the t.mix MicroMix 1 USB

Hommasin tämän mikserin voidakseni tallentaa äänityksiä kondensaattorimikrofonilla tietokoneelle. Huomasin heti laitteen saatuani, että se on tukevan oloinen: siinä on vahva peltikuori ja kytkimet toimivat jämäkästi. Mikä parasta, halpaan hintaansa nähden se tarjoaa varsin kattavat ominaisuudet: USB-lähtö tietysti, mutta sen lisäksi myös kahden kanavan basso- ja diskanttisäädöt, panorointi, 48 voltin phantom-syöttö ja erillinen kuulokekuuntelu.

Äänenlaatukin on ihan asiallinen, ei mitään huippua toki, mutta tämän hintaiseksi laitteeksi yllättävän hyvä. Jos vain siihen liitettävät mikit ovat laadukkaat (kuten vaikkapa Rode N5), niin stereoäänitys tällä pikkupakilla tulisi varmaan parempikin kuin esimerkiksi Zoomin H2n:llä.

Laitteessa on kuitenkin yksi paha tekovika: USB-linjan kuuntelussa kuulokelähdön vasen ja oikea kanava ovat väärin päin. Millaisia puukorvia siellä tehtaalla on töissä ?!? No, siitä toki selviää, kun vain muistaa kääntää luurit päässään nurin perin. Jos tämä outo moka ei aiheuta audiofiilille liian pahoja pulttiksia, niin SUOSITTELEN silti tätä pikku boksia (jos ei muusta syystä, niin ihan vain kassin pohjalla kulkevaksi kaiken-varalta-laitteeksi :-).

Fulfills the promises nicely. I've used the mixer on Zoom calls where I need to get both my guitar audio and my voice to the other end and it does the job as expected. Contrary to what some other reviews said, I've successfully used multiple different unpowered headsets (like gaming headsets) and they do work through the 3.5mm mic in IF the phantom power is activated. Without the phantom, the mic level is really low or inaudible.

The audio quality is generally ok, even though the preamps are a bit noisy, as others have stated.

Some of the knobs and small faders are pretty flimsy, but that's what you can expect for the price. That being said, the metal build is nice and very solid. Also, being able to use the device on just USB power without external power supply is a big plus for mobile users.

I ordered both the MicroMix 1 and MicroMix 2 as replacements for the legendary Behringer Xenyx 302 USB which I used to love mostly for its size and routing options, but has been discontinued.

This is obviously targeted at the same audience and I suspect there was a certain amount of plagiarism when it comes to design and possibly routing schematics. But yeah, that's cool with me.

One major selling point for the 302USB was the fact you could plug a average consumer-grade headset (like your standard gaming gear) into it and use the 3,5mm microphone in.

This is however not possible on either the MicroMix 1 or 2 as the circuit board does not feed phantom power to this port (well, on the MicroMix 1 it does but only for a few seconds after pressing "phantom"). This makes the 3,5mm mic jack only usable with active or pre-amplified microphones, and it kind of defeats the point of having this unit to be honest. I thought this was a fault on my units but Thomann customer service confirmed this was working as intended.

I should add that the preamps are very noisy, but that was to be expected considering the price. Maybe a FetHead can help you regarding this point, but if you're looking for a quality signal you're probably better off looking at other more expensive (but still small) interfaces.

Unit build is metal, solid, knobs are well tightened. The kind of gear you can just stash in the bag with no protection and expect to work for a couple of years.