QA401 UI Recommendations

QA401
1

I’ve had the QA401 for a few years now and have been enjoying it. However, there are still some things that I would like to recommend for the UI of the software.

I wish that there were some more options for the graphs like solid lines instead of dotted. The dotted lines are kinda hard to make out sometimes so having a solid option with some different widths and subdivisions would be welcomed.

Also, as someone that changes from balanced to unbalanced audio tests frequently I thought that having a 6dB output compensation button would be handy. Having to go into the dB axis menu and manually entering the ext gain gets a little annoying. Just a BAL/UNBAL button with an annunciator (like the 20dB Atten that pops up on the graph) would do. Also, I noted that running a test plugin resets the external gain comp in the main window, and it’s easy to forget to add the compensation back. It’s caught me off guard a few times so far.

It has been a while since a 401 update, so I’m hoping one is in the works that can possibly add these small things - or if the QA40x software could include the 401, so that 401 owners can continue to receive updates along with 402 and 403 owners.

Thanks!

2

Hi @M2Circuits, there’s probably not a lot of new features that will be added to the QA401 software as the platform is quite old. But critical bugs can still be fixed I think. Which ones are the biggest showstoppers for you?

3

Hi Matt,

Thanks for getting back to me, I really appreciate it!

For me the graph line options and external gain resetting after a test plugin are the big ones.
For the graphs even just solid and dotted options (no width or subdivision settings) would be fine, it just gets hard to read those dotted lines sometimes.

It’s unfortunate that the silicon shortage has made things difficult for you, I can’t imagine the amount of stress surrounding the whole situation.

It’s a bit of a shame, as I only purchased the 401 in 2019. I think it’s one of the few pieces of test equipment that I bought new, so I’m a little sad that support will basically stop - given that the product was still available up until 3 years ago. There’s not much we can do about it, I suppose.