Reply To: sound quality of Mackie dl32r vs QU series

[dpdan]

Hi John,
The Mackie’s direct to hard disk recording is flawless, and does provide 24 channels,…. soon to be 32, BUT…..
the hard-drive does not end up with 24 mono wave files on it as one would assume, unfortunately, all 24 channels are incorporated into a single wave file called a muli-channel wave file. Then if that isn’t disappointing enough, the files are only about 2GBs in length, so about every 25 minutes a new wave file is created. If you have a DAW program like Pro Tools, it can import these multi-channel wave files and stitch them back together without any loss of time or any need to do surgical splicing. The Qu on the other hand, records individual mono wave files, which is far more convenient, at least to me. When I am wanting to record a concert, and I am using the DL32R, I simply connect my Macbook Pro laptop via USB and capture all 32 channels. I like that process a lot more.

As Bob mentioned, nothing changes when an iPad looses connection, no clicks pops or feedback, no muting, everything goes on as it was,.. you just have to wait a few seconds for it to re-sync in the event that it does loose it’s connection from the router. This holds true for both the Qu and DL mixers. I check this occasionally just for fun by leaving the room and going way further away like into an elevator, then as soon as I come back into the Wi-Fi area of the router, the Mackie app automatically re-syncs itself and I go right back to mixing.

To me, the mic preamps are very transparent on both the Mackie and the Qu. I do not like preamps with “hyped” frequency response, one being “warmer”, clearer as mentioned so many times in “MIC PRE” hoopla discussions 🙂 To me, the best mic preamp is as quiet as possible, and without ANY bias towards any frequency from 15 Hz. – 20 Khz. Why spend a ton of money on really nice microphones, only to have the sound quality of those beautiful mics “altered” by a preamp that has some old guy’s name on the front of it. Puhleeze!!! I just don’t fall for any of that, I never have. Some people think that those esoteric, outrageously expenive preamps will magically transform their mixes into a major hit. Only the engineer can make that happen. All those really esoteric mic “pres” are a waste of money to me, I will spend my money on fantastic mics instead. Most all industry standard sound consoles have preamps that should effortlessly provide beautiful sounding recordings, with clarity, detail and phenominal dynamimc range.

Oh, the Qu recording sample rate is locked in and not changelable at 48 Khz. with 16 Bit depth while the Mackie is selectable 16 or 24Bit but still locked in at 48K.

I always use 48K 24 bit because many times I am also doing a multi camera video shoot of the concert.
I hope this information is helpful.