X32 as far as I have encountered them, can be ok stable in enviroments where they are not moved around too much.
Met companies who regretted they bought 10+ X32’s for touring, one company had 9 of the 10 consoles failing several times during a period of 6 months of tours.
(A few of their Digimute failed as well 
)
The two M32’s they had never had a single “hickup” (neither did the other Midas nor the A&H consoles they have in stock)
@Søren Steinmetz
Have you found any company that does not have problems when their gear is abused during frequent moves?
Who would you say is the most reliable?
Is Behringer/Midas really the bottom of the barrel?
How deep is that barrel? Considering that perfection is not possible and everything is in a barrel of some sort.
All equipment will be able to fail, the question is how fast.
9 of 10 consoles of a single model is way too much IMHO
They have around 12 or 15 different models of digital consoles in their stock, and most of those have fail ratio of 1-2 in 10, only consoles to have 5+ in 10 failing are from that single brand.
The most reliable consoles I have met are A&H and Yamaha, in 30+ years, I have had 1 of each fail.
1 A&H GLD that was bugged and reprogrammed DCA groups at random, when you touched the armrest.
1 Yamaha LS9 with a faulty PSU cooler, resulting in surface latenzy - IE you recalled next scene and the screen + surface did not change for like 5 seconds.
Analog I have had a few on several brands, some not even on the market anymore.
But we are digressing a bit from the topic now.
„Console fails“ is for me too unspecific. If they touring guy think „ah thats a B. so no problem to handle it extra rough because it is cheap“ and throw the device always several meters from stage to the concrete ground, I rather blame the guy than the equipment.
I worked a lot with my own X32 as well with M32 over the years and never had any issue. I bought one of the first X32 which came to Austria and even it was an early device it never fails. Also no issue with the stageboxes.
The LS9 I had before had several times issues with the faders (I had to replace all of them two times in 6 years) and also an issue with the power supply.
I had an GLD 80 as well. Once one hour before the show the power supply of the AR2412 was broken. Fortunately an analog system with a Soundcraft GB4 was there so I could do the job with that.
Last year I had an heat issue with my C2500 on an anual festival, where I used my X32 for years without any problems.
So, that are my personal experience over the last years. And what is the conclusion for that? Only with hat experience should it be, that A&H or Yamaha is not as reliable as Behringer? I would say no because the samples of incidents is too small.
Also 9 out of 10 devices which fails without specific information says nothing about a product. Maybe they had bad luck, or the guys who handled the devices are extra rough because they are Behringers. Or „fails“ means that the issue exists in layer eight. Maybe for the guys the power switch was not on the right place.
Again, if there is a structural problem with the X32, do you think this would not make big rumors when they sold more than a million devices? Especially when the brand is named Behringer.
2 of the X32’s had to have the main processor boards switched 4 times in one year.
6 of them randomly stopped working mid shows either their faders or buttons.
4 of them had PSU fails 2-3 times a year.
4 randomly changed input patches for no apparent reason (no scene/show recalls made)
6 of them had PCB lanes breaking up
Not attacking the brand as such, had several well working items from the over the years.
@Søren Steinmetz
I believe you are fair but the internet is full of bad mouthing of Behringer products.
From what I see the attacks are often from money snobs or folks who think they have golden ears.
My one experience with them said they worked just fine.
We had a used 12? channel analog board we had gotten from a blind dJ who I imagine beat it up a lot accidentally as he went from gig to gig.
Søren, That seems to be a bad luck company;-) Or they use them really rough. Your name suggests that you com from northern europe, so maybe there are some vikings genes in their blood which cause that they come into rage now and then;-) So they should really avoid using that product.
Must be bad luck 
Odd part is when the bad luck only revolve around a single console model.
And yes I am in the Northern Europe where we need our equipment as rugged as our Mead 
@Søren Steinmetz
Small sample statistics?
One company, one model, one country.
Is there any source of good data worldwide that tells how they really are good/badwise?
Reviews can be a guide but the amazon ratings are often bogus.
Other review sites help but still the internet is full of lies and propaganda.
Thanks Volounteer. Yes I want the mixer to control the DAW software, against say using a mouse and keyboard or touchscreen. The same as I can control Native Instrument Kontakt instruments from my NI keyboard, or limited control of the DAW or even vsts it can do all three. Why, cos I know I can using certain mixers, its a question of which mixers can do what, or potentially what extra they can do with a little programming. I also know that the AH QU16 will act to some degree as a DAW control surface, but beyond simple fader control and motion (stop start pause) I am not sure.
WHy do I want to make things more difficult for myself? that is exactly what I do not want to do. I want to be a lazy sod and sit at my desk and play music whether its playing recording or mixing. I have almost completed my wish list and bought everything I wanted. AN early JCM800 and a control surface and I have completed it. The x32 is the clear leader at the moment, I just want to compare what else there is, which considering what it can do for the price, looks to be very little else. I had originally looked at the Behringer xtouch, and thought I would go better, I like the idea of the integrated audio interface similar to my Yamaha 01x, remember, that is what I am replacing.
If you have a B word product try making a phone call to get some tech support!!!
And yes I am in the Northern Europe where we need our equipment as rugged as our Mead
That could be a marketing advertising tag line!!!
They DID get tech support, and all of the times the console had to be shipped back in for repairs.
And I know they are not the only ones with problems like that, several other companies and bands have reported similar errors.
When I think back, only two products from B comes to mind ad buggy, the second being an eight channel mic pre amp - A/D, tending to fry the psu.
@Søren Steinmetz
Could those have been hard core rock bands who abuse the equipment?
Or were they normal people who take care of expensive electronics devices?
Hmm I must be one of the extraordinary exception from the rules. I use products from this brand since the nineties, a headphone amp and those eight channel mic pres, which I still own and use. I am really a lucky guy.
We are talking anything from a single Stand Up comedian, a corporate presentation to folk, rock, pop band, theater and musicals and a few smaller festivals.
And they did not abuse this console harder than any other console (some took this over a larger M console, and when they swapped the X out for the similar M they had zero problems)
@Mfk0815
I have products from that brand 20-25 years old that still work flawlessly, and of the 4 preamps I have had 2 still work fine.
I had expected better from this forum rather than some of u arguing like those on the audiophile forums when the discussion is about analogue and digital music, CDs and vinyl. I considered the Qu16 cos I thought AH build quality reliability service and user forums would be great. Well, how disappointed I am. Their DAW control documentation goes on about Macs and windows not available even though a driver appears to be there for windows, and u lot? All I wanted to know was could it be used as a control surface using windows operating system with the additional benefit of it having an integrated audio interface. If so what could it do and not do? I thought it was quite a simple question considering this is the actual Allen & Heath “official” community forum, not twitter which is FULL of twits.
I am British I live in Britain and I like to buy British when and if I can, I have nothing against the competition, but my loyalty is to buy when possible something designed and “hopefully” made here when possible.
I do not see it being used the way you just described what you want to do originally.
Obviously it can be a control surface to RECORD via a DAW just fine.
Trying to control things from the DAW is iffy to not going to happen for sure.
But there is no need to control things from the PC. That is the hard way to do things.
I do not expect to be able to control the mixer from the DAW or PC, only the motorised faders should follow the DAW. I do however expect to control the DAW from the mixer to what level/degree/depth I am not sure what the QU16 is capable of. I want to mix using the mixer not the computer as I can do using my Midi keyboards.
you are really confusing me
you move the faders on the Qu to adjust inputs yada yada
the DAW records once you set the levels and start playing keyboards
you can monitor at the Qu to make sure you like the mix
I record stems on the PC and prefer to mix there not combine things and do both at the same time.
not sure what you want to control from the Qu
I just turn on the DAW ,then record from wherever, here it is the Qu, and then turn the DAW off.
The Qu does the mixing. You verify with the headphones or a local speaker via an out from the Qu.
I would record the keyboards separately in the DAW then merge them, after converting the midi to music, with whatever came from the Qu into the DAW later. If the keyboards put out music not midi then run them into the Qu with whatever else you have and record them all together.
We have digressed from your topic, as I wrote earlier, and sorry for that.
The QU, as nice as it is, is not build to be a DAW controller as such.
You can do rudementary (not sure if spelled correct) work like fader control, but not complete DAW control.
When you say mix, do you mean like using the DAW as a multitrack recording and then do all mixing on the console, using the consoles effects etc. ?
