Allen & Heath Xone:23C Mixer Review

Author:: DJ Blaze
Publish date:: Sep 25, 2014

Overview

The new Allen & Heath two-channel Xone:23C professional DJ mixer is the natural successor to the Xone:22 mixer and it also adds the internal USB DJ soundcard to easily connect to DJ software. The Xone:23C has excellent build quality, an internal USB DJ soundcard with DVS capabilities, Mixvibes LE software, and an X:Link connector to easily link to other Allen & Heath Xone:K series controllers. Check out the review to see if it lives up to the Xone standards.

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Review Video & Demo

Unboxing Video

Setup & First Impressions

The Xone:23C has excellent build quailty. The chassis is all metal and everything just feels solid. The Xone:23C is also like a 2+2 channel mixer since it has separate gain knobs for each of the four RCA inputs on the rear of the mixer. The Xone:23C also sports the legendary A&H Low & High pass filters to pack a mean punch in a small package. These filters can only be applied to one channel at a time, but they sound phenomenal... They also have a resonance and frequency knob to change the parameters of the effects. The Xone:23C also has the legendary sound quality that is found on almost all Allen & Heath professional products.

Conclusion / Recommended For

In conclusion, the Xone:23C two channel USB mixer is definitely a worthy successor to the original Xone:22 and also worthy of holding the Allen and Heath Xone badge. The Xone:23C has heavy and solid build quality where everything feels like its really built to last. The 23C also has superb sound quality and excellent high and low Pass filters. The Xone:23C also has the four different inputs that can be mixed and played simultaneously thanks the the separate gain control knobs for each channel input. The added icing on the cake is the Internal DVS (timecode) capable USB DJ soundcard that works well with many different DJ software. The Xone:23C comes with a special version of Mixvibes LE DJ software so that users can connect external turntables or CD decks that are playing MIDI timecode signals for song playback and mixing.

On the downside, the Xone:23C has a good crossfader for mixing, but not so good for scratching. The crossfader that comes inside of the unit doesn't have a crisp cut in and doesn't feel as accurate enough for quick fader movements. A&H have remedied this situation by offering a replacement Innofader MINI that will make the Xone:23C a scratching machine for an additional cost. The other minor gripe that I have with the Xone:23C is that the user must open the mixer to connect the supplied Jumpers in order to activate the DVS capability of the inputs/soundcard. The user must also open the mixer to revert back to normal source playback when ready. It would have been nice to include a simple switch to change between regular source or DVS mode per channel.

Other than these two gripes, it's pretty hard to find fault with the Xone:23C. It's a great little mixer with lots of features and we're going to recommend the Xone:23C to anyone who is in the market for a two-channel mixer with good sound quality and an internal soundcard to easily connect to software. It's also a good solution for those who need a mixer and a soundcard for DVS playback using Mixvibes LE. Everything except for the vinyl or CD's is included in the box for timecode control and that really makes it a bargain for those who are starting out.