Xing 4.0 vs Mistral Large 4
Xing 4.0 took 25 min 32 s and was free at list price, Mistral Large 4 took 41 min 39 s and $0.46 at list price. Mistral Large 4 took 1.6× as long.
Xing 4.0
XingChen · free route
Mistral Large 4
Mistral · $2.10/M out · 4,680 HN pts
Pelican
Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle
Watch
Draw a mechanical wristwatch that shows the current local time, with a sweeping seconds hand and a date window. Make it look expensive.
Landing
Build the landing page for Lumen Cycles, a Copenhagen workshop that builds custom cargo bikes to order. Make it look like a real brand you would trust with 4,000 euros.
Blank first frame. Press Run.
Breakout
Make a Breakout game I can play right now with the keyboard or the mouse. Give it several levels, a score and some juice.
About
Write the opening of the About us page for Patchbay, a three-person studio in Rotterdam that repairs vintage synthesizers. About 150 words.
Patchbay is a compact, three-person workshop rooted in the dynamic streets of Rotterdam, born from a shared reverence for analog sound. Our team shares an unwavering dedication to vintage synthesizers, viewing each oscillator, filter, and routing cable as a vital piece of sonic history waiting to be restored. Whether diagnosing a failing voltage regulator or carefully retrofitting obsolete components, we take immense pride in bringing classic instruments back to their full potential. In our studio, repairing isn't just a technical service—it is a shared passion among friends who believe the past deserves to keep playing. We meticulously diagnose and revive legacy synths, ensuring the iconic sounds of yesterday continue shaping today’s electronic music. Bring us your dented, broken machines, and let us help you reconnect them with the rich, unmistakable sounds they were always meant to make. Every patch, every knob, every fleeting tone depends on the work we do here.
Patchbay sits in a former warehouse on Rotterdam's northern edge, where the Maas meets the industrial harbour. Three of us work here—no more, no less—surrounded by oscilloscopes, desoldering stations, and the persistent hum of transformers. We repair vintage synthesizers. That is the whole business.
We are not a museum, and we are not a factory. Every Minimoog, ARP 2600, or Juno that crosses our bench receives the same stubborn attention: traced schematics, replaced capacitors, calibrated voltages, hours spent listening for the note that was never quite right. The machines arrive broken, silent, forgotten. They leave singing.
Rotterdam built its reputation on moving heavy things and keeping them moving. We apply the same pragmatism to circuits that predate us by forty years. If it made sound once, it can make sound again. That is the promise we keep, solder joint by solder joint.
Specs and numbers
| Xing 4.0 | Mistral Large 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | XingChen | Mistral |
| Made in | China | France |
| Released | 16 Oct 2026 | 6 Oct 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | free route (list $0/M) | $0.70 |
| Price out, per M tokens | free route (list $0/M) | $2.10 |
| Context | 262,144 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Weights | open | open |
| Hacker News points | — | 4,680 |
| Time for the five prompts | 25 min 32 s | 41 min 39 s |
| List price of the five prompts | free | $0.46 |
Xing 4.0 was free at list price; Mistral Large 4 cost $0.46. Xing 4.0 was faster: 16 min 7 s less in total, and faster on 2 of the 5 prompts.
In the recording, both Breakout games play. Xing 4.0's landing page showed a blank first frame when the still was taken. Xing 4.0 has no logo: doesn’t draw (an SVG file without the SVG namespace, which browsers draw as an empty box).
Rebuild this screen experiment: Mistral Large 4's rebuild matched the screenshot at 46%; Xing 4.0 was not in it. Tea Garden experiment: Mistral Large 4's game passed 2 of 5 checks; Xing 4.0 was not in it.