I recently got one of the A+H CQ20B’s and so far I am very impressed with it. It is in its infancy development wise but still packs a major punch with what it presently has to offer. I sold my MR18 after several years of solid use, not sure I should have but couldn’t really rationalize having both when I really needed neither one
I opted for new...and 96K, something I have never really used. At $999 it is very fairly priced IMO and selling the MR got me close to that. There are pluses and minuses with both of those 2 mixers. The basic setup in terms of numbers of ch’s and buses is pretty similar. The MR has 16 combo xlr’s and 2 1/4 in for 18 total. The CQ has 8 'normal' xlr’s, 8 combo xlr’s and 2 pair of 1/4 inch inputs for a total of 20. They both have 6 mix bus XLR outs and 2 main L/R buses. The CQ also has a pair of “alt” outputs which can be set up as another user selectable source pair of 1/4 outs OR another Main L/R source. The CQ also has a user source assignable foot switch input and a stereo headphone out. The MR does also have a headphone out. The MR has an ultranet port, the CQ of course, no. The MR has Midi in/out, the CQ does not have ANY midi. The MR has an analog headphone level knob the CQ has NO hardware knobs of any sort. It is quite stark looking until you have a close look at what they do offer. One thing that threw me with the CQ is NO on/off power switch. It has a soft off app option and also soft headphone volumn levels.
They both have a built in WiFi access point, a Wifi client OR a direct ethernet rj45 connection. The big difference here is the CQ has a very good one and it’s DUAL band and user ch selectable. Early reports from users is that it is rock solid and without the same kind of issues that plague the XR/MR series wifi with lost connections outside the home. I suppose the 5ghz band option is the main reason. Time will tell I guess. For me, at a paid gig, I will still use a dedicated router for now. I'm hopeful for reliable 5ghz operation but remain shy thanks to a poor experience once with an XR18 at a gig. They both have a multitrack USB B port for a DAW computer connection. The CQ also has an additional USB A port for a thumb drive which can load data and also record usb stereo wave files like an X/M32.
The CQ has one big additional perk I think and that is a built in multitrack SD recorder. It can only be one or the other though, DAW or SD, but not both used at the same time. There is one additional CQ “issue” if you can really call it that. The SD recorder and DAW are only able to record 16 ch’s when set for 96K, when the recording is set for 48k they both can do a full 24 ch’s. The native resolution however for the CQ IS 96K everywhere except with full 24 ch SD/USB multitrack recording. The CQ uses 4 stereo fx like the MR but there are quite a few less selectable TYPES of them. I would suspect at least a few more will be offered at some point. Lots of factory presets and ch presets though. The ones given are very good and the fx sound is very, very good. The CQ is Mixing Station compatible, a big plus for my use. The native A+H app is identical from pc to tablet and phones which I do like. A big future for these to follow I think. We shall see. Learning it bit by bit. The native A+H app is a bit clumsy to negotiate but works well at least. Mixing Station makes it feel like home.