Summing mixers tends to divide opinion – some swear by them, others can’t see the point, and there’s rarely any middle ground. You either love what they do for your mixes, or you don’t get the appeal at all. The SPL Mixdream XP Mk2 sits right in the heart of that debate. I’ve tried my fair share of summing mixers over the years – from the TL Audio Ebony Summer to the Rupert Neve 5059 – and I’ve always ended up feeling frustrated by them. The reason? It’s pretty straightforward, but I’ll get to that in a moment.
So what is it about the SPL Mixdream XP Mk2 that’s won me over completely? Why do I have no desire to “upgrade” to something more elaborate and expensive, like its sibling, the full-featured SPL Mixdream? The answer is simple – but it touches on something quite fundamental.
If you’re even thinking about a summing mixer, you’re mixing in the box. And one of the biggest advantages of working in the box is total recall. Jumping between projects is effortless – every EQ, compressor, reverb, and automation setting snaps right back into place. That’s something you just can’t replicate when using analogue outboard gear for your main mix path.
Now, take a look at most summing mixers from the likes of Rupert Neve Designs, Neve, API and others, and you’ll notice the same pattern: pan controls, individual channel volumes, insert points, stereo wideners, and more. Sounds great on paper – until you remember none of it is recallable. (OK, with the Neve 8816 you can, but it is a rarety, not to mention costly.) Every time you switch mixes, you’re diving into manual notes, rebalancing faders, tweaking knobs. For me, that’s always been a deal-breaker.
And that brings me back to the SPL Mixdream XP Mk2. It strips away all the recall-breaking frills and gives you clean, high-headroom summing with rock-solid stereo imaging and depth. No distractions, just pure Class-A sound quality. It fits seamlessly into a hybrid workflow without undoing the flexibility and speed of digital mixing. It’s the first summing unit that’s felt like a genuine solution, not a compromise, and that’s why it’s earned a permanent place in my setup.
I’ve long questioned the need for yet another layer of control such as faders, pan pots, and all the rest on most summing mixers. As far as I’m concerned, that’s what the DAW is for. That’s where I set my levels and pans, where I build my mix. I don’t want to be second-guessing that work once it hits the analogue chain. All I need from a summing mixer is exactly that, the summing. Not more mixing.
Not long ago, I was working in a studio that had the Rupert Neve 5059. Beautiful piece of gear, no doubt, but the experience reinforced everything I’ve come to dislike about feature-heavy summing units. I returned the next day to tweak a mix and something sounded off. After much head-scratching, I discovered that someone had flipped one channel to the second stereo bus, and another had been panned slightly to the right. That was the final straw.
It was at that moment I realised the solution I needed wasn’t more features, it was fewer. A summing mixer with no mixing functions. Nothing to bump, nothing to forget to reset, no settings to match between sessions. Just clean, high-headroom analogue summing and nothing else. That’s exactly what the SPL Mixdream XP Mk2 delivers, and that’s why it’s become an essential part of my workflow.
To be fair, the SPL Mixdream XP Mk2 isn’t entirely stripped of features, it does include a few, but they’re sensible, practical, and crucially, they’re the kind of set-and-forget options that don’t interfere with session recall or mix consistency. It’s a 16-channel summing mixer, laid out as eight stereo pairs. Each pair is hard-panned left and right internally, so your stereo field is handled without needing to reach for any pan pots outside of the DAW mix.
The first four stereo pairs can be switched to mono, which is perfect for those core elements that need to sit firmly in the centre, things like kick, bass or lead vocals. It’s a subtle but smart inclusion that just works. The second set of four stereo pairs includes an 18dB pad, which, I’ll admit, took me a bit of time to fully understand. But once I got it, it really showcased the kind of thoughtful engineering that SPL has put into this box.
Here’s the idea: in a typical mix, your reverb returns, delay tails and other low-level ambience often get turned way down in the DAW, which means you’re effectively throwing away resolution in a 24-bit environment. By turning those effects up in your DAW and then padding them back down by 18dB on the Mixdream XP Mk2, you’re sending a hotter signal out of the digital domain – using more of that bit depth – and then reducing the volume in the analogue realm instead. The result is more detail and smoother, more open-sounding effects tails. It’s a clever solution to a real-world problem, and a great example of how the SPL Mixdream XP Mk2 doesn’t just avoid getting in the way, it actually helps your mix sound better, with zero fuss.
The SPL Mixdream XP Mk2 also includes a switchable output volume pot, and I really welcome this feature. It gives you just enough control to fine-tune your output level, whether you’re sending the signal to an external recorder, like I do with my Fostex DV-40 master recorder, or routing it back into your DAW for mix capture. It’s not a full-blown volume control, and that’s a good thing. Instead, it offers a sensible range of adjustment, from -10dB to +5dB, ideal for trimming the final output without messing with the overall mix balance.
Another thoughtful inclusion is the dual stereo outputs: one labelled Monitor Out, the other Main Output. This makes it easy to route your summed signal to both a hardware recorder and your DAW at the same time, without needing splitters or additional patching. It’s these kinds of practical, workflow-focused touches that make the SPL Mixdream XP Mk2 feel genuinely designed for hybrid mixing, not just another piece of gear in the chain.
SPL Mixdream XP Mk2 Sound Quality
The big question, of course, is how the SPL Mixdream XP Mk2 sounds, and the simple answer is: transparent. I’d also add open and detailed to the list. But what really surprised me was just how much better a mix sounds running through it. In the past, I’ve rarely been convinced by the supposed benefits of summing mixers. I had a TL Audio unit for a while and ended up selling it because I honestly couldn’t hear any meaningful improvement with it in the chain.
The SPL Mixdream XP Mk2, on the other hand, made an immediate impression. The sound didn’t just stay clean, it actually gained something. There’s a clarity to the top end, a tighter low end, and, most noticeably, a sense of space around each element in the mix. Instruments separate more naturally, and the stereo image feels more defined. It’s exactly the kind of subtle, three-dimensional improvement I’d always hoped a summing mixer could deliver, but until now, had never really experienced. The Mixdream XP Mk2 lives up to its name in that respect, and that alone makes it a keeper.
Given that the SPL Mixdream XP Mk2 is expandable, I’ll admit I’m sorely tempted to pick up a second unit and go full tilt with 32 channels of summing. The idea of sending even more stems through it to take full advantage of what it brings to a mix is hard to ignore. And the setup couldn’t be easier, just plug one Mixdream XP Mk2 into the expansion input of the other and you’re off. No fuss, no additional routing headaches. For now, though, that’ll have to remain a ‘Mix-Dream’… but it’s definitely on the wish list.
Conclusion
After all this praise, surely there must be something negative to say about the SPL Mixdream XP Mk2, right? Well… not really. From a functionality standpoint, does it do what it promises? Absolutely. The sound quality is excellent, and it’s incredibly straightforward to use, with just the right balance of essential features and simplicity.
If I had to nit-pick, it would be the visual design. It’s clean and purposeful, which I appreciate, but unless you’re actively using the mono or -18dB buttons, it can look a bit bland, essentially a plain black box with just a single red power light glowing. It’s not exactly the most exciting bit of gear to look at in a rack. I also find it a little odd that when using the Mono button, the volume of the incoming signal increases significantly.
But that’s a very minor gripe. The performance more than makes up for it. I genuinely can’t recommend the SPL Mixdream XP Mk2 enough. If you’re sitting on the fence about summing mixers, this is the one to try first. It’s the only one that’s ever really convinced me, and it’s earned a permanent place in my mix setup.
