- Back in October, Allen & Heath announced plans to release two new additions to their revered Xone family of DJ products: the Xone:DB2, a simplified version of the DB4, and the Xone:K2, a hybrid MIDI controller/audio interface produced in the style of the Traktor X1. The A&H team had originally slated them to be released by the end of 2011, but unseen delays pushed that date back a few months. We got a glimpse of them in person for the first time at the NAMM conference in Anaheim in January, and came away impressed but wanting more play time with the new units. (The DB2 and K2 should be hitting shelves by the time you read this.)
Starting off with the DB2, a quick visual comparison between it and the DB4 might not immediately reveal much of a noticeable difference—the staggered EQs, the OLED screen and the same design aesthetic are all there. On further investigation, though, you'll realize how different the two really are. The controls on the DB2 have more "room to breathe," as Allen & Heath reduced the four FX units down to two and moved them off to the right, where the DB4's larger screen lives. In the process, they also got rid of the dedicated loopers, choosing to integrate them as an effect of the delay family. That leaves quite a bit more real estate on the DB2, which makes sense when considering the goal that A&H had in mind: a more affordable version of their flagship mixer.
Besides the looper and FX changes, the designers built additional cost-saving simplifications into both track metering and the dedicated filters. The individual track meters have been shrunk from the helpful 13-LED style found on the master meters to a more pedestrian 6-LED affair with indicators ranging from -15 db to the normal "turn-it-down-dummy" overload LED.
The changes to the dedicated filters are more drastic: The controls have been reduced down from six to one, and the filter knobs are now integrated into the FX units. The EQs can be switched into filter mode (like on the DB4), but this change is now done in the global menu and affects all channels, which is certainly a step down from the DB4's physical switches that allow you to change the EQ mode on each track. Despite the lost flexibility, the filter knob found on the DB2's FX units moves from low-pass to hi-pass mode in the same way as Traktor's filters, so it should be familiar and acceptable to most users.
Although the number of FX units has been cut in half, the FX engine of the DB2 is the same as the DB4, which was originally culled from the extremely powerful A&H iLive system. For the DB2, you choose which FX unit to route each track to via a mini rocker switch on each track, and to compensate for this, there is a new set of delay effects called Eco that essentially put the FX into send mode. This is a nice touch. Having the looper take up one of your FX units is a bit of a bummer though, especially since you can't route one FX chain to another (like you can in Traktor), which prevents you from being able to apply FX to the looped audio.
If we had never seen the DB4, there is no doubt that the feature set of the DB2 would engender nothing but high praise. However, the fact that the DB4 is out there combined with the DB2's relatively high price point should give a potential buyer pause. If you want a pro-level standalone DJ mixer with the Allen & Heath sound quality and digital options, but the DB4 is too expensive and complicated for you, the DB2 is an excellent choice. If you can save a bit more money and hold out for the DB4, though, you should do it without regrets.
The other new unit is the Xone:K2. The K2 is sort of like a cross between the Traktor Kontrol X1, a Novation LaunchPad and a 4-channel audio interface. It has the usual layout of DJ-centric controls, with (starting from the top) four encoders with LEDs, knobs and buttons fitting for traditional three band EQ (including kills), four faders, a 4x4 grid of LED buttons and two larger buttons surrounding two encoders at the bottom. All of the LEDs are capable of displaying three different colors (red, green, and yellow) and Allen & Heath make the most of this by making the K2 smart enough to support three layers of controls, one for every color. This means you could control four Traktor decks on one layer and switch to controlling the FX units at the push of a button—and the K2 supports "soft takeover" when switching between layers to prevent sudden parameter jumps.
What's even more interesting is that you can configure the layers to only apply to certain sections of the K2's controls. For instance, you could have the three layers of the 4x4 button grid, but leave the rest of the controller dedicated to one layer. This is configured in the setup mode, which is entered by holding one of the bottom encoders while powering the K2 on. At the time of writing, this layer configuration and the MIDI channel are the only parameters you can adjust in setup mode. At first I was put off by this method of configuring the unit (reading the MIDI channel by counting the number of illuminated buttons seemed archaic) but after doing it a couple of times, it actually became second nature, and I appreciated the fact that it can be done without a computer or needing an LCD shoehorned onto the K2 itself.
The K2 has two stereo outputs, one RCA pair on the back, and one 1/8" headphone style output on the front of the unit. This makes for a nice and convenient master out / headphone cue arrangement when using it on its own. It would be nice to have a physical volume knob for the outputs, but I won't hold that against them in a unit designed for affordability. As a USB audio interface, the K2 requires a driver for Windows but not on Mac, where it runs as a class compliant audio device.
In addition to being powered by USB, the K2 can also be powered by one of the A&H mixers that support X:LINK, and the K2 will send and receive MIDI through the mixer itself. Two K2s can also be chained together using X:LINK, but only MIDI will be transmitted from the chained K2—if you want audio from both, you would have to have each K2 connected via USB and then aggregate the audio devices in your OS. This would be a bit of a headache, and on the Windows side of things, the K2 manual suggests using a third-party application to achieve this—something we would be leery of doing on stage.
Beyond that, the K2 is certainly an intriguing device and due to its portability and features we could see it replacing more complex DJ setups out there. It's got a great balance of simplicity and flexibility on the MIDI side of things, and the proven A&H track record on the build quality and audio side of things.
Ratings: DB2
Cost: 3.5/5
Ease of use: 4/5
Versatility: 4/5
Ratings: K2
Cost: 5/5
Ease of use: 3.5/5
Versatility: 4.5/5