Xone 22 vs xone 23 - wich should I buy?

[jjjjuan]

I read all the information about this two mixers (including the topics in this great forum) and i just cant decide.
The intended use is vinyl mixing (no timecode).

This are the things i like about the 23:
- filter/cue bottons placement, seems more comfy (and the actual presence of the cue botton in each channel btw, in the 22 is just a knob for both of them)
- line/phono knobs instead of bottons
- resonance knob
- mic imput and knobs on top
- the placement of the fx loop on/off botton, which i think i'm gonna use, but not a 100% sure
- the possibility of purchasing it new
- its black (as my turntables)
- on/off botton

Things i like about the 22:
- cheaper (but only available used)
- longer faders (can someone confirm this? I speak for what I saw on photos)
- general construction quality seems to be better (once again, speaking only by the photos I saw)
- no fucking wings
- did i said cheaper?
- did i said no wings?

The fx loop on/off botton on the 22 is way to close to the master gain knob and it's a botton I tend to press very quickly and may be violently

I don't like the overall look of neither of the two, the 23 at least is black and has all the controls on top but the 22 has no wings. Audio-quality-wise I cant tell because i couldnt test them and also i cant figure out if in the future the x2 series (22, 42, 92) is going to be "hyped" or is going to be seen as the old/worse version (this matter because of the resale possibilities and i know is an entry level-cheap mixer but i want to take all matters in consideration). I forgot to mention that the overall quality construction seems to be better on 22, specially im worried about the "sides" of the mixer or "the walls" so to speak that seems to be very thin on the 23.

If someone tested both of them and can tell me if there is any good reason not to buy the 23 or viceversa i would be very glad! Sorry if there are mistakes, english is my second language.

[SlayForMoney]

If you have the money buy the 23. The only thing I don't like on it is the short upfaders and small eq knobs (who the fuck has such small hands?).

[Kwal]

the 23 is weak compared to the 22 in my opinion. i had the 22, bought a 23 and sold the 23 a month later..

the only downfall to the 22 is the filter pop. the 23 has small faders, the vu meters are set up differently, its cramped. the headphone cues were set up better on the 22 also allowing you to measure in on how you wanted the balance of the signal to flow in your headphones instead of just having an on/off cue per channel which doesnt let you dial it in exactly how you want it.

the only advantage the 23 has in my opinion besides no filter pop is the on/off switch.. the 22 doesnt have one and i have to unplug it when im done

[jjjjuan]

thanks guys, the choice became easier when a great deal for a 23 showed up, i'll meet the seller tomorrow and if every thing is ok we are gonna trade his 23 for an old behringer mixer of mine. i'll let you know mi opinion of the 23 after some testing, thanks again!

[electroshock]

Is the vu meter on the 23 showing master level only and no channel levels?

[telamon]

Is the vu meter on the 23 showing master level only and no channel levels?

Mine does that. Not sure why.

[electroshock]

Maybe when you press the channel cue the meter switches to channel level?

[jjjjuan]

Maybe when you press the channel cue the meter switches to channel level?

I tested my unit very quickly and i noticed the vu meters act as a stereo vumeter for the master channel indeed, i didn't thought of this, but i found it very probably (because of the "cue" sign below the meters) , gonna test that later when i get home.

Some of the things i like, in case someone is in the same doubt i was:
- the overall feeling of the knobs is great, same as all the other allen heath mixers and controllers i used
- filter super fun (although almost the same filter in the 22)
- the two imput knobs per channel, super handy, although they could have labeld them as "phono-line" instead of "imput 1 - imput 2" and "imput 3 - imput 4", since the imputs are not switchable between phono-line and line-line configuration there is no point in labeling that way. Im gonna put some tape in that part and write it with a marker or something like that.
- the layout for all the knobs and buttons is great
- the bulding quality is great, all my fears where unfounded

I dont like the look of the mixer but i dont like the 22 either, although im getting used to it. And the faders are very tight, i like them much more loose but that is a personal thing, i like them almost as loose as a crossfader (the xone k2 faders work this way and i love it).

[electroshock]

The send return seems to be useless as I read elsewhere. Can't be used well with Traktor fx or Pio rmx box.

[jjjjuan]

It doesnt have a D/W knob, that would be very usefull, but for the price range its a good thing to have a fx loop at all, and to be fair, almost every FX unit has a dedicated D/W knob or some kind of level control. As for the rest its just a standard FX loop, i tested with a guitar pedal and worked well, i didnt try with traktor because im using it with vinyl, but can test it as well.

edit: i just read a topic in the allen heath forum about this (i assume the same topic you read) and now understand the problem. The pedal i use can be set to deliver only wet signal and then i use the level knob to control the amount of FX, working this way i dont have any unwanted dry signal leaking through the FX return. But if your fx unit cant be set to "only wet signal mode" then you'll have to put the D/W knob in the unit to a 100% in order to preserve your dry signal (track) volumen, but then you dont have any D/W knob to control your FX amount i.e. you dont have any way to engage your fx in a subtle manner or to control the fx amount in any way, as said in the AH forum. This depends on your unit, luckily its not a problem to me and im pretty sure that there is a way around this in traktor, but cant speak for the pioneer unit. Gonna test in traktor later.