Reviewer: Gizmo • Date: October 2005 • Price: £275/$439 • Link: Ecler DJ Site

Ecler is an unusual company in the DJ scene. Whilst others do a whole range of products covering decks, mixers, CD players etc, Ecler however only make mixers and because of this focus, they do it very well indeed. In recent times, Ecler have got some fresh blood in and made some bold moves in the mixer design department. The 4 channel NUO5 has been reviewed by Deft on skratchworx as will be the midi enabled NUO4. But today, I'm taking a look at their entry level model - the HAK 310.

First Impressions

Being a HAK 360 owner, I was immediately on familiar ground. Visually the 310 follows the same stylings as it's bigger sibling - grey (rather than black) square case and silver faceplate. Indeed, it's designed to fit perfectly in between a pair of 1200s. I wouldn't know being a TTX owner so I'll have to take their word for it. And the 310 also lacks the traditional faceplate with mounting holes - something that I'm sure most scratch Djs could do without anyway - making this a really simple uncomplicated mixing box. But should you find you can't do without the mounting holes, Ecler do make an optional mounting set.

Quality-wise, the overall finish is good, but we're not talking industrial strength here. If anything, the 310 feels quite lightweight which is ideal for being out on the road though I would definitely find a nice snug carry bag or case if you plan to take it out a lot. To investigate this lightness and in the name of journalism of course, I took a screwdriver to the 310. Upon opening the case, I was amazed at just how empty the case was. The space under the faders is almost empty - plenty of room for you mod fans to shoehorn some long bodied faders. Or for the real hardcore amongst you to really squeeze SSL in there!

Layout

The fader area is one of the clearest on the market - there's absolutely nothing to get in your way. Even the line switches are offset from the line faders so that you don't knock them if you scratch hamster.

Bucking the trend for a vertical layout, Ecler have opted for a horizontal configuration. Pretty much everything works this way and it does work well. So just for once, let's move top to bottom:

Microphone input

Surprise-free here - regulation bass, treble and level control. I guess I'm going to have to invest in a microphone sometime so I can test these things out. I expect it works perfectly but I didn't test it. Sorry.

Master levels

2 masters? What that all about then? Well you'd need to see the back panel first but more of that later. MASTER1 is for the balanced 1/4" outputs and unbalanced RCA output. Master 2 controls unbalanced RCA outputs for booth and session volume. Neither the mixer or manual is especially clear on this though.

One thing I noted was the quiet output from this mixer. I'm not one for the real detail in such matters so I had to do a little digging. Out of the box, the 310's output is 0dBV but with the supplied plastic jumpers, you can open up the case and switch the output to +6dBV.

Channel EQ

I think this is the hardest thing to get used to - the horizontal configuration of the EQ knobs. I feel it works perfectly well as the human brain is conditioned to work left to right and in a small form mixer such as the 310, people shouldn't have any issues with it at all.

Aside from layout, the good news is that the 310 gives you full kills - something not normally found on an entry level mixer. This shows the pedigree of Ecler's design. And the sound is excellent for such a mixer as well. I was expecting something to be lacking soundwise when you look at the market for the mixer but Ecler have made this little machine sound punchy and warm.

Headphone monitor

Again, no surprises here apart from the slightly odd layout. To be honest, this was the one time I had to actually look in the manual - not to figure out how it worked as it is rather obvious. I needed to find out what "pfl" was. Pre-fader listening apparently. So now you know. But it does function in the same way as most other mixers on the market.

Crossfader curves

I'm getting tired of saying "no surprises here"... but there aren't. You have a crossfader curve adjust and a hamster switch. Could you ask for anything more? And it's is a good curve as well, with a lot more adjustment at the bottom end. Good for people who like to drum scratch.

Line /Phono switches

And what would any scratch mixer be without an 8 position transform switch? Incomplete that's what. So thankfully the 310 has. Phew. It feels just like all the others out there but does have a lot less of an audible pop in use.

The Faders

Ecler are well known for their custom faders. The Eternal is widely regarded as one of the finest faders on the market and with good reason. But the Ecler Pro fader - fitted to all 3 channels - is no slouch either. Looking like a regular VCA crossfader, this Pro fader has been lab tested to 4 million operations. And having a thick stem as well gives this an edge in the fader market. I'm sure someone will comment about how they broke an 8mm stem but the chances are fairly slim compared to the majority of 4mm stems. Feel-wise, it's somewhere between an Alpha and a P&G. It is smooth but does have just that touch of resistance and friction.

It's nice that Ecler see fit to put this better fader through the 310. At least you have the option to swap faders around should your crossfader screw up on you - hopefully after no less than 4 million operations!

And to tidy up this section, the line faders have no curves or reverses. You can't have everything I guess. At least you get 3 good faders as standard.

The Front Panel

How boring is that? Just a headphone socket? Oh well - I guess it doesn't need any more that that really. Maybe a cup holder? How about a foldaway headphone hook?

Round the Back

Slightly odd but logical layout on the back. The channel inputs are at opposite sides on the back panel. Normally and rather annoyingly, other manufacturers tend to but them together - this makes much more sense. The middle section is made up of outputs - balanced and unbalanced. A nice addition is the RCA REC output for direct connection to an external device. An equally nice addition is the power supply. Apparently is auto-switches to suit any supply in the world. Maybe I should've persuaded Ecler to send me at their expense all over the world to check it out. Finally there's a mono microphone input with level adjust, although this does seem to be rather duplicated on the top.

Summing up

I've had a lot of mixers pass through the lab over the last couple of years - some good, some really good and other that could have tried just a little harder. But it's hard to know where to pitch the 310. What you have is a totally straightforward no nonsense quality mixer that does everything well. It's endowed with good faders, a good fader curve plus EQ kills and session ability. Whilst it doesn't feel as robust as say the Vestax 05 Pro, it does have a certain finish and quality that sets it apart a little from the competition. There's nothing actually wrong or been badly executed - it's simply a nice basic mixer. Despite having a raft of other higher quality mixers, I found myself lingering on the 310, simply because it feels right. Nothing really special, no wow factors - just... right.

If I were to mark it down for anything, it would be price. It is a little underspec'd these days when going up against the Stanton SA5, Numark DXMPro and Denon DN-X300 and could probably do with £50 knocking off the price tag to set it apart from it's peers.

Overall, the 310 is showing it's age and is largely superceded by Ecler's own NUO2 and 3. That said, it's still a great mixer and worthy of consideration, perhaps as a entry level mixer or backup.