bicyclekick wrote: The Behringer UB802 mixer has a preamp, phantom power and is 24-bit. What is the advantage of something like the Mackie 12 channel mixer, or something like the MBox? What will the ultimate difference in sound quality of a home recording be?

I had that cheap-ass little mixer. Save up for either of the other choices. Behringer is hit or miss, and many say only miss. You can do better with your money.

removed

Ha.....24 bit.......from an anlog mixer.........ha!!!
130dB dynamic range, and 70dBs of it is noise.

If you can afford a couple more bucks, try a Mackie Onyx
I went over to help a friend record a Blue Grass band in his
music store, he just picked up a B-Stock unit, some 57s and a 58
and I was really impressed at the quality!!!!

If you are looking for a mixer in your studio or a front end for your DAW, then I would not buy a UB-802. I have one for my on stage personal IEM mix. It's not bad, but not good enough as a main mixer.

I don't know where you got the 24-bit spec. This is an analog mixer.

What is it that you are actually wanting to do?

Besides differences in quality of the units you mentioned (both in terms of sound and physical construction), there are some serious functionality differences too.

I mean the UB802 is about as bare bones as you can possibly get. Heck, it doesn't even have Solo or Mute buttons for its channels (which can be a serious issue if you need to isolate a channel).

Now, which Mackie 12-channel unit are you referring to? The 1202 VLZ? Well, now you are up to 4 preamps, more detailed metering, and Mute buttons :-)
The DFX12 (which was designed more for small live applications) gives you 6 preamps, more EQ controls, some built in effects, and 2 Aux sends. Or the Onyx 1220, which gives you 4 nice preamps, 2 Aux Sends, Perkins EQ, meters on each channel, Mute and Solo buttons, Talkback mic capabilities, and if you add the firewire option, you can use it to record multiple tracks on your computer (rather than just a 2-channel mix through your soundcard).

You also mentioned the MBox, which only has 2 preamps, but it is also a digital interface and allows you to run ProTools software.

So what do you want to do? Or are you just asking about the sound of the preamps in these various units?