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Product: Behringer PP400 - MM phono preamp
Manufacturer: Behringer - Germany
Product: PP400 & PP500 MM phono preamps - manufacturer unknown - China
Approx. price: ±€15-25
Recensore: Lucio Cadeddu - TNT-Audio Italy
Recensito: October, 2025

Foreword

We've already reviewed Behringer products in the past, in particular their DEQ 2496 modified by Audiosmile. Behringer is a big name in the world of music and professional audio, and has always stood out for products with a very high quality/price ratio. The prolific manufacturer's catalogue also includes a moving magnet phono preamp, the PP400 (link to the official product page) which, true to the company's low cost philosophy, can be purchased for under 20 euros. In fact, the website states that the price is just $14.90. For us audiophiles accustomed to paying much higher prices, this can generate all sorts of reactions. The purpose of this two-part review is therefore twofold: to understand what sound you can get from such an entry-level phono preamp and to investigate a clone - visually identical (even the same graphics and acronym!) - easily found online, for example on Aliexpress.

Not only that, but the same Chinese manufacturer that makes what looks like a perfect clone of the PP400 also makes another product, the PP500, which features a very convenient adjustable output level, making it simply perfect for a system with just a turntable and active speakers (or a power amplifier without a preamp). A phono preamp with adjustable output is truly a rarity and an extremely interesting idea in its own way.

A closer look

The MicroPHONO PP400 from Behringer is an essential MM phono preamp that offers, in addition to the RCA line output, also a TRS jack fixed output. The claimed characteristics can be found in the image below. The gain is given as +35dB, and the signal-to-noise ratio is 68dB. It is a very small (32 x 103 x 64 mm) and light (180g) unit, equipped with an external 12V 150mA power supply. The device is declared to be "Conceived and designed in Germany" but is manufactured in China. It is no coincidence that it is easy to find phono preamps that are identical in every way, at least externally, even with the same acronym (MicroPhono!) and the same graphics, in various online stores, such as Aliexpress.

What piqued my curiosity is that these two clones I purchased, the PP400 and the PP500, are quite different internally from the Behringer, and I was curious to understand who copied what. Indeed, the PP500, a Chinese phono preamp with output volume control, doesn't appear to be a clone of any known product. There's no equivalent in the Behringer catalogue.

The claimed technical characteristics are: gain +35dB, input capacitance/input impedance: 120pF/47kΩ; output voltage: 200mV/1kHz to 5mV/1kHz, S/N ratio: 88dB (A-weighted); THD: <0.05%.
I needed to open and compare these three phono preamps to try to unravel the tangle of doubts that have assailed me. Adding to my curiosity is the price, which is on average half the already low price of the Behringer. How a phono preamp, even with a power supply, can be sold for under €10 including shipping is a puzzling mystery...

Inside, these phono preamps look quite different: the Behringer PP400 uses a small double-sided PCB, with very few components and an op-amp with the markings erased. I'm not particularly fond of designers who erase the component markings, but there you have it. On the top side, there's only the red power LED and a bank of small capacitors, while underneath is the mysterious op-amp, the necessary resistor network, and another small IC with the markings erased. Oh, and to prevent anyone from investigating the PP400's mysteries, Behringer decided to secure the board screws with shellac. Obviously, I wasn't intimidated. I paid for it and I can do whatever I want with it :-)

What appears to be the closest clone (externally they are identical!) actually has a single-sided PCB, larger capacitors on the power supply line, and a dual JRC 4580 opamp that boosts the weak signal coming from an MM cartridge. On the PCB, you can see two empty areas ready to accommodate two potentiometers to adjust the levels of the two outputs (RCA and TRS), which are in fact present on the PP500 model. This one, however, is not simply a PP400 clone with output regulators, but is a slightly different board. First of all, the RCA connectors are gold-plated, and some parts of the circuit (also single-sided) are different. The opamp is the same, but the capacitor bank, for example, is different and even the very arrangement of the components on the board changes. Ultimately, while externally very similar, these phono preamps are all significantly different. So the answer to my first question is: they are three entirely different components, and not one is a clone of the other, aesthetics aside.

Regarding these two aesthetically identical phono preamps, there are videos and forum discussions online that attempt, unsuccessfully, to provide a sensible answer, aside from the usual, obvious “Behringer forever! Death to Chinese clones!” This is why I always recommend taking what you find on YouTube or forums with a pinch of salt; often, opinions or information are provided by people who have no expertise in the matter. In fact, it would have been enough to open these three devices and understand something about circuits and components to avoid saying...er...inaccuracies: the two Chinese products are NOT true clones of the Behringer PP400; they are different products that maliciously exploit the same aesthetic (and even the same acronym!) to attract the more inexperienced consumer. Now, what if the manufacturer were the same for all three products? What if the same manufacturer had made a simpler version for Behringer? That's the risk you run when you have your products made in China. Regardless, realistically, they will sound different. And this was the second question I asked myself, which will be answered in the next instalment of this article. For now, let's put the three phono preamps under the magnifying glass. Let's start with the internal view, top and bottom, of the Behringer PP400. If you wish to see more details, just click on the images.

Let's continue with the top view (as there's nothing on the bottom side) of the Chinese PP400 clone.

And let's conclude with the internal view, again from above, of the PP500, that is, the phono preamp with output level controls, both on the RCA and TRS connectors. Note the two pairs of gold-plated RCA connectors, not available on the PP400s (both the clone and the Behringer).

Further muddying the waters is the GL500 designation on the Chinese PP400's circuit board, suggesting a single board - level controls aside - for the two Chinese PP400 and PP500, which, in fact, are quite different. I'll leave a more detailed circuit analysis to those willing to do some careful reverse engineering; I'll content myself with highlighting the numerous differences.

Remarks & Complaints

1. All three of these phono stages are minimalist in inspiration, featuring only the essentials for an MM cartridge. There's no option for connecting MC cartridges, as is logical.
2. Being very compact, room for rear connections is obviously limited: bulky RCA connectors could be a real problem.
3. They lack a power switch, so these phono preamps stay on as long as the power supply is connected to the wall socket. Power consumption is low, but a small switch could/should have been included. Fortunately, there are LEDs that indicate that the component is powered and on.

Conclusions

In Part II, we'll try to understand whether such incredibly affordable phono preamps can make sense, and in which systems, and whether the circuit differences are audible enough to decide a winner. What's certain is that the PP500, with its adjustable output, is a candidate for the ideal phono preamp in an extremely minimalist, all-analogue system.

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© Copyright 2025 Lucio Cadeddu - editor@tnt-audio.com - www.tnt-audio.com

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