Allen & Heath Qu-16 16-channel Digital Mixer - Chrome Edition Reviews

Great Sounding board functionality is awesome I have had this Unit for a few weeks and will be moving into on board recording as I become familiar with the Unit

The Sound quality is great, the ability to record multitrack to a HD without computer is a plus.
My Band now is recording all practices and shows. We use with LOGIC and it works perfectly with all MIDI comunications.
Really happy with the Mixer

Through my 41 years in this crazy world of music and recording/live sound I have had a few different mixers. I use a Presonus 16.4.2. in my studio, I have had a couple of different Peavey mixers a (XR700C & Unity 2002) and a QSC Touch Mix 16. All are great mixers but this Allen & Heath is by far the best I have ever used. It is a little complicated in the beginning but with some steady hands on use it gets easy to navigate fairly quickly. My band uses IEM and the tablet/phone app for that is easier to use than the actual board, go figure. If you are in the market for a great console the QU 16 Chrome Edition would be my recommendation.

When my 23-year old Soundcraft 328 digital
console finally died, it was time for a new digital
mixer..but I needed something that sounded as
great as the old Soundcraft and had all the Soundcraft's
features. After a lot of research I settled on
Allen & Heath's Qu-16..and am beyond thrilled with
it.

First and foremost, it really does sound fantastic.
All the bells and whistles mean nothing if a mixer
doesn't SOUND great. The Qu-16 sounds like a
top-shelf console much larger. Bass stays tight and
punchy, midrange is clear and the highs retain
their detail without smearing..you can really tell
what is happening in the mids and highs. Stereo
image is phase coherent and natural, and if you
insert a stereo widener on your whole mix or just
a drum or guitar buss, u can tell. Instruments
sound extremely natural and detailed. A lot of digital
mixers can fall down where it comes to clarity and
being able to hear individual elements in a mix.
The Qu-16 makes mixing very easy.

I use a mixer as a no latency front end to record
vocalists, guitarists, string and horn players. The Qu-16
does not have aux or group outs, but it does have
ten direct mix outs, so you can route custom headphone mixes to the talent easily. Input channels
can be routed to multiple destinations simultaneously.
And a gate, compressor, and EQ on every channel
means you can say goodbye to the need to patch in external processors. I can finally return that DBX 160
compressor I borrowed. Oh and in case you
were wondering where the phantom power switch
for each input channel went..there is no
hardware phantom power switch, it is available
on the touchscreen, for each channel.

Wireless remote capability, i-Pad control, D-snake
connectivity, pre/post switching on all faders,
Mackie HUI DAW control surface implementation,
24-track recording to USB..I could go on and
on about the bang for the buck u get with
the Allen & Heath Qu-16 console. I'll just stop
here with this..you will not regret buying this
board, but you might kick yourself for not
having purchased it sooner.

I've used the Qu-16 for a couple of months now, at both indoor and outdoor performances, and yes, there are a goodly number of compelling reasons why you should buy a Qu-16 (or any model of Qu console, I expect): Build quality, feature set, ease of use, and more. Much more. But let me get right to the point. The first reason you should buy one is simply - The.Way.It.Sounds. And not just on vocals, though the vocal quality is nothing short of astonishing. Everything I put through this console sounds not only true-to-the-source, but absolutely luxurious in sonic texture and definition. There is a richness to the sound I've just never heard before, or ever thought might be achievable. I couldn't even begin to express the depth of my admiration of the Qu Engineering team for the audio magic they've created. I haven't used every live console on the planet, but I've used a lot of them, and the Qu-16 crushes them all. Full Stop.

These are both excellent mixers for small to fairly large applications. Very powerful, reliable and user friendly! After sticking with analog boards for a long time after digital came out (mainly out of concern for a power out or glitch in a digital board that shuts down the whole show), I finally tried the digital world. So far, it's been great! Lots of features at your fingertips and no shutdowns. Plus, recording live shows got a whole lot easier.

I started with the QU-24 and was impressed with how it made live shows and studio FOH better in many ways. Once you get used to the layering, it's a breeze to do it all from one place. Adding effects, using the parametric EQ and other features on a channel is quick and simple... and really improves the quality of the show. Recording live shows onto a flash drive or directly into ProTools is so much easier than my old analog way of doing it. It's really nice to be able to save band or event mix setups too! My only issue with the QU-24 was that it was a little big for the smaller shows.

The QU-16 fit the bill perfectly for the smaller shows without giving up much more than the extra inputs. It retains many of the great features of the QU-24. Having all of the extra sends is a big plus! We set up a separate pair of speakers in another part of the venue and used two of the mix outs for that mix. We used the WiFi to iPad feature to do a completely separate mix for the other room. Provided great mixes in both rooms, enhanced the quality of the show and made the sound guy look like a pro too!

You'll be hard-pressed to find anything better at this price point!

I am truly happy I purchased this mixer. Transitioning to a digital desk was intimidating but they made it easier than I expected. This was purchased for our church and I had a couple of questions on recording and controls. Amazingly, Brock from Sweetwater called at exactly the perfect time to help me get the answers. Awesome product and great service!

This is the first digital mixer I have owned but being in a band and having a sound guy who normally runs the QU24 gave me some insight as to what I'd be getting from this mixer. I have owned 2 analog mixers prior to getting this mixer and I figured there would be a steep learning curve. Turns out I was wrong as was able to get up and running with little effort. I did watch a few videos I found doing an internet search and those helped me get past the differences between analog and digital boards so I was prepared perhaps a little more than the average user who opens the box with no training beforehand. All I can say is that this is a top quality mixer and is a pleasure to use. The only bad thing I can say is that when I read the specs on the board before getting it I was under the impression that I was getting 10 aux's but in reality you are only getting 7 (4 mono and 3 stereo). Since this mixer doesn't have dedicated FX sends for FX3 and FX4 you will have to sacrifice 2 auxs if you wish to use FX3 and FX4 but that still leaves you with 5 auxs. The PEQ was a breeze to learn and I have no idea how I got along without this feature in the past. As a matter of fact I was able to get rid of my external EQs altogether since every channel has its own on the mixer. I love the ability to control the mixer via an iPad and as a matter of fact I now do not even need to bring my analog snake to shows since the mixer can now remain on the stage where everything is wired to and I can run sound from the iPad from anywhere in the venue. Besides the 16 mono channels there are also 3 stereo channels (actually 2 since 1 of them is for devices like a phone or iPad connected via a 3.5mm jack) which is great since our band uses keyboards. You can use 2 mono channels and link them together and pan them which would mimic a stereo channel but not sure why'd we wanna do that. I haven't tried recording yet and haven't played around with storing scenes but those features are something that I want to experiment with next. Overall as I stated this mixer is just outstanding and makes me want to learn so much more about running sound as I am only a beginner/intermediate user. Would recommend it for anyone who is looking for a quality product despite your level of knowledge.

I'm truly impressed by this console. A&H hit a home run with this. Great sound, easy to learn and the remote mixing is spot on.

Definitely recommend!

I purchased one of these digital qu-16 mixers about a year ago now, and Absolutely Love It !! The sound quality is super clean and clear. Super virsitile mixer. You will Not go wrong buying any QU- series mixers. Allen & Heath totally knocked this out of the park. Call your Sweetwater sound engineer today and order one. It's a steal at this price also. Can't say enough good things about this board. Runs so smoothly and sounds amazing!!

I was just like you deciding on a major purchase to improve my entertainment business. I read many reviews of many different mixers. Finally started my hands on journey .

Presonus 16.0.2 : A fine little mixer, takes about a day to learn coming from analog. Firewire 400 connection, confusing effects, not what i would consider a Live performance mixer.

Presonus 16.4.2AI : Huge upgrade to the 16.0.2. easier to learn than the 16.0.2, firewire 800, effects were nice, but with everything I tried the vocals were thin, I really wanted to like this board, the size is huge!, took it to a live gig, nothing but feedback problems from the get go.

Zed12fx : So after that, I was really hating the idea of a digital mixer. So I tried the zed12fx analog. Probably the best analog mixer I had ever used, if the USB connector hadn’t become unstable, I would probably still have it.

Than I read a review of the Allen & Heath QU-16C, as a matter of fact I read many. This mixer took all of 3 hours to get acquainted with and performed flawlessly. Vocals were spot on, effects are easy to manipulate, USB connection, qu-drive makes quick recording simple. Build quality is second to none. Did my first LIVE gig with it over the weekend, gave myself an hour to setup but only took 10 minutes.

Conclusion: I ended up learning that what I wanted in a mixer were, Clear vocals, Great Effects, Compression, Equalizer, Build Quality and Easy Recording. My decision ended up costing more than I had wanted to spend, but my peace of mind was worth it.

In December 2015 I bought a Qu-16 to use as an audio mixer in a small church with a small band. For operation of the mixer we work with a team of volunteers. Not all volunteers go in depth with sound engineering. We had to replace our old Spirit Power Station 1200 after more than 20 years. We were looking for:

- Number of Channels 20-24
- Recording via USB (multi-track)
- Easy operation for volunteers !!

We have hesitated a while choosing between digital and analog. Analog was clearly cheaper and often easier to operate. Ultimately, we have chosen to go for digital (all functionality in one relatively small device - far more configuration options - etc.). With respect to the competition the choice of the Qu-16 had to do with: relatively simple operation (fairly close to analog), alleged good build quality.

On the Internet, I could find lots of information, reviews and video instructions on Qu-series. Generally this gives a fairly accurate impression. I type below additional informative according my (our) experience.

I started "playing" for a few evenings (going through all of the manual and tryout almost everything) and did go live twice. I made a couple of multi-track recordings and took the time to play with them for one evening together with the team. Everyone was enthusiastic about the Qu-16.

Operation is indeed quite simple (if you’re used to an analog mixer). There are only two (or three) layers of functions for the faders. That all 16 inputs faders are available on the same row is especially useful if you do not often work with such a device. The operation also remains fairly intuitive if you select a Mix output. All frequently used functions (e.g. PEQ, Phantom, RTA, GEQ) are found quit easily. All fairly intuitive. For functions such as routing you have to think more, but that is in itself quite logical positioned as well. We ourselves work with certain pre-settings (obviously put in a scene) and therefore do not often use to the deeper settings. For most volunteers this is fine.

Where we are definitely satisfied with:

- RTA / GEQ: You pick easily which frequencies cause feedback. You can correct this easily with the GEQ of the concerned output (though in practice we use the PEQ of the channel). The RTA is also useful to determine which frequencies of a sound source needs to be adjusted (an expert technician should be able to do this without of course :))
- PEQ: Operation on both touch screen / screen-rotary as the super strip is excellent.
- The Apps' Qu-Pad 'and' Qu-You’ to operate the mixer remotely via Wi-Fi. However, it requires a reliable Wi-Fi network connection (is not up to the Qu-16).
- Multi-track recording via Qu Drive:
o Making a mix afterwards,
o Virtual sound check (for the purpose of training / testing).
- The philosophy of the user interface (fits perfectly with our team).
- Many options and settings. There are more than we likely will ever need.

I would configure the App for musicians in advance. As a second technician you can also use the Apps to adjust a Mix for recording purpose real-time without constantly having to operate on the mixer itself. Even though the workload is not such that a first technician couldn’t handle this al well. Our old laptop can’t handle the screen buildup with a multi-track recording via USB. The buildup of the tracks is not (real-time) visible. The recording itself is going well. We use the laptop only for mono / stereo recording. For multi-track recording we use Qu-Drive. By the way, this works excellently with a large memory stick (don’t need a hard drive for this). Some brands / models memory stick are not recognized (easily).

About the build quality we are satisfied. During the research period I did read a review that mentioned a lesser physical strength of the faders as disadvantage. I myself see no issue here.

The only (minor) downside for me is the size of the touchscreen. This could have been one size larger. If your fingers are not too thick, it may not be a problem for the operation. Only the smaller characters and graphic details are not always easy to read from a standing height. But I can imagine that the designers can’t create room for a larger screen on such a small area easily. I myself don’t need the Qu-16 to fit in a 19 "rack.

Ultimately, after 11 months we are still very satisfied with our purchase and do recommend this unit if the user interface philosophy fits your needs.

I've had one of these for a long time now. Found it very easy to get up and running - in many respects it's not that far removed from an analogue desk. However, gates & compressors on all the inputs are fantastic, as are graphics & and compressors on the outputs. The iPad & phone apps are very useful and work well (not tried the Android tablet app yet).
Regular firmware updates keep adding new stuff to the desk & apps!
These days, I'm making multitrack recordings directly to USB & using some quite complex combinations of features. Also finding the automatic mic mixer is a useful addition for conferences etc.

I was a long time mackie onyx user and needed something that would send and return a lot of channels and just wanted an all around upgrade from a 1620i. The specs on this board were good and word of mouth about A&H products has been good so I went for it. Being a digital mixer it took a little while to understand the flow but after spending some time with the manual and some basic videos online I pretty much understand the mixer. It sounds absolutely awesome. It is great having so much processing available on every single channel. The eq is easy to dial in with knobs, the faders feel great. The built in effects provide plenty of options. I use an out to get some strymon pedals in the mix to round it out. I really can't think of what else I need in a mixer so it will be a keeper for me for a long time. I'm just a hobbiest so use it to run little shows in my house, along with karaoke and sound for a friend's wedding, and use it for recording. It's a really versatile piece of gear and tons of fun to use.

Allen and Heath have delivered a Simple yet greatly efficent mixer with multi tracking capabilities, great onboard effects, user friendly set up and mix capability. I've had my QU16 for a while now and use it on 80% of my work, I also have a GLD 80 (bigger brother of sorts) but use it only occasionly as the QU is so convienent to use and get around. Whether you are only starting out in Digital Consoles or are an experienced user this Desk should not be overlooked, in my time with it I find it great, hence the star rating.

I love my Qu-16! It does everything you could expect for the price point. The only minor quibble I have is related to using it as an audio interface, where it is fixed at 48kHz/24-bit, but if you can work with that (or don't use it for recording) I highly recommend it.

I've been using the QU-16 for over 2 years. In that time the feature set has been enhanced by firmware upgrades.
It sounds great, is easy to use, and is very flexible.
I use it live every week, often redording direct to a USB hard drive.
I have also used it several times in a studio situation, recording to a DAW running on my macbook.

Very pleased with the desk.

I have been using the Qu-16 mixer for over two years now. What an amazing mixer. Coming from the Presonus Studio Live the A&H is leaps and bounds easier to navigate. It is laid out more like a traditional analog mixer. The Qpad app. is great also. I also use the Qu for an interface for my DAW and it also works great for DAW control. Allen & Heath have done several free upgrades over the last few years which have greatly improved the package. I highly recommend this product. Mine gets used at gigs 3 to 4 nights a week, year around and has performed flawlessly. I record every gig, multi track to hard drive. I could go on and on. Great product, great customer service. Free upgrades. WOW

The Qu-series mixers are the best available in this price point! I have owned the Qu-16 for over a year now and use it exclusively in our home studio for live sound and studio recording. The clarity of the D/A conversion via the USB is awesome and the flexibility I have in choosing the individual channel source from local, d.snake, or USB gives me plenty of routing options. We use a MIDI setup to pull world-class sounds from the Addictive Keys and Addictive Drums software and then route them to the Qu-16 outputs. I can even route the 16 tracks from Addictive drums to individual channels on the Qu to give me out of the box mixing control. Everyone can adjust their own monitor mixes with their hand-held devices too (with a wireless router plugged in).

A great tool with amazing FX, routing capabilities, workflow, and sound quality. You'll love it!

We have a Qu-16 in a road case and do a lot of setting up and packing up every week. It is an awesome mixer and sounds great. Due to current constraints our mixer has to sit on stage with the band, but I love the iPad interface which we use a lot for our mixing of FOH and various monitors that incorporates almost all the functionality as the mixer does. I also love the multi-track recording to Qu-Drive which is very easy to plug in a drive and do the recording without needing a computer there. An awesome, good value, digital mixer from Allen & Heath that I recommend to anyone and with Allen & Heath bringing out further firmware updates, it keeps getting better all the time.

I have owned and used my QU-16 for several years in many different situations and it is a pleasure to work with. I've used it with Bose L1 MII systems for my own performances, where I really appreciate the logical layout and great sound. I work sound for a local 700 seat concert venue and have worked with anything from a one-woman musical to duos, quartets, acapella groups, and the Air Force Heritage Band. The QU-16 has come thru every time. It's great hearing concert listeners comment on how natural the sound is when used with my Bose F1's. I'm an old analogue guy who turned digital and the QU-16 has made the transition easy. Of course I have to mention the great service I get working with Mike Conyers and Sweetwater.

I got the QU 16 early this Year. It is just great. After a short time of investigation it is easy to handle. I viewed some Youtube Videos , so I got in to the details very easily. Once You are used to it, it is perfect! I added the AR2412 and it makes even more sense. The high quality pre-amplification rounds up a solution for midsize bands on stage during live events and for recording in my little studio. The in build recording facility is really good. After recording 16 tracks in parallel. I can mix them down on my IMac using Logic X. It is a way better than only stereo recording. You can remix the full recording from a live session to a much better result! The in-house effects of the QU16 are perfect. There is a wide variety of adjustments that can be made and a full set off " software" - effects that can be used. Beside the given functions in the channel-strip You get a professional digital Mixer with Gain, HPF, Gate, Compressor and a graphical EQ that is outstanding.
The QU16 can play in top group of Hardware and will cost You a fortune to fine better equipment. The only thing that could be inside in the future is a WLAN Adapter for the remote controlling via IPAD.

I've had my Qu-16 for almost 3-years now, still blown away by how great it is.
I have a small sound company doing weekend gigs for wedding bands and club acts. I come from the analog world, had a MixWiz for smaller gigs, then upgraded to the Qu-16.
First, I was able to dump my racks of compressors, gates, and EQ's. Then I dumped my 24-channel analog snake (all 80-pounds of it). The Qu can do all of it.
Started with a single AB168 dSNAKE (16-inputs/8-outputs) then added a second one. I am still limited to 16 mic ins, but I split them between the 2 dSNAKE's and have one front stage and one at the backline, running a 20-foot Cat5 cable between them. Allows me to keep the cable runs as short as possible.
I have my Qu-16 mounted in a slanted rack case (Gator) which mostly sits side-stage. I mix most of my shows from an iPad out in front of the band.
The mic pre's are great, very useful EQ (4-bands fully sweepable), and a decent pallet of effects. You are limited to 2 dedicated FX sends, but you can also use the Mix sends if you don't need them for monitors. I use FX sends 1 and 2 for vocal effects (reverb and delay), and Mix 7/8 for vocal thickening (ADT effect) and Mix 9/10 for drum reverb (snare and toms). I also use a SoftKey to set tempo for the delay (tap tempo).
Recording works great, either to a USB key or directly to a DAW. Not a feature I use often but it is there.
I also have the head-only version, the Qu-SB, which gives you a few more features, but no physical faders. I can use 32-inputs with my 2 AB168 dSNAKE's, and it has 4 effects sends.
If there was any negative point about the Qu-16, I would say I'd like more Mixes. You get 4 mono, 3 stereo, which for most of the bands I mix, is fine. But it would be nice to have a few more.
I understand that there is a limit to what you can fit in a console of this size at this price point, and I feel A&H have hit a home run with the Qu-16.

It's 100% the correct decision to migrate from DL1608 to this digital mixer. The sound quality is very good and USB multi-track recording is very stable. It's feature packed and is a much deeper digital mixers than those simple ones like touchmix or DL1608. Now I just wish they have a new GLD for me to upgrade to.

I have many mixers in my pro audio company I mainly use A&H and Digico. The qu-16 gets used the most it has been everywhere.
The qu is on the road at least 3 times a week for years and has been flawless it really is a bullet proof console. Sounds good, plenty of sends, usb multi track recording, Good fx , iPad control (fully featured now days with updates) thats the other thing allen and heath unlike many other companies actully continue to improve on the firmware. For the price you just can't beat it . I'm actually thinking I will buy a second one soon. Just can't say enough good about this desk, its like a Toyota gets the job done easily and goes for ever!.

I am a seasoned sound engineer and I have never come across a sound console with this much bang for your buck. This compact little mixer is jam packed with features that rival large digital consoles. Everything about it from the user interface to the hardware interface is among the best quality in the business. As of yet I haven't found a single fault.

After many years of semiprofessional PA / recording work using a number of "quality " desks, I thought it was time to go digital ! My first digital desk was a used Soundcraft and I loved it, so much in a fairly small footprint.... but I needed it to do a bit of everything, live multitrack recording / PA and transportable in a small car (mx5) I needed a lot of outboard gear.
After reading a review on the Allen & Heath QU-16 this ticked all the boxes
Its proved to be far better than expected, ok it's 16 channels but for a small band doing pubs and clubs it's fine. I can multitrack on USB at a practice, quickly set it back up in my studio (box bedroom) connect it to my MacBook Pro and daw then send the mix to band members via Dropbox
As a PA desk it sounds great, has great sounding fx in fact all the tools you need, add an iPad and your free to move around and adjust anything you want from stage to foh.
The list goes on, but if you compare what it can do, how easy it is to do it and the fact that it really is built like a tank, it really is quality

First of all, this mixer does have some limitations you need to take into account. It is only 16 channels, which is great for standard bands, but some groups may need more. Also, there are no subgroups on the Qu 16 (but there are on the 24), so no drum or vocal subgroups.

If you can live within those limitations, this board is a beast for live use. I just switched from a presonous studiolive 16.4, and I couldn't be happier. The preamps sound crystal clear, and the actual desk interface is a piece of cake to learn compared to the presonous and berhinger competition, in my opinion. The board runs off layers of motorized faders which control all the main and aux mixes. The onboard effects engine sounds great, if thats your thing, but i only use a touch of reverb. The built in hpf, gate, eq and compressors are top notch and adjustable per channel and mix. While the iPad app isn't the flashiest, it runs effectively off any old generic router, and the desk can record direct to a usb hard drive.

I'm not a paid endorser, just a working musician who needs quality gear. This desk is fantastic for live sound and easy to learn for an entry level digital desk. Are you still using analog? It's time to upgrade. This is the best desk in it's class, and I feel like despite some feature limitations, it sound as good as pro digital desks costing much more.

What can I say about this mixer. It has all the connectivity and functionality that you could possibly want or need in a compact package. It sounds clean, punchy and is very solidly built - like you could drop it off a building. It's like slicing a piece from a big pro mixer so you could put it in a bag that you can carry with one hand.

Allen & Heath states: "Qu provides much more than just a mixer. Qu is an entire ecosystem with Remote AudioRacks allowing I/O to be placed where it’s needed, ME Personal Mixers expanding monitor mixes and enabling simple, time-saving local control, Qu Apps for complete remote setup and wireless mixing on stage or anywhere else in the venue, ProFactory Mic presets to speed up preparation time and ensure the best sound, plus USB recording and DAW integration for powerful workflow optimisation from one centrepiece device."

Also worth noting is that Allen & Heath have been providing regular firmware updates to the QU series, and it has matured into a very stable and powerful operating system. Needless to say, I'm extremely happy with this mixer.

I have never regretted spending a few extra bucks to get a very nice piece of audio equipment, and the QU-16 is no exception. It is truly the Cadillac of compact mixers.

I had a 24 channel, it was too big for 50% of my events. This one is great.

This Board is amazing! Just the fact that you can actually recall previous settings saved from previous venues played is incredible. Definitely a learning curve, but very doable and Allen & Heath technical help has been great. Favorite part is the Qu-Drive. Actually, record multi-track to a USB attached compatible hard drive, and actually tweak the faders during playback (thru the board) for a corrected export of the recordings. You can even use that feature to adjust a recorded sound check tune to the venue, while the band takes a break. Love it!

I researched and researched, and finally after talking to Dylan at Sweetwater decided the QU-16 was worth the money for what I needed. Boy am I glad I did it...I'm beyond happy with this purchase. It's my first digital mixer, so there was a bit of a learning curve. Manual and Youtube tutorials helped right away. I use it for live sound when our band plays shows, and am currently using it as a DAW interface to do some recordings. The ability to record all of the inputs to separate tracks either on a Laptop or directly to a USB drive is what drove me to this mixer, and I'm not disappointed.

What really surprised me is how good the built in preamps, eq, effects, compression, and noise gate sound. Really high quality, very low noise board.

The flexibility to send a different mix to each monitor wedge on stage, and another one to the FOH mains is a dream.

We use this board for an outdoor/mobile rig for worship service, so far so good.

Everyone else has already spoke of the wonderful sound of this board which is very surprising as you are able to get some nice punch from the lows with very clear mids and highs.

Here is a list of my favorites:
Pros: Ease of Use, Ability to Multitrack in DAW (Virtual Mix), AES Outputs for Video Switcher and 10 Outputs
Cons: Routing takes some time to understand could use a Firmware update to allow some customization

powerful little 16 channel mixer. When you add the Dsnake with it, thats the cherry on top. This board is intuitive and super user friendly. the work flow on the super strip and touch screen is easy. 4 built in effects engines, two of which are immediately dedicated to FX1 and FX2 right out of the box. The motorized faders could use some smoothness improvements tho. I love the SMR EMT Live reverb.

First of all, I am an analog guy, (I"m old...lol). When it comes right down to it, I am a semi-professional at best. I just like to mix sound. I really wasn"t interested in switching to digital. Thought it would be a steep learning curve with a lot of features I would never need. Well if you just pay attention, you can learn something new every day. This mixer is the perfect tool to learn how to work in the digital world. I use these boards to teach people how to make the transition from analog to digital. Not a lot of layers and pages that you have to dig through just to get something to work. In a live situation, I don"t have time to dig through all that. With the new firmware update, I can do everything on my iPad that I can do on the mixer, including recording 16 mono tracks and the two track mix. You take the board home, flip the inputs to USB and you can remix the whole show and never have to turn on a computer. Really, there are just too many good features to list here. Best feature above all, absolutely no outboard gear is needed. It"s all in here. Compressors, gates, eq"s, effects, etc. You don"t know what to do with the gate or who it is? Don"t worry about it, it"s not essential to making good sound.
I have run into several people who have bought an "X" mixer because of the glorious reviews by professional sound people. Big mistake! If you"re not a professional sound person, you can get frustrated very quickly because of the time it takes to access all the features which may or may not be relevant to what you"re trying to do. They call it flexibility. I call it a pain in the neck. It"s easier to herd cats.
With a QU board, I can get a mix up and running for an 11 piece horn band quicker than you can have a snack. Yes, that includes monitor mixes and in ears and play back, etc. if you are under the gun, and aren't we always?, There is no faster way to get it done.
If you don"t want to know how to build a watch, but just want to know what time it is, buy this board!

Excellent mixer. I've installed this unit in a few locations and they work great. All my clients love the "scenes" memory capability. Of course, it has other great features

When I first started doing live sound reinforcement for our group, I bought a used analog Yamaha EMX 5016 CF. After seeing the advantages of a digital mixer, I bought a used 2003/04 Yamaha 01V96 to learn digital mixer work flow/layout etc. While using the 01V96, I started looking for a NEW mixer as sort of a 'wish' item. It was between the Qu-16, Soundcraft Expression 1, Soundcraft UI-16, Behringer X-18 and QSC Touchmix 12. Although the other mixers were comparable, I found that I was attracted to the Qu-16's features, relatively easy work flow, physical/motorized faders and lay out at this price point. There was something about mixing PURELY on virtual faders (UI-16, Touchmix and X-18) that I didn't like, but that's just my preference.

After about a year and a half, the 01V96 started having issues and decided it was time to update/upgrade my mixer. I finally took the plunge and purchased it. Since then, I have had no regrets. I am totally happy with this mixer. As with any digital mixer, you just have to get used to the layer structure and mixer layout. I've been using this mixer for about a month and a half and I don't think I've even used a all of the features that it is loaded with although I did try recording multitrack to usb. I was pretty impressed with the quality of the recording and the 'virtual soundcheck' feature. The more I use it, the more I start learning/using the features that its equipped with. I've also used the wireless control with the android app and found it to be very useful as expected when performing a soundcheck. I use this mixer in conjunction with my Bose L1 Model 2 and the B2 bass module and other gear from Sweetwater (thanks to Devin) weekly and I am always getting compliments with the quality of sound from the audience vs the 01V96.

I have to say that at this price point, you get your money's worth and more.

I was put on this desk without trying it prior, but since i've worked with GLD consoles, it felt like familiar territory! I was happy to see both a Local I/O and a digital I/O for added flexibility incase you're forced to use a analog snake...unlike GLD

The EQ work wells! It has a responsive nature which feels comfortable to use! I would like a EQ view button however you get used to navigating the small screen. Trust me, it is a small screen however it's usable and functional!

I always enjoyed that A&H have mix buttons, it makes for a quick transition to setup monitor's. However my only gripe is that i wish the processing for that mixbus would show up on the LED screen. Instead you have to switch layers and select the mix bus in order to change EQ's and what not!

Without reading the manual, i figured out pretty quickly how to change a mix bus from pre to post on a channel, however it does require holding down the pre button and selecting the channel you want to change. I'd rather it be a tap and tap sort of thing instead of holding down a button and tapping, it's only a small annoyance.

The copy and paste function is quite handy and pretty easy to use, however it does require holding down the copy button and pressing which thing you want to copy. Then repeating the hold down process for the paste function.

I also would not mind a PAD and 48V button on the surface, least they have a dedicated HPF on/off switch and a dial to adjust the frequency! At least with the QU the EQ width is a separate dial as apposed to GLD where you have to hold down the freq dial!

Another thing that is missing is HPF on mix buses and LR! Just so i an drastically cut out low end material in the monitors as well as make a dirty xover if i want to run subs on a separate mix for better separation and SUB pre-amp headroom!

Overall the mixer is pretty good for it's size and function but is missing some features that would make it fantastic!

I bought the QU-16 because I wanted superior sound. Yes, it had that. I also bought it because I am a visual person and it looked really cool. Yes, it is a beautiful piece of gear. But, it has so many features that I did not really need. And many of those features I never could figure out how to use properly. Compared to, say, the FED16, the QU-16 just seemed complicated and needlessly packed with options that were useless to me. I ended up selling it and getting the excellent Allen & Heath FED16 and now I'm much happier. In short, the QU-16 is a great mixer that will please some, but the FED16 is also great -- and more straightforward and gets the job done with ease -- and at a decent price point.

I bought the A&H 18 months ago. While it is a good desk with some nice features it perhaps lacks the true "open" sound of an analogue mixer. Most disappointingly, it has been a bad investment with how much A&H have reduced the price on it and other mixers in their range. I wasn't exactly an early adopter, but the price has dropped considerably which would make me question buying an A&H product again with their current business model. It certainly isn't a Roland in that respect and I have now lost many $$$ through A&H's own depreciation.

The Good --- This mixer is good for a rookie just moving into digital world. Is a compact, easy to carry around.
its has all the basic processing for the sound and its functional for a small gig format. Overall, this mixer is good for used in the limited space environment.

The Con -- This qu16 mixer is decent for it usage. allen & heath shall rethink about the rough use, whether on stage, football field or indoor used. There are moments that something call like 'xit happened', things Like trip and fall, water spill, lighting strike all of this unexpected can occur... The qu16 mixer is dead in the middle of the show. for eg, the leg boby of the mixer is not good in landing on table top. little beer spill onto the fader, well good luck to you trying to do DR-ABC on it. The output mix should have LPF on it. this will eliminate x-over. and no expanding channels. even your connected to the digital snake. 16 channel, its will be it.

This mixer does not have the capacity to provide refined signal routing and processing.

The mix buses cannot used as groups; they are only for sending mixes to wedges. The output ports are also locked to those mixes, so the user cannot send mix bus 1 out analogue out 6.

The channel DSP metering is also lacking any kind of numerical representation for reduction levels of the gate/eq/and compressor.

There are only two effects sends

It may be great for a hobbiest, a marginal upgrade to a Mackie 1604, but at more than twice the price, doesn't reflect that sentiment.

I bought this mixer after experiencing a lot of great things for live purposes and drum recording and live video integration through 2020 and 2021. I used a MacBook Pro 2012 with 16gb of ram and had some stellar results, needless to say I wanted to own the board myself.

After my 2012 was damaged recently I have not been able to record a single thing with this. When using the mixer as an interface, there's an issue with usb 3.0 that results in erratic electronic/static bursts that are present in every "record armed" channel in the DAW. These bursts are recorded in to the tracks making them useless.

I am defeated by this, totally depressed and at a loss as to why and how a company like A&H would continue to sell a product that is not compatible with modern usb integration. I've tried a Mac mini 2020, I've tried a MacBook Pro 2016, I've tried a Mac desktop 2018.

I am not a windows user, apparently there's some editing you can do to your computers system to disable usb 3.0 and reverse to 2.0

DO NOT BUY IF YOU INTEND TO USE THIS AS AN INTERFACE

This was recommended for recording my a rep. If you want recordings that sound smeared its the way to go. Went with the ZEDR16 which sounds excellent but sadly has been discontinued. And is a recording console. This isn"t.

It's too noisy when its power is on?? When it was nothing playing, its sound as windy....I don't like it