Hexcal Studio review – upscale desk organization/power with an upscale price

REVIEW – My husband and I are transforming a room in our house into a music room. So far we have a computer, an audio interface, a desktop speaker, an electric keyboard, several electric guitars, several guitar pedals, several amplifiers, and a mess of cables everywhere. So when the Hexcal Studio came up for review, we wanted to try it to see if it would help tame our cable chaos and organize our desk. The Studio provides power, cable management, and lighting, and looks beautiful on our desk. But it is expensive.

What is it?

The Hexcal Studio is a desktop organization solution that provides power for up to 14 devices, cable management, and lighting for your desk.

What’s included?

• Hexcal Studio (with four short stainless steel legs stored inside the Studio – not shown in the photo above)
• Four regular-height stainless steel legs
• 10 hook-and-loop cable straps
• USB-A to USB-C cable
• USB-A to USB-A cables (2; USB bridge cables)
• User guide

• Hexcal Magnetic USB-C to USB-C cable (sold separately)

Tech specs

Design and features

Assembly, Installation, Setup

The Hexcal Studio is a unique desk organization system. The above illustration shows you several of its features. It provides you with Qi Wireless Charging on the left side of the Studio, a 40″ LED light strip along the underside of the Studio, a control panel to adjust the Studio’s lighting, and adjustable stainless steel feet (or legs).

The back of the Studio has two sliding magnetic locks that secure the cover of the Studio to the body. Also located on the back is a resettable circuit breaker, eight AC outlets, and a distributed power supply for the Studio’s internal components’ power (INT button – the upper button) and power for the external devices attached to the Studio (EXT button – the lower button).

So, if you notice an issue with the control panel or the lights, you can reset the power for them by pressing the INT button to turn the power off, and then pressing it again to turn the power back on. If you press the EXT button you will turn off the power to all your devices connected to the Studio. Pressing the EXT button again will power them back on.

There is also an internal storage area inside the Studio that measures 40″ x 6″ x 1.6″ for cable management,

The Hexcal Studio is indeed a premium desk organizing/power system. The top of the cable storage area is grey metal while most of the rest of the Studio is matte grey plastic. The legs are made of stainless steel and have a premium feel and heft.

The two photos above show the control panel for the lighting and the LED lighting strip located along the front edge of the Studio. The LED lighting strip is divided into three sections: left, center, and right.

The control panel has power, mode, save, fave, range, intensity, and temperature buttons. Also shown above is the wireless charger. This charger provides 20W of power to one device compatible with Qi wireless charging or 10W for two devices compatible with Qi wireless charging.

The back of the Studio has eight power outlets and shows the cable guides along the back edge. Four of the outlets are oriented vertically and four are oriented horizontally with ample space between the groups. The horizontally oriented outlets are ideal for devices with power bricks that use more space. The arrangement is quite clever and it is unlikely that you will experience any obstructions by large power bricks (like what occurs on a typical power strip).

The main supply cable for the Hexcal is 14 gauge wire which is rated for 15A. The Hexcal has an internal circuit breaker, but the manufacturer literature does not provide the trip setting of the breaker.

The cable guides are configured to support the cable regardless of where it goes and comes from.

The Studio has two magnetic locks, one on each side, to keep the cover of the cable management area in place.

Along the left side of Studio, are a row of USB ports.

There is one USB-C charging port (9V/3A), one USB-A charging port (9V/3A), and two USB-A bridge ports (shown in the left photo above). The bridge ports lead to ports inside the Studio cable management area.

Taking off the metal cover of the cable storage area reveals four short legs that you can use to increase the height of the Studio. The legs are stored on each side of the cable management area. There is ample space for storing your cables (40″ x 6″ x 1.6″) and plenty of cable guide slots along the back edge to keep your cords organized. The cable guides have flexible fingers that support the cable regardless of its routing. These guides can even help store a cable that isn’t routed into the internal storage area of the Hexcal.

We installed the Studio on our desk and used the cable storage area to store the monitor cables for two monitors, speaker cables for our desktop speaker, a Midi cable from our music keyboard, and the Steinberg audio output cables.

We used the Studio’s power strip to power our Steinberg audio interface and the desktop speaker as well as the monitors.

All the cables are stored, routed, and ready to use with all our devices.

Performance

The above photo shows our desk before the Hexcal Studio…

…and after the Hexcal Studio. It’s a very attractive, professional-looking setup and all our cables are organized. As you can see, we also have the Hexcal Single Monitor Arm (sold separately) and Desk Mat Bundle (sold separately). All work well together.

The Hexcal Studio is a holistic workstation for your desk. It can technically support up to 1100 lbs. in lab tests, but Hexcal suggests a limit of 101 lbs. (45kg) to maintain stability and your safety.

You’ll also notice that the Hexcal Studio is large (it measures 47.3” L x 8.7” W) and takes up a lot of desk space. Thus, this may not be for you if you’re looking for a minimalistic desktop solution.

The stainless steel legs add height and class to our desktop setup. The Studio comes with a set of regular-height legs and a set of short ones. You can purchase an extension kit to increase or decrease the height if desired.

Cable management

As a cable management system, the Hexcal Studio is one of the best. It is easy to remove the top and arrange and stow all your cables to get them out of the way. The internal storage area has ample space to store coiled-up cables (40″ x 6″ x 1.6″).

The cable guides are highly effective at allowing varied cable routings, although the flexible teeth are somewhat stiff and it can be difficult to force smaller cables through the guides.

Power

As a power strip, this is also superior to most traditional power strips. The Studio is capable of powering up to 14 devices. There are eight AC outlets (with a circuit breaker), two powered USB ports (USB-A and USB-C, both provide 9V/3A), two USB bridge ports, and a wireless charging pad (provides up to 20W) that can charge two devices (10W each). The spacing of the outlets and the varied orientations ensure that all eight outlets are available for use, even when plugging in larger bricks.

Wireless charging

The Hexcal Studio has a Qi wireless charging pad capable of providing up to 20W. Initially, we thought both sides of the Studio had a wireless charging pad, but only the left side has wireless charging. This was a little disappointing for a couple of reasons. We mounted the Hexcal Single Monitor Arm on the left side of our desk which means the monitor hangs over the charging pad. Thus, a wireless charging pad on each side would allow us the flexibility to choose which would suit us best. Additionally, a charging pad on each side would be nice to increase the number of Qi wireless charging devices you can charge.

It takes a few seconds to find the charging area. This is more challenging since our monitor blocks the view of our phones…

…thankfully, the Studio has indicator lights to confirm that we found the correct spot and that our devices are charging. These lights can only be seen if you are sitting right in front of the Studio.

It’s possible to wirelessly charge two phones simultaneously (providing 10W per device) but they need to be oriented side by side to fit together on the pad.

We noticed that our phones get rather warm when using the charger. According to Hexcal’s website, “Overheating is normal to reduce the risk of damaging the battery and other accidents. Qi protocol is extremely strict in safety tests, so don’t worry. When the temperature cools down, your device will start charging again.”

USB ports

The Studio has four USB ports on the left side. Unfortunately, they aren’t easily accessible. Furthermore, only two of the four ports are powered. The powered USB-C and USB-A ports are capable of 9V/3A. The other two USB ports are bridge ports.

According to the Hexcal website, “The 2 USB bridging ports on the side are primarily designed for data transferring rather than charging devices. Therefore technically, the bridging ports support BC1.2 charging protocol…”

The two USB bridge ports aren’t useful to us. Having two additional powered USB ports would be preferable.

Lighting

The Studio also provides desktop lighting, which is a nice touch. The low position of the lighting is a stroke of genius. We love that it illuminates our keyboard and mouse without the light shining in our eyes.

The control panel allows you to customize the lighting to your liking. You can adjust the temperature of the light (warm lighting or cool lighting) and the intensity of the light. You can save your favorite light settings too. You can also adjust the level of the right and left LED sections separate from the center section.

Hexcal Magnetic Cable

The Hexcal Magnetic Cable is a magnetic USB-C to USB-C cable. It feels like a premium cable. Because it’s magnetic, it coils easily without cable fasteners. It provides up to 240W for charging but only 480Mbps of data transfer, so it’s important to know that you can’t use this as a video cable.

What I like about the Hexcal Studio

• The Studio cleans up our cable mess
• The Studio provides Qi wireless charging for our phones (LG V60 ThinQ phone, Pixel 6 Pro, iPhone 12)
• The Studio provides ample well-spaced outlets that are oriented to power all of our devices (two monitors, a speaker, and our audio interface)
• The Studio provides highly customized lighting for our keyboard and mouse without shining in our eyes
• The magnetic USB-C to USB-C cable (sold separately) provides up to 240W for charging and 480Mbps of data transfer
• The magnetic cable coils easily

What needs to be improved?

• The Studio is VERY expensive
• The Studio takes up a large amount of desk space (47.3” L x 8.7” W) and might not be ideal for smaller desks
• Replace the USB bridge ports on the Studio with powered USB ports
• I wish the magnetic USB-C to USB-C cable was a video cable

Final thoughts

We love the Hexcal Studio. It is a unique holistic desk organizational tool that provides power and cable management for all of our devices and it provides lighting for our keyboard and mouse. It’s made of rugged materials and should last a long time. However, it’s expensive and rather large. But it looks awesome, so if you have loads of cash, I’d say go for it!!

The Hexcal Magnetic Cable is nice. Being magnetic, it coils easily. It provides up to 240W for charging but only 480Mbps for data transfer. I only wish it could be used as a video cable.

Price: $899.00 (Hexcal Studio), $39.00 (Hexcal Magnetic Cable)
Where to buy: Hexcal (Studio), Hexcal (cable)
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Hexcal. Hexcal did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.