Qu-16 Chrome -> which firmware was rolled out?

[Anonymous]

I recently bought a Qu-16 Chrome from a huge reseller in Germany (Thomann.de). When I turned it on, the firmware version was shown as 1.63 (which is dating from 2014 afaik). Seems a bit dated, you know?
I think Qu-16 Chrome was rolled out in 09/2015, when firmware version 1.8x was available already. I’d think this version would have been rolled out with the device. Am I wrong?

Are there any tricks (e.g. via diagnostics screen infos) to find out whether this is a new device (produced as Chrome version) or an device from 2014 with new faders / knobs attached?

Thanks
Lars

[Anonymous]

Since the knobs are the only difference it doesn’t really matter…

Also it might just be an early one, they wouldn’t have burnt 1.8 onto the first chrome mixers, since they were in shops before the firmware was out…

[Anonymous]

But would they really burn V1.63 onto new mixers launched in 09/2015? All mobile apps would feature a higher Version by then and be incompatible without firmware update on the mixer.
v1.60 was released 10/2014
v1.70 was released 03/2015

A&H quoted from September 30, 2015
“Allen & Heath has launched new Chrome Editions of its Qu series compact digital mixers to mark the launch of Qu v1.8 Chrome firmware in mid-October”

To me this sounds like quite a strong relationship between Chrome and v1.8. And I would have expected to find at least v1.7x on the mixer.

I still wonder if A&H took devices which they produced in early 2014 or even earlier from stock and refurbished them with new knobs in Q4/2015? Hardware would then be 2 years older by now compared to a freshly produced device, this feels not so nice in terms of product life cycle (early failure after warranty period more probable?). I mean come on, it costs 200 bucks more compared to a “normal” Qu-16, anyway…

Cheers
Lars

PS: I don’t mean to discredit A&H nor Thomann.de! The mixer works fine by now and from what I experienced by now, it’s a really great product. I’m just interested…

[Anonymous]

I doubt inactive period significantly affects usable life.

But it’s also possible that the flash chips were factory burned, and not assembled into cases for a while? All sorts of things like that…

[Andreas]

Hmm, could this be a B-stock item where the previous owner did a firmware downgrade? Is the quickstart guide V1.6 as well? Does the package state “chrome” somewhere?
Even if components are pre-programmed, I doubt that A&H won’t update to a more current version when assembling (or refurbishing) a device.

[Anonymous]

The User Guide that came with the device says “For firmware V1.6”. The box, on the other hand, has “Chrome” printed on it.
There is a serial number on the back, starting with QU16X…, but that is (only) a sticker.

Where can I find out what the information in the diagnostics screen mean?

[Andreas]

That indeed sounds odd to me as well.
I guess the board versions displayed in the diagnostics screen could help to determine more precisely what you have.
Anyway, I wouldn’t be worried. Not sure if there were any hardware changes on Qu16 boards since 2014.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, had a typo in my post above. The serial starts with QU16C… obviously, not with QU16X…

OK, I won’t worry anymore now 🙂
The mixer seems to work properly. I updated the firmware to 1.82 in the meantime, set up WLAN, had session with my band and was doing some mixing at home, all fine.

Thanks for your opinions, anyhow!

[Author]

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