Allen & Heath CQ20B

Got my hands on the Allen & Heath CQ20B recently and, from a technical standpoint, this thing is way more serious than it looks. The 96 kHz processing plus A&H’s FPGA architecture gives it a level of transient accuracy you don’t normally see in this price bracket. The stereo image is cleaner, and the low end doesn’t smear the way it tends to on mixers running cheaper DSP pipelines.

I’ve used the Ui24R and X18R a ton. Both are solid in terms of workflow and features, but the CQ’s internal engine is noticeably higher fidelity. The headroom feels better, the preamp noise floor is lower, and the summing stage doesn’t collapse when you start stacking channels with FX. Basically, it “behaves” more like a Lite version of an SQ/Qu system than a budget stagebox.

The multitrack side is also legit: 24 channels to SD card without choking, as long as you use a normal card. Big modern SDXC cards can be picky, but a standard 32 GB SDHC gives you 3–4 hours at full track count, so it’s totally practical for live capture. And if you want clean stems straight into a DAW, it doubles as a 24×24 USB interface with low round-trip latency.

Internal FX are surprisingly usable too — the reverbs don’t have that plasticky “early reflections soup” you get on cheaper digital mixers, and the comps behave predictably even when pushed. FPGA helps here: less aliasing, faster envelope tracking, and no weird zipper noise on fast attacks.

Remote control is stable (iPad/Android), musicians connect instantly, and the monitor workflow is idiot-proof. Gain Assistant is actually well-tuned; it isn’t one of those gimmicks that overreact and wreck your gain structure.

Guys and girls, this is the future. That's my update from zed12fx, and it is day with night, I am going to post this review because thats the review I was looking for when I was searching for buying a mixer. I am not going to say that is the best mixer coz out there, I am sure you have so many choices, some of them are better and some are not so good. After a research that I made, I decided to go on this coz I already had the zed12fx for fifteen years, and allen and Heath never disappointed me in the analog world and fortunately, I am more than happy with that choice. This mixer is like a toy for a musician who doesn't have the knowledge of a sound engineer! Every feature is cool and easy to figure it out with some study. I took it on stage after one month off purchase, and everything was absolute grate. You have everything, compressors, limiters, gates, feedback assistance, Parametric eqs, auto gain assistance, great effects, 6 independent auxiliaries that can be eq and sound like your main left and right speakers, main speakers can also be eqed. Also, you have the choice to download the cq4you app for managing the volumes of your monitor from your phone. The feature that impressed me more is the recording, which is really easy, you can record every single channel individually on an SD card and playing it back from the mixer through your main speakers and having your band playing with no one there, but the impressive thing is that you can make the mixing on the recording, make everything sounds great and save it for the live. In conclusion, that's a great mixer for someone who's going to dive into the digital world for the first time. I combined this with the DBX pa2, and guys, I think after all these years of spending money on equipment, this time, I am done!

In my opinion, this is a direct competitor to the Midas MR 18 mixer. But the A&H QC20B does everything that the Midas can do, and much more. I am VERY SATISFIED with my choice! I recommend it to both professionals who need a smaller console and beginners for whom this is their first console. The console can be configured according to your wishes. There are filters that are familiar to professionals (EQ, compressor, gate) as well as filters and automatic assistants suitable for complete beginners (feedback reducer, automatic gain, etc.)