Behringer X Air XR18 Reviews

XAir mixer

This is probably the best small form digital mixer out there. I’ve done hundreds of gigs with full bands And utilised all of the features of this excellent mixer.

I’ve upgraded to the X32 for larger shows the require matrix and additional Aux channels

However for a 5 piece band playing in pubs and clubs this is all you need great product.

perfect for a full band

i use it live and band pratice

easy software realy complete

easy to use and strong made

Nice mixer!

Ideal for a small studio and live band.

Easy to use, but you need to get used to the settings, it was not immediately clear and often still confused, connection without problems, support for android and aios. the ability to customize the wireless connection from the tablet. We use it for in-ear stage monitoring at rehearsals and concerts. In the studio, he perfectly steers sound with amplifiers and sound monitors.

It works perfectly, we are very satisfied with the purchase, I recommend reading a lot of reviews everywhere,

it is better to put a separate router

Great solution

Great and smart solution for any band and sound engineers. It has everything you need to perform on a stage and control the sound from everywhere in the audience. Strongly suggested an external modem, since the integrated one is too weak. I define it as a semi-professional mixer.

Great

Amazing sound quality! Would recommend this to anyone!

Fast shipping and great customer service!

Wow.

Wanted to get a boatload of outboard rackmount FX and processors, and an interface. This will replace a lot of that for less money, with more flexibility.

Pros:

Comp, Gate & EQ on every channel.

Compact.

Routing flexibility.

Cons:

It's not the X32 Rack...

Incredible performance / price ratio!

If you're fine to mix on a computer or smart device, this mixer will give you the BEST performances / options VS price ratio!! I'm used to high quality analogue mixers, and for what this is, it really is a great little mixer!!! A+++

Make sure to buy the Mixing Station third party app (on a smart phone). It's a very well made app, and gives you full control over the mixer, even on your iPhone.

I've read that the internal WLAN acces point is a problem to some users... It hasn't been for me. Rock solid in any more (AP or Client).

Solid system for a big band.

This mixer brought our band into the 21st century. I lead a 12 person band and this makes organization of sound so much easier. Worth the investment. Sell your old analog mixer and get this. Simple.

Call back mic feature is lacking though. Figure I will need to buy a wireless mic just for the sound engineer at shows.

Great fun

Funny and good intuition. Nice to use and deliver what it promise.

That is THE mixer!

I have bought it to mix my in-ear properly and I must say... it works flawlessly! It is small, portable and has enough channels to literally feed our band IEM! The mobile app works wonders, and it works like it should. Only downside is that when I put it in the rack, the power switch maybe a hard to get into.

I really recommend it, it works like a charm!

Great product and price

I use it in different conference outdoors and indoors. Easy to set up, easy to control. It's perfect for the price.

Very convenient

Small, solid, easy to use.

I expect some update for the software where I have some limitations. But frankly, for the price you have a great value. It helps my bands to finally offer almost pro sound. I can't do without now.

Very bad quality of the playback through the device

I've been looking for a portable mixer, where I can connect all the band members + have separate outputs for playback and click (for the drummer). I've checked this one online and the device fulfills these requirements.

After unboxing, I found out a sturdy metal unit. It is made and assembled in China. Like on the composite inputs (XLR/Jack) you can see it says Chengsheng.

I hook it up to the PC to try out difference in sound between my main console Presonus StudioLive 24.4.2 and can immediately hear the difference. Even though the AD/DA has the same specification (24 bits/48kHz), the USB playback via Behringer XR18 sounds muddier and in general less clear than through Presonus StudioLive.

The next test was with the band (that's why we got the unit in the end). We compared direct playback via LD Systems MAUI 28 G2 (it has integrated mixer) vs playback via Behringer XR18 plugged in into one stereo channel in the MAUI 28 G2. Again the same problem, the sound of the instruments and voice becomes muddy and less readable. Boosting the instrument/voice input to +20 to +30 db gain makes it somewhat more clear, but it does not compare to direct input to MAUI 28 G2. To give you an idea, it usually takes me 2 mins to set the levels between bass/guitar/voice on MAUI 28 G2 internal mixer. After this, the band members can hear each other and we play the set without any issues. With the Behringer XR18 we played around for about an hour with no satisfying result.

I would not recommend this unit for music, where you have to care about sound quality and clarity. I sent it back. Soundwise, it kind of reminded me the Zoom 404 units we had back in the 2000s. Not that bad (20 years passed after all), but somewhat comparable.

Funny enough, I ordered Zoom LiveTrak L-12, which seems to be better choice for me (although 100 Euros more expensive) than XR 18.

A solid 4 stars all around

First, it is by no means a bad mixer. In fact, probably the best for the money. But, I bought it as an alternative to a Behringer X32 Rack and I have to say, I still prefer the X32 Rack to almost all gigs.

It sounds the same as the X32, has the same excellent FX selection, but the features are limited: no delays on outputs (the biggest deal for me), less FX slots, limited input/output, lack of USB player and many other smaller grievances. The iPad app is also worse than the X32.

The built-in wi-fi is downright unusable with the default antenna. changing the antenna to a stronger made it at least usable, but you will still be better off with an external router.

But what it has going for it is the size. It fits in any backpack and is sufficiently light to carry around by hand or on your back. So for smaller gigs where you only have to bring a mixer or sound interface, this is perfect. And of course, the price. There is also the more expensive Midas version, but in my opinion, considering the jobs this mixer is aimed at, the Midas is not worth the money.

So in conclusion, a perfectly adequate mixer that sounds good and still has a good feature set. Recommended if budget and/or portability are a big concern. Otherwise, I would say get the X32 Rack.

Well build good fit for a small band's needs

If you want to drastically improve your sound, have effects and compressor for a fracture of what it would cost in analog equivalents this is for you.

a good solution

I've been using the X-Air XR18 for almost one year in a synth home studio, and I'm very happy about it.

number of inputs was my first requirement, and I didn't find anything really comparable in this price range.

The workflow and routing is quite easy to approach, effects are brilliant, converters are good quality for the use i do.

Each channel has many and deep options of editing.

the app on Android is not as friendly as on iPad, however I was happy to find also non-official apps which perform possibly better than the original one.

Excellent multi-purpose mixer

This is an excellent budget option for both PA and recording purposes. We have our XR18 hooked up into a power amp for PA purposes (vocals, kick drum, backing tracks) and we can set everything up very quickly for recording the entire band as well via USB. The 16 (or 18, kind of) track USB recording option was the feature why we chose this. The mic preamps are very good to our not-very-trained ears and for our loud music.

We don't need this for live use, so all I can comment is that I can see how it could easily work for that purpose.

The all-digital interface is a bit more cumbersome than a physical interface though. It takes a bit of time to connect and adjust everything, but that's a very minor complaint. This can be solved with a controller anyway.

All in all, compact, good quality and fairly easy to use mixer that serves many purposes. As far as I'm aware, nothing beats it in this price category. Very happy with the purchase!

Unbeatable Value!

we use this alot in installation work where the system just needs to switch on and work and it does just that!

Second purchase and still happy.

Already my second XR18 and still loving these units. Setting them up is a treat with the X-Air-Edit software under Linux.

I'm not using the wireless features (as I don't have much trust for wireless personally), but use them in a cabled arrangement and haven't had any issues thus far.

Only concern is the temperature of what I assume is the internal power supply which causes the top front of the unit to get unusually warm. This has not led to any problems however.

Would also be good if Behringer would bundle better IEC cables with their products. I always worry these are going to drop out when we wheel the rack around.

Great

I use this to connect a bunch of synths to headphones/monitors/PC, and as a midi interface, and it works like a charm. The software for PC is relatively easy to set up and use (routing, combine stereo channels, etc) and after half an hour I was multi-track recording in Reaper. The configurations you make are saved on the device, so I rarely open the mixers config software. The sound quality is great with a low noise floor (with balanced TRS). I do not use the wifi so i cannot speak of its capabilities.

Only slight minus is that while the software works like it should, it does take some time to get your head around how to use it. Not because the software is bad, but the mixer has a lot of features and works slightly different from a classic analog mixer. For me it was not a huge deal, but for people who are easily frustrated by software it may be worth noting.