Maker Hart LOOP MIXER - Portable Audio Mixer with 5 Channel stereo inputs, 3 Outputs via 3.5mm jack. Including a Mono to Stereo DM2S Adapter.

For what it is, it's a little bit pricey at $70. Other mixers in this price range are made of much higher-grade materials and are designed very professionally and efficiently. However, those mixers aren't 3.5mm.Maker hart is a small Taiwanese company with devices like this one that the audio market is only just beginning to see a use for. Not as many buyers means not so much product, which translates to higher prices for materials.While I don't think that $70 is the fairest asking price for this device, I completely understand it, and I support the rare and extremely useful products these guys are making.I saw on the company's website that they have a brand new 3.5mm mixer out, called Just Mixer 5, that also features bluetooth. That will be an exciting one to try!But back to the Loop Mixer at hand:PROS:- A 3.5mm mixer with independent volume controls is quite hard to find, which probably explains the price; you won't even find one from Behringer on the market.- Low noise floor (also better than other Behringer equipment in this price range).- Lots of inputs means lots of devices. Not a musician? You can run a PC, a TV/monitor output (e.g. for listening to Xbox or Netflix), a phone or mp3 player, and maybe a tablet, and still have one port free - how about a laptop?- Independent volume controls/gains as well as a master control.- Low profile; can be velcroed to the wall, a desk, or other piece of furniture for mounting or improved stability (it has a tendency to slide on smooth surfaces)- This mixer is amplified! I recently tried another mixer that wasn't powered, and thus couldn't amplify anything. Its independent volume controls were useless, since each device I added halved the total output volume, which meant I had to have all those knobs cranked to max and still couldn't get a usable result. The Loop Mixer solves this problem with one small power cord.CONS:- The casing is made of cheap plastic.- The power button catches inside the casing and sticks if not pressed straight-on (very complicated powering on/off when set up in tight spaces). The cutout for the power button is too wide.- When powering on, it causes your speakers to pop - this device does not have a 'soft start' or other feature to prevent popping. This can be avoided by turning this device on before anything else, but if you're like me and you use your speakers for applications outside of this device, your speakers are already on and you'll need to turn them off before powering the mixer on, then turn the speakers back on. *This is a common thing with amplified mixers, and is only listed as a con to alert people unfamiliar with mixers.- The included 1/4" adapter is also made of cheap plastic, and felt like it was ready to break from the time I took it out of the box. The cable on it is very short, so the stress of 1/4" cable heads tugging on the adapter's cheap body may prove to be too much over time, especially if you do a lot of unplugging and plugging back in. You may want to use a more solid adapter of your own.All of that being said, the construction of the mixer is still higher quality than you'd get from a factory in China. That should probably be added to the list of pros.However, if you're looking for something to travel with, I wouldn't recommend going with this one. Rugged is definitely not in this mixer's repertoire. Lucky for me, this mixer sits in a stationary setup, so my primary concern is that pesky power button.In summary:- The adapter is iffy. I use it on the output, so that I can send the signal to my Rokit speakers, but sometimes I want to unplug the adapter from the back of the mixer and use headphones instead. This proves tedious as I have to be extra careful not to yank the adapter cable around, fearing it will crumble in my hands or the cable will come loose.- I didn't test the loop feature of this device. I haven't explored the full capabilities of it, as I currently have no need to. The mixer is very well suited to the application I need it for, so I am happy!- As I discussed, one reason I can see this device being so expensive for what it is, is being hard to find. Comparable hardware just isn't on the market right now.For that, I give it 5 stars. If a little more effort went into the case design, and higher-grade plastic was used on both the case and the adapter, I think it'd be worth full price, but isn't enough of an issue to lose a star.

** See 2nd paragraph for adapters infoOverall: I have a pretty large pedal board and I run both an instrument and a mic through it. Since I already have so much gear to carry, I really didn't want to get another large-ish piece of gear with more crap than I need just to run my two inputs through the pedal chain. This has enough gain for my dynamic Sennheiser mic, and I didn't hear any noise or distortion when I turned up the gain, it sounded good. Plus now if I wanted to I could add a keyboard or even a backing track from my phone or computer. I love how much you can do with this lightweight, compact little mixer, and it's totally affordable. Some people are worrying about the material, but again I like that it's lightweight. I thought the 4 year accidental protection plan for 9.99 was pretty reasonable so I got that just in case, and now I'm not worried about it.Adapters:It comes with one adapter plug. Right now it looks like the individually sold Maker Hart's adapters are unavailable on Amazon. So for more mono instruments you need a female 1/4 inch to male 1/8th inch adapter. For that I think the "Sennheiser Cable Adapter Female 1/4 6.3mm to Male 1/8 3.5 mm Plug" is good - it's nice and short, but it still has a soft wire in the middle which I think is better than the stiff, single piece adapters, because it prevents any weight from a heavy cable putting pressure on the input.For a mic you need a 1/8" TRS stereo to XLR Female (MOBOREST has one). I actually had a XLR to 1/4 adapter already, so I then plugged that into Maker Hart's adapter. Anyway, if the mic doesn't sound good I think it's probably the cable, adapter, or mic that's the issue, and not the mixer - because my dynamic mic sounded good with the mixer. Also, it's not designed for condenser mics, only dynamic.For additional stereo instruments, I'm pretty sure a Y cable would work (dual female 1/4" to 1/8" male), but on the other hand if you're trying to run two mono instruments into one channel (which Maker Hart says is possible), I'm not sure a Y cable will work and I don't know what you should get besides the one that comes with the unit. So basically take into account what adapters you'll need when you're buying this unit.