Behringer Xenyx Q502USB Mixer

Hybrid On-line meetings. Since it is so easy to connect to the computer, other interfacing projects will be attempted.

Purchased specifically for on-line hybrid meetings. Clearly simple for other configurations.

I recently sent an email to Guitar Center to let them know how horrible this mixer is. I'm a former broadcast, production and audio engineer and needed a mixer at home with USB to record an audio book. I selected this mixer specifically because it was simple and had phantom power for a condenser microphone. From the start, the DIN power plug wanted to fall out. Then there was the low, 60Hz buzz that I couldn't quite isolate the source. But the worst was what sounded like a loss of power on words that start with the "whu" sound, like "one." I describe it as a "fuzzy dropout." It got to the point where I was tired of trying to edit out these problems and started looking at other mixer options. Then by accident I discovered in a forum post that the phantom power provided by this mixer is ONLY 15V! What the...??? The industry standard is 48V and what most decent-quality condenser microphones are designed for. It explained the problem exactly in what I was hearing with the fuzzy dropouts. Purchased an Alesis MultiMix 4 USB mixer which has proven so far to be a substantially higher quality mixer for only a few dollars more than the cost of the 502USB. Dead quiet open-mic audio output, better quality power connector, switches for both main and phantom power, and the list goes on. It doesn't have an adjustable clipping function, but it seems to clamp peaks very well inherently. The clipping adjustment on the Behringer never seemed to work properly. The 502USB is a mixer that should have NEVER been released to the market. It is, without question, an inferior product. The next product up in the Behringer line is the 802USB. On the front panel it shows "+48 V" for phantom power. The 502USB simply shows "Phantom" and there's nothing about the non-standard phantom power voltage in the description. It's been more than 90 days since I purchased this mixer so it's likely my money's been wasted. Save yourself the grief and go with a better brand.

Haven't gotten to sue it yet because the power adapter cord broke before I could even plug it in.

Small enough to fit on my work space.

Use this for live streams, very easy to set up and use. Sounds great for the price. My only complaint is that the power has slipped out quite easily. Luckily not during use, just when moving it.