Drawmer MC2.1 Desktop Monitor Controller Reviews

Disclaimer: music is just a hobby but its what I spend all my free time on... The Drawmer MC2.1 seemed like an expensive purchase for me at first but its value has proven itself many times over. I bought it because it had more features than its competitors and it can fit under my computer monitor. The MC 2.1 allows me to quickly check the left-only signal, right-only signal, mono signal, and most importantly the side-only signal. I can easily turn my subwoofer on or off as well. I have one headphone output dedicated to mixing headphones and the other for tracking headphones. I Totally recommend the MC2.1

This monitor controller hits way above it's price point! It is built like a tank, and uses very high quality components. It adds absolutely no color to the sound. And, the 2 headphone amps are really great sounding. I needed a monitor controller quickly (as my older one crapped out), so I settled on the MC2.1 as it had features I wanted, and it was at a fair price point. Since receiving it, it has exceeded my expectations. You can't go wrong with any Drawmer product. Classic British audio quality!

Elegant design. Awesome built quality. Amazing capabilities. I'm using all I/O's - running two pair of monitors, one Avantone monitor, and a subwoofer.

I was unsure based on my limited use of an item like this before how much I needed this.... it is amazing... the ability to chose between 3 monitors effortlessly, no pops, no clicks, and no crackleing knob makes this device amazing...after setting it all up I am super happy with the sound of my monitors, it added nothing to the tone but made everything just that much more functional that I couldn't be happier with my purchase

I"ve been eyeing monitor controllers from Crane Song, Grace and Dangerous for years now and have suffered through never having enough money and thus never having a powerful, flexible monitor controller for my studio. Heard great things about this one, did some research and decided it was time to stop living without a solid monitor controller. I have not been disappointed. This thing is a beast, much large than I imagined, and seems built like a tank. Sound fidelity is clear and sounds as close to passive as can be. Great tools like L/R cut, mono, XLR inputs/outputs and a dedicated sub compare to options and quality offered by my aforementioned dream units. After getting this baby I"ll probably never think about another monitor controller again. This gets the job done and then some, perfect for a modest studio on a budget. Has helped me getting better mixes already and I lived so long without it. My only complaint is the extra $100 for the rack mount kit. Would have been extra cool if they included it as an option with the whole package.

I just say it's the most crystal clear transparent monitor controller. I replace my old unit and I'm using with my Antelope Audio Pure2 and all cables are Mogami gold!
Amazing set up! All controls are soft and its built like a tank. Thank you Simon Pizzato for this recomendation.

I purchased this about 2 years ago for my desktop monitor control after considering the various Dangerous units. I am so glad I got this. After 2 years I have nothing bad to say about it. I already had a really good AD/DA converter...so I didn't need to pay the extra for one on this unit...and it saves money. The flexibility of the inputs and outputs are great. It sits right on my desk next to me and it sounds great. It has all I need and nothing more. Thus, I don't feel like a paid for a bunch of features I didn't need. It's perfect!

Amazing piece of gear...blows away the central station. better stereo image by far and built like a tank..

This is just what I was looking for. I found myself using the console less and less and the center section was more and more becoming what this Drawmer is already. This thing feels solid and works perfectly like my other Drawmer gear. Great purchase.

I was nothing short of pleasantly surprised by this little magic box. So clean and simple. Being able to easily switch between my sono srp800's and my aventones has greatly improved my mixing. Make sure you have quality converters. I'm running the drawmer from an apogee symphony.

The best STEREO monitor controller I EVER used. I couldn't live without it now

First review for Sweetwater. I have tried a handful of monitor controllers from passive to active in my search for transparency, features and build quality. I found everything I'm looking for in the Drawmer MC2.1...and for much less than comparable designs! It is robust, clean, powerful and feature-packed. I run my Focal Twins with a sub and also my NS10s with ease through this and have zero issues. It was this or the Dangerous D Box and after trying both I love this thing! You won't regret it!

A unit of this quality is worth twice the price of entry. If your main thing is sound quality then this is the one for you if you're looking for features then this bad boy certainly has enough to suite the most demanding setups.

Some pople may say well why isn't there any digital connections? The Answer is quite simple....a good DAC is expensive plus if you already have a good quality interface/converters then its not a necessity.

All in all i'm more than pleased with my purchase and thanks to Jason Koonz I got a good deal.

Audio quality is completely transparent, exactly like it should be. If you have a high end audio interface you will hear everything exactly as it should be.

Cosmetically the unit is built like a tank. It is larger than I perceived it to be based on the photos. The black brushed steel chassis is very clean and professional in appearance. The "on" light is a nice blue color. The pictures don't do this unit justice. In person this unit looks very high end. The volume knob is silky smooth when turning and the buttons are very smooth to press. The built in talk back mic is a nice bonus. One of the main reason I purchased this unit is I wanted a professional, transparent monitoring system that supports two headphone outputs with independent headphone volume control and this unit delivers exactly that. Having the ability to monitor just Left, Right, or Mono, is also huge as Mono monitoring is often overlooked by many mix engineers.

I believe the only other major competitor worth looking at is for this quality and feature set is the Dangerous Music Monitor ST which is $2,000. The other Dangerous unit that is cheaper, called the Music Source, lacks feature parity with the Drawmer yet still costs more than the Drawmer. The only reason I could see going with the more expensive Dangerous Music Monitor ST is if you wanted 5.1 monitoring, which still requires an add on bringing the D-Box to more than $2,000. Otherwise, I can't foresee the ST being "better" than the Drawmer for 2.1 monitoring, just different.

Don't let the $599 price fool you into thinking this a low to mid-end monitoring system. It's entirely high end, professional, and the quality (both physically and sonically) is far superior to most monitoring systems.

While there are more expensive controllers that do all kinds of extra things, this is the controller you want if you need a high-grade A/B with all the standard necessities. Switch from A to B to C at a touch of a button, check phase and check mono mixes easily. Gain adjustments for each speaker, and 2 fantastic headphone outputs that have lots of clean power (I'm listening at a volume of 2 while recording!)

Perfect for the project studio that wants to compete with the big dogs without having to pay for extras that are not needed in a small space.

In my prior 2/2022 review, I complained about a channel that stopped working. After finally getting around to working on the problem, I discovered it was simply one of the trim screws that somehow got turned completely down. My rating is adjusted accordingly. Overall, a nice unit (volume knob still produces scratchiness when adjusting though)

Fantastic monitor controller for the price. We just switched to a grace designs 905 (analog version) at the studio and there was definitely not an obvious difference sonically between the two controllers. This is very impressive given the price difference. The main volume pot got scratchy after a year or else I would have given it 5 stars.

I switched over from the SPL MTC 2381, the Drawmer is built much better than the SPL, has better functionality and sounds amazing. The SPL is made from cheap switches that wear out quickly and cause a lot of noise, but you can tell that the Drawmer is built with higher quality components, plus it has gain trims on the outputs which is great... except that they are located on the bottom of the unit so if you have it installed in a rack, it's a huge pain to adjust those. It also only has 2 balanced inputs and the unbalanced inputs don't compensate for the gain difference, so the level is MUCH lower than the balanced inputs. I ordered the rack kit for it, although I do wish they'd just sell it as a 2U unit without the kit that fits around the awkward rounded corners. I love that it's all XLR I/O on the back instead of D-Subs or 1/4". The dedicated sub output is great, the talkback sounds great and has a nice soft switch (so it doesn't hurt peoples ears when you press it).

I did a shootout with the Lynx Hilo directly feeding my Bryston and Bowers & Wilkins monitors, using the Hilo as volume control against the Drawmer for Volume control into the same setup and I can't hear any difference in the sound at all, it's very transparent.

Overall, I'd take this over a Colman Audio or Dangerous controller or SPL. For functionality, the Avocet or Grace Design would still beat this unit, but it's hard to justify spending that kind of $$ on a monitor controller!

I purchased this in 2016 for home studio, and it gets intermittent use. Sound quality is great. However, I have two issues. The volume knob now emits a very annoying scratchy sound whenever turning it. But once it is in position, its fine - no scratchy sound. A bigger problem is that one of the speaker channels just stopped working some time ago. So, one of my three speaker pairs is mono only. Until recently Drawmer did not provide any provision for repair or replacement parts for customers in the USA. However, I see from their website that they now do. So, I will give it a try.

I still like my MC2.1 but after heavy use for the last year and a half the buttons have become very noisy and sometimes only pass signal intermittently. I still think it's a great controller for the money, but if you're a workaholic like me, then you may want to step up to something a little more solidly built.

I bought my first Drawmer MC2.1 in September 2015, that died in January 2021. So, I immediately bought a new Drawmer MC2.1 and that broke in April 2023. And that is after using it only a few hours a week. Both eventually had problems with the speaker selection buttons and also source buttons. One output channel just stopped working suddenly. The quality of the units is poor for $. Never again.