Review: Allen & Heath Xone:96 Mixer | Tips and Tricks - 雙語字幕
Hey everyone it's Mo Jacks back in the DJ City UK lab.
A of months ago I got hold of a pre-production zone 96 from Alan and Heath.
I spent about a day and a half with it,
I did a preview for you,
but now I have a production unit,
I've had it for a couple of weeks and I've taken it out and I've gigged with it and I'm ready to deliver
never my verdict.
Let's get to it.
As the successor to the 15 year old XZ92,
which is still a big seller after all that time, the 96 has some big shoes to fill.
It's a little more expensive at just shy of $2,000,
but considering the time the 92 has been around and what's new in the 96, that's to be expected.
Whilst it was never my favourite mixer personally,
mainly because of the cross fader, there's no doubt the 92 has got a huge number of fans, particularly in the house and techno scenes.
There's a few reasons for that.
Perhaps importantly, the analogue sound quality was streets ahead of the Pioneer Mixers, which were available at the time it was released.
It wasn't even close.
Then there was the 4-band EQ,
which whilst not appealing to everyone, offers a real step up over three-band for sculpting sound during long blends.
The were the best in the game,
plus the build quality was absolutely rock solid, with units taking endless abuse for years and years without flinching.
When it comes to construction, I've got zero reason to doubt that the 96 will be as durable as its zone four bears.
It's designed from top to bottom to live a hard life with metal everywhere,
including the pots and the side mounting of the upfaders should help those survive for a very long time in the harshest of environments.
The finish on the top is very high quality, with clear labelling which will be great in a dark club.
I was never a big fan of the darker colour scheme on the later 92's.
big vents on the side of the mixer which is definitely required, it's an analogue device and so the 96 does get pretty warm.
On production unit though it never got uncomfortably so even after hours of use and there's a small buffer on the side of the frame to ensure
adequate ventilation in a cramped booth.
All the knobs and buttons feel solid and reliable with a grippy room.
rubber finish on the knobs which works well with sweaty hands.
The goes for the connections on the rear, with everything feeling sturdy as you're hooking up or tearing down.
It's worth mentioning the layout of the connections.
Some previous zones had rather quirky layouts which made hooking up gear in a dark booth less intuitive than on some other mixes,
but on the 96 everything is logical and consistent.
This certainly are a lot of connections.
Starting the left you have channels A and B.
These be used either for mics with XLR inputs or as return channels.
They have controls for the two effects send themselves, then a gain control, then a rather unusual EQ setup.
There regular pots for high and low, but in between is a parametric or sweepable mid-controller.
This allows you to boost or reduce the area around a specific frequency.
It works great on an effects return,
letting you highlight just a specific sound that you want,
especially when combined with a filter, as you can assign these two channels to the filter as well, something you couldn't do on the 92.
Next to those is a second pair of returns, C and D.
Ideal if you need effects, and mics hooked up at the same time or just need a couple of extra line inputs.
These are more simple with an on-off button, level control, key button and peak LED which all the other channels have as well.
Overall the send and return system is just awesome.
Send one can be switched to pre or post fader with send two being post only and combined with the control of returns a and b it's a really
real joy to use, whether with external units like the Eventide H9 reviews coming soon, or software effects over USB.
It will never be as plug and play as the built-in effects from some of the competition,
but if you want a ton of control over external devices, this is unparalleled in the DJ Mixer market.
Then we get to the four main channels, all of which are identical.
FX sends at the top, input switches to go between the USBs, final and line, gain control and then the four band EQ.
Alan Heath have deliberately kept the sound signature of this very close to the 92,
which makes sense, although they have tweaked it a little bit.
The high and low have full care.
with 6 dB boost, and the two mids have minus 27 dB cut and 10 dB boost.
Judging by the comments on my social media,
some folks have really taken against 4-band EQ, just as others are madly in love with it.
I've never really had an issue with it myself.
The crossover point for the bass EQ is high enough that killing the bass really does kill the bass,
and bass,
and it's nice to have a have that extra shaping potential with the separate upper and lower mids,
especially on a top notch sound system where you can really hear it.
Below that are the small metal switches to assign the channel to the filter or the cross fader,
which look fragile but have proven to be solid on the 92, and those custom side mounted channel faders which feel great.
I was very happy to find an up fader cut.
curve control the 96.
For me, the curve on the 92 was never quite comfortable, with too much of a kick as you near the top.
The power setting on here works much better for me.
The same goes for the cross vader, which on the 92 was just so far away from what I want on a mixer.
It didn't have a very sharp cut, and the cutting distance was massive on the 96.
However, all is good, as it has an inner fader mini installed as standard.
That's about all I need to say about it, really.
The mini is a truly excellent fader, which I've used in dozens of devices without issue.
Curve is adjustable from the top panel,
and Allen and Heath have broken out the cutting adjustment from the fader body to a screw which is accessible after removing the front panel.
Overall, I'm delighted
the company went down this road, and should make the 96 far more appealing to open formats and hip hop DJs than the 92 was.
When it comes to queuing, the 96 absolutely excels.
The queue circuit is comprehensive, you can assign multiple channels at once, there is split queue, and you can queue pre or post EQ.
But what's really killer is the secondary queue circuit.
This is completely independent,
so whilst it is a little bit more limited with no split queue or multiple channel selection,
it allows for two DJs to use the 96 at once, with complete control over what they each hear in their own headphones.
It's just priceless for back-to-back sets and for change overs.
The 96 isn't the first DJ mixer to have this function, but it's the first mainstream club mix.
to do so and that is fantastic.
So we move on to the filters.
Always a key feature on zone mixers,
the company haven't messed with the formula too much here, with the expected high, low and ban pass options, with resonance control.
The LFO function from the 92 is gone,
which I can't see many people missing, and instead there's a harmonic distortion circuit, which comes before the filter.
the signal chain,
it works really well, adding some crunch without needing to push your levels and can add a new dimension to things like your effects returns.
It's not the kind of effect that I have much use for, but I'm sure it will appeal to people like techno DJs for sure.
The change to the filters is a new setup for the activation switches.
They used to be an pop when turning them on or off on the 92,
and that is completely gone, even with channel gain slammed right up, a big improvement.
A few more notes on connections,
there are two discrete master outputs,
one on XLRs,
the other on jacks,
with their own level options,
there's also a record output on RCA's as well as the mysterious audio sync out mini jack, and that works also as a record out.
The booth setup is crazy good.
output is on balanced jacks, it be set to stereo or mono, has a mute button, level control, and its own 3-band EQ.
Absolutely level stuff.
Despite being an analog mixer at its core,
there is plenty of cool digital stuff on board the There are two 32-bit 96kHz USB audio interfaces,
both with 24 channels, 12 and 12 out.
You switch between those on a per channel basis, making switchovers and back-to-back sets super simple.
They worked immediately out of the box with Tractor Pro on my Mac,
without even needing a driver as the 96's core audio compliant, you will need a driver on Windows.
Latency was on point and it all worked incredibly smoothly whether with DVS or controllers.
You channels 11 and 12 to either Ork's 2 or to the Master for easy set recording with your computer as well.
There are plenty of MIDI options on the 96,
lots of the controls on the top panel are MIDI assignable and you can choose either or both USB outputs for that.
There's also a 5 pin MIDI output and the next link port for controllers like the K2.
Let's wrap up by talking sound quality.
The sound of the 96 is quite simply excellent.
It has all the warmth and clarity that I was hoping for, whether in the lab or out on a big rig.
But what's most impressive is how well balanced everything is.
The preamps on the 92 were famously pretty quiet, making it hard to get a good balance with the lighting.
they are nice and hot, and the quality of them is wonderful.
Likewise, the audio interfaces sound fantastic too, and everything sums together quite beautifully.
You still get the inherent characteristics of different formats,
but whether you're playing a track from a media player, over USB or from a record, it all gels together perfectly.
The sound of Zone Mixers has always been a major
selling point of them since the very first 62 and that is not about to change with the 96.
So there you go, my take on the Zone 96 from Alan and Heath.
It's very simple, really.
If you loved the 92, you're going to love the 96.
Unless you're some kind of crazy fan of LFOs on your filters, those people will be disappointed.
I'm not even sure if those people exist.
If you do exist, let us know down in the comments below and say hello.
But yeah, I think everyone who loved that 92 is going to love the 96.
It's just a 92, but better.
You know,
the sound quality is still that big fat analog sound that you get with Zion mixes, but it's much more balanced than it was before.
The preamps are much hotter on the phono level preamps, so they balance out better with the line level.
The audio interfaces sound fantastic, and again, they balance really well with everything else.
So the whole thing just kind of sums together beautifully,
whether that's on studio monitors or on like a club system in a venue, just sounds fantastic.
Everything else about it kind of feels very similar, so the EQ's will help.
a little curve, the layout is there and they've made some real improvements.
So no more popping on the filter buttons.
They're just, you know, clean as you like.
They've got a mini innovator in there.
So DJs like myself who love to have a proper sharp cutting crossfader are going to be happy because it's a mini innovator.
There's nothing else to add.
And all these little extra improvements everywhere.
Just add up.
to a much more modern and kind of accomplished mixer for the times that we live in now.
It's a much more sort of flexible device in many respects.
Overall I just think they've nailed it you know it's not much more money than the 92.
I think the 92 is still sticking around which I think might be a mistake but fundamentally the 96 this is the way forward.
If you like this style a mixer or even if you kind of liked it but were put off by
a few things like me with a cross fader yeah this is definitely worth taking a
look at now it's a beautiful thing I'm gonna be really sad when Alan and he's
come and take it back because yeah I want one of these in my life, it's very, very nice indeed.
Thank you for watching today.
Make sure you're subscribed and hit that bell icon down below
to get notified any time there's a new video for myself or the rest of the DJ City team.
I'll see you soon.
I'll see I'll see you soon.
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