix examples, but not really on the guitars. I listened on headphones. It’s not night and day, but I feel that once you hear the Neve it’s hard to unhear.

Behringer is very clever entering a market segment of better than any plugin but not crazy expensive like boutique gear; tremendous value at the price points... I use to be a Behringer hater but ever since the new executive leadership they have won me over...

I 've tried Behringer products and have always been impressed with sound quality of especially the AdA8000 and the ADA8200 mic press. However, my concern has been in the durability area. I hope this is not another new product by Behringer that delivers great sound but, diminished durability qualities especially after making a somewhat substantial financial investment. Behringer rarely miss from the stand point of sound quality. I will keep my eyes open and keep reviewing comments on the 369-KT as time goes on!!

Good video. I think the only challenge is calling it a Behringer. It's a Neve circuit developed by Neve. The days of originality are over. To consider, look at what Walmart did to small businesses in the States. When companies don't have to recoup R&D costs or continue the brand which has brought immeasurable value to an industry we get these types of clone units. With the smaller boutique brands that do clones it's not as bad in my view. But when large companies with huge distribution take circuits inspired by legends in the game and sell them for substantially lower costs, we disrespect originality, and inspiration. Two of the most important traits in our field of music. Maybe A.I. should take the creative jobs of those so willing to shortcut inspiration and R&D so they can have a cheaper product in their rack. That said, much love to all. R.I.P. Rupert Neve who clearly lives on, in the gear, in our hearts, and in the marketing plans of certain corporations. One Love.

To me, they are close for sure. I would say the Neve sounds more forward, esp in the guitars in the mix. it also has this bigger puffy thick low end/low mid which I dunno if I love or hate.. its the sort of thing you'd mix into. Behringer is more of a smiley face curve, less saturation for sure. still brings far more weight and musicality than the weird pumping sound from the plugin (or most UAD compressor plugins)

The Behringer does sound more Open even though they are close, so, it makes it a Better all in one than the Neve