Reply To: sound quality of Mackie dl32r vs QU series

[robbocurry]

Out of curiosity John, what part of the world are you in?
(for price comparison sake between the units)

In the UK if you want to utilise all 38 QU-PAC channels you’ll need to buy at least an AB168.
Cost approx: £1300+£875=£2175 (QU-24 territory, if you have the space)
You’ll need to buy a Cat5 cable too, these vary in price. A cheap one may suffice if it’s not under attack! Router and iPad optional.

In comparison the DL32R will set you back £1599. You will definitely need an iPad & router, possibly £200-500 more depending on what you buy, if you haven’t got them already.
This obviously narrows the price difference by a good margin if you have to spend there.

Regarding the recording, the QU-PAC offers 32×32 DAW recording and 18 channels directly to a USB drive.
There have been requests to increase the QU-Drive channel count on the QU-24 and above. Not sure if the channel count is limited by hardware, software or both. Or neither!?

I’ve used the QU-PAC without an iPad on a few gigs and I have to say it’s very intuitive. Set up the custom buttons and tabs correctly and it’s very fast to use.
Coming from Mackie’s Master Fader software, I wasn’t overly impressed with the earlier versions of QU-Pad. However the new version of QU-Pad is really good to use. Maybe it’s the extra features or maybe it’s because I’ve been using it more, but now it has become second nature to me.

Anyway, sorry to fry your head again with more info!