Little Bear MC5 Mini Portable Stereo 4 Channel Audio Mixer Passive Live Studio Console Recording Low Noise (No Power Needed)

This little jewel box is a passive stereo line mixer. The inputs are adjustable in impedance with tiny switches. There is no external power supply required, instead, this design steals power from the sources and the amp it's plugged into. The designers have delivered a unique and fairly priced device. Today I'm using it with a Headrush GO amplified stereo speaker which only has one TRS line input, this little mixer let me plug in guitar amp modelers by Line6 and Mooer modeler plus a little drum machine, all battery powered - it's our portable, miniature, jam rig for my wife and I - to use when the power goes out. The little mixer has no metal enclosure - it's basically a stack of thick PC Boards - you'll want to keep it away from big noise sources (not hard using an all battery powered rig). In spite of there being no metal or plastic enclosure the small size of this mixer makes it a joy to use anywhere and it is surprisingly low in noise. This little mixer has quickly become a favorite due to no-power-required and the four inputs, not to mention every input has its own volume control and there is an adjustable master output level. If the price goes up then there is competition but at the current price nothing touches the BEAR, grab one of these while you can (if you're an audio geek like I am). GOOD MUSIC TO YOU!

Overall, it does what I needed it to. I have multiple sources sharing a single set of amplified speakers at my (home) workstation. I am able to effectively, and selectively control volume from the different sources, especially when conferencing or sharing from one or another. The line loss is significant, volume is considerably reduced through the device. If you need more volume, you'll probably need a pre-amp. The introduced noise level is very low, so I think amplifying the signal would be an acceptable solution. Overall I like the device. I am going to try higher quality (and shorter) cables to see if that helps. ------ (Edit: After using this for a little while, AND replacing a cable changed review from 4 to 5 stars. It does what I need very well. The controls are very quiet and very good quality. The output needs to be amplified, but that's not a problem with the speakers I'm using.

I knew based on the price and other reviews, not to expect TOO much out of this thing. Much like one or two others, I used this device to painlessly connect multiple sound cards in a retro 90's gaming PC (IBM Aptiva 2176). It works about as well as I expected considering the price. Port 1: Sound Blaster Pro (MS-DOS/Windows 3.1 games) Port 2: Aureal Vortex (Windows 95 games) Port 3: Roland MT-32 & SoundCanvas SC-55 (MIDI) Port 4: Unused (for now) Out: Pair of powered IBM Aptiva speakers The only "odd" thing I noticed: If I turn the Sound Blaster Pro past 3/4 volume, the others get quieter the louder I make the Sound Blaster Pro. This may just be me though, and not happening to everyone else. I suspect this may also be due to it being a passive device, and perhaps the amplified version would solve it. I just turned the speakers up a bit to compensate. I don't notice any discernible line noise, though I am NOT using headphones. I know, I could have fed the sound devices into each other and then just plugged the speakers into the last device, but this was a more elegant solution that was cheap and also allowed me to independently mix each device on the fly without reaching for each one's volume knobs. Overall, pleased with the unit.

This is an excellent little mixer, I'm very happy with it. There is the big caveat mentioned in other reviews - the audio level output (a.k.a. volume) is quite low. This is a passive mixer, it does not and cannot boost the signal of your sound sources. If you are plugging this into speakers with their own power source (such as a battery powered speaker), you should be able to boost the signal enough for it to be usable. Likewise for plugging into an audio interface to record into a DAW. However, if you are plugging into passive speakers (such as the studio headphones in my photo), the volume will be very low. Everything is still audible, and at what I might consider to be a 'practice' volume, but you will be disappointed if you are trying to rock the house. There are two solutions to this - either the resistor mod explained in other comments, or you can add an amp to the output to boost the signal (typically this is called a 'headphone amp' and they can be expensive). With that out of the way, I love everything else about this mixer! The knobs feel good, with firm and smooth action, they aren't scratchy at all, and I've had no issue with using them to live mix my instruments. Audio quality sounds great to me. The mixer sits solidly enough on a table, and the included rubber feet help. Plenty of space between the 3.5mm ports to accommodate fatter plugs. The usable range of the knobs isn't huge, generally 12'o'clock to 5'o'clock (50% - 100%), at least for my various battery powered synths. That's plenty for my needs. If you plan to carry this around in a backpack or gig bag, I would recommend that you either build a small enclosure for it or at least wrap some tape around the sides to keep dust out. Or carry it in the small cardboard box it comes in. Dust and other stuff could mess with the circuitry and degrade the audio quality over time. In my project this will live inside a larger metal box, so I'm not worried about it. I also like that the bottom panel can be easily removed, so you could mount this onto a pedal board, synth face plate, or something else. I plan to use Velcro at first, then maybe something more permanent later. If you are searching for a mini-mixer that won't break the bank, this is it. Don't expect this little passive mixer to move mountains, you'll love it.

First the good: The build quality is solid. It's got weight, it sits flat on the table, the knobs move smoothly with no wiggle at all. No perceptible noise. There's a significant amount of volume attenuation as expected from an unpowered mixer - I had to max the volume of my inputs (a PO-12, a Volca FM, and an NTS-1) and didn't have a lot of headroom on the mixer knobs, but I got usable volume levels without an amplifier. My only problem: the bass is extremely washed out. Connecting the same instruments to a MyVolts Mickxer, or directly to headphones, the difference is like night and day. Even after adjusting to the same volume overall, my bass lines are extremely anemic and not "thumpy" at all after running then through this guy. If I was mixing audio for a podcast, or anything other than music, I imagine I'd be perfectly happy.

The output on this is so bad that even ran through a PA system maxed out the volume is pathetic. Running several synths/music sources through and then playing direct out to headphones is completely inaudible except for one source. I realize it’s passive… but this is more like negative

So I purchased this to have more control over my electronic devices volume.. my metronome has a beep that is almost uncontrollable in volume so I plug my guitar amp and metronome into this and problem fixed. I then realized I can listen to pod casts and use this to make micro adjustments to my digital devices volume that is only possible with analog pots. I was having a slight issue with ground when hooking up to my monitor and guitar amp at the same time, (Practicing while watching Rick and Morty) so I was getting a bad 60hz hum. I also noticed that there was distortion when turned up all the way on the pots.. I thought why not add a ground being there is no power ran to the board. I took a piece of wire and loosened a screw on the bottom and installed. I used hot glue to secure the wire to the screw and a piece of tape to make sure the wire didn’t go anywhere. The hum went away I haven’t heard any distortion since and the device is 100% what I wanted. The only strangeness some ppl might not understand is because of the circuit design when two or more pots are turned up past 75% they begin to compress the sound and almost cancel out each other.. I don’t mind and keep it at 73-78% depending on which channel I want loudest. I can also listen to meditation music to go to sleep at lower volumes than my phone allows because it’s analog! No replacement for old school tech sometimes. Very happy with this purchase!

This is a great little passive mixer and perfect for my application, which was feeding audio from computers and keyboard instruments into my monitors. It cuts the volume by about 6dB (I didn't measure it.) So you can't use it unless you have enough headroom to boost the volume. For most line-level devices, that shouldn't be a problem. If you're always running your gear with all the knobs at 10, this will not do for you. I don't detect any added noise, but of course the S/N ratio will go down, by 3 to 6 dB. It's not in a shielded box (which is obvious from the pictures) so isn't advised for a very electrically noisy environment. Don't set it right next to an old CRT display or a motor. Modern gear when used correctly has a high enough S/N ratio that it shouldn't be noticeable even to golden ears. They should definitely fix the description that says it won't reduce the signal level. A passive mixer HAS to reduce the signal level. Without the resistors (or replacing them with 1-ohm resistors), you're just tying outputs together, which is bad for the outputs, and affects the quality of the audio. Replacing the resistors is a really bad idea. Don't take my word for it, ask any EE. Active mixers (ones that don't reduce the volume) are built by putting an op amp behind a passive mixer, to boost the signal just enough to restore the lost volume. If you can't turn your gear up louder than you need, you need a "line mixer" not a "passive mixer". It won't be so tiny and will require power.

必要となる場合はそんなにないのですが 一つあれば便利かと思います 説明にも何度も登場しますがアクティブとパッシブの違いについては 理解してからの購入をお勧めします

Funciona muy bien y no genera estática ni alteraciones al sonido

I’ve been on the fence about buying the XBOX Wireless Headset for weeks now, due to the convenience of a hassle free way to hear game audio while also chatting to my friends on Discord (who don’t want to use party chat). But, I already own really good headphones, so dropping the money on more headphones that don’t have as good audio quality held me back (have you seen the bass bump on those things?!) After LOADS of research I stumbled across this Little Bear product, which you can get from AliExpress/Amazon for ~$40 or less. It’s a 4 way passive (no power needed) AUX mixer that routes everything to your headphones. You simply plug in your controller AUX output into Input 1, your device running Discord to Input 2, and your headphones to the Output. Some reviews online talk about the fact these units came with a 10K resistor that took way too much of the volume away, and that when complaining, the manufacturer responded saying people should just solder 1K resistors on instead. I was prepared to do this, but to my GREAT surprise, it seems like these units have been silently revised and now come with a 1K - 4.7K resistor switch inbuilt (pictured), negating the need to solder anything. What this means: I can confirm that while the audio level still definitely drops in volume, I am running a pair of Sennheiser HD6XX (high ohms, hard to give enough juice) with the input/output knobs at 100% and am satisfied with the maximum volume it is outputting. I can then blend in my other device (Discord) to taste. This is quite the achievement for a cheap passive device. The main negative I would note is that the volume rotors don’t seem to be very linear, so most of your granular control comes from the final 10-20% of the rotation. No big deal. So - if you’ve got good headphones already, and happy to still deal with a few wires, I heavily recommend this product as an elegant solution for a problem Microsoft doesn’t seem to want to fix outside of selling their branded headset. Just make sure you confirm it’s the revision with the 1K-4.7K switch, or be prepared to do some light soldering with 1K resistors if not.

I have 4 computers in my home office. I feed all of them through this mixer, and then from the mixer to the sound system. It works great, except when I use my headset, which is not amplified. I honestly didn't think a little thing like this would do a good job, but this dinky little 4-stereo-channel mixer kicks serious ass. My only complaint, and it is not really the mixer's fault, is there is a noticeable drop in volume. This is a passive mixer - it has no amplifier, so I am not surprised. There is no background noise, no hissing, no popping. Because of the signal drop when I use my headset, I purchased this tiny amplifier for $20: "eSynic Portable Headphone Amplifier Rechargeable Headphone Amp 3.5mm Audio HiFi Headphone Amplifier with Two-Stage Gain Switch Compatible with MP3 MP4 iPhones iPod Digital Players Computers with 1.2m USB Cable" Search for it on amazon. I plugged the output of the mixer into the input of the amplifier, and now I have an amplified mixer that fits in the palm of my hand and sounds like professional equipment. Happy customer :)

J’ai 4 appareils à brancher, je ne voulais pas brancher autant de paires de haut-parleurs que du nombre d’appareils pour lesquels j’avais besoin d’entendre le son. J’ai donc branché mes 4 appareils (2 ordinateurs, un balayeur d’onde et un iPad) et je les ai tous branché sur la même et unique paire de haut-parleurs que j’avais. Les volumes peuvent tous être réglé de façon individuelle pour chaque appareil, ça fonctionne très bien. Le mini mixeur n’introduit aucun bruit, tout est parfait ! je recommande le produit.