Mackie CR8-XBT Studio Monitors Review

Conclusion

Now and again a product arrives in the OC3D offices that doesn’t require much explanation and comes with no caveats and the Mackie CR8-XBT Studio Monitors are one such product.

When you review as much as we do there is always a tendency to have to think of people’s budgets, what the market alternatives are, whether someone is going to be invested in a particular ecosystem, or even whether they will want to merely game or be productive. All of these things have to be weighed against one another until you end up writing more about specific use-cases and scenarios where you might want this product, or this other product.

Audio is one where most of us require the same thing. We want fantastic audio reproduction that doesn’t become woolly or crackly when you start really turning up the volume, we want it to be flexible enough to handle a wide array of differing audio sources, and we want it to be easy to set up and use.

The Mackie CR8-XBT ticks all those boxes. By its very nature as a pair of studio monitors with an additional subwoofer you already know before you begin that they will have a nice EQ profile, not tending towards the over-bassy nature of cheap speakers, but neither being sterile and removing all the warmth from the sound. Similarly as the premium model in the Mackie range you are not going to be found wanting in the loudness department either.

No matter what your needs are, the Mackie CR8-XBT has you covered. Want your music production efforts to sound as good as possible before distribution? Box ticked. Want to indulge in the soundscapes available from an excellently sound-designed film? Easy. Find yourself overwhelmed with the anxiety in your head from the various horrors ongoing in the world? The Mackie can absolutely envelope you in a wall of sound so all-encompassing that it becomes impossible to think of anything other than wallowing in the aural glory they provide. Loudness is not a problem. Careful with those fillings, Eugene.

Fantastic build quality, simple connectivity setup, and some of the finest sounds to fill our ears since Maria Callas gave us a private demonstration of her capabilities, the Mackie CR8-XBT are the sound solution your ears have been craving and win our OC3D Enthusiast Award.

  

Discuss the Mackie CR8-XBT in our OC3D Forums.