New QU6 vs Behringer Wing compact

Qu Qu General Discussions
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I bought my QU16 10 years ago and i love it, 100% reliable.
I hire SQ’s for more complex work. Love them too.

Its time for me to buy my next mixer and the QU6 is in my budget.

I’d go for a SQ6 but i need to buy stage boxes as well and so the QU6 + stages boxes i can afford.

So then i start watch videos yesterday about the Behringer Wing compact.
That is A LOT of mixer for the money.
The Wing compact + 32/16 stage box is much cheaper than a SQ6.
The Wing comes with all the effects i’ll ever want for free.
It has huge functionality.

I don’t know about the Berhinger eco system. Some of the bigger gigs i do require a monitor mixer and engineer, which we use SQ’s.
I have to hire a 2nd SQ and thats easy as most hire companies have them, and its easy to find a monitor engineer who knows how to use a SQ.
So moving to the Behringer ecosystem is a complete unknown for me.

PLEASE TALK ME OUT OF BUYING THE WING COMPACT!! lol.
I only want real world user experience, not someones opinion based on the standard Behringer bashing.
I have some Behringer gear and its still working after years, but i have had some cheap Behringer mixers in the past which have partially failed.
Apparently their digital mixers are as reliable as most other brands?

I’d appreciate your experiences.
My heart wants a new QU6 (or a new SQ when/if its released if i could afford that) but i have to work with my means.

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It’s a good and fair question. The wing compact and the SD stage boxes are remarkable value for money and have a surprising amount of configurability - routing, effects etc. are all impressive.

I haven’t used a Wing or even an M32 etc. But I did used to have an XR18 and when I replaced it with a CQ20B there was a significant increase in sound quality at gigs. I think 80% of that is better preamps and the other 20% due to 96KHz processing and the effect’s algorithm designs.

Whether that same step change in quality translates to SQ and Wing I don’t know. But the CQ is comparable to my SQ and AR2412/AB168 setup whereas the XR18 was a long way short with that behringer brittle sound.

Half the price though!

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Thanks Robin. I have seen a video with 2 guys discussing Wing VS previous Behringer mixers including the XR range and they both agreed the Wing’s pre’s are way better.

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I agree that the Wing seems like an excellent “bang for the buck”. (I also haven’t used one personally however).

One place it really excels is in the FX/plugin department. I will be interested to see what Deep Processing is available on the QU series and at what cost.