I use this for amplifying MIC signal from Pastors teaching Bible studies. The line out signal is sent to a Marantz CD recorder. EXCELLENT quality, clean signal is output. I use M58A-Beta MIC and get greater than 58 dB of signal over room background noises and no detectable hiss, hum, or other artifacts. I have not seen ANY other product that will perform the 2 major functions I wanted, MIC pre-amp and compression/limiting(I disable the gate as it is not necessary with spoken voice when the desired result is as close to live sound as possible). There are products that do this and more, or even just about only this, but all are more costly (some MUCH more costly) and either have uneeded features and capabilities, or offer "automatic" compression, which for many I recommend this unit to, would be the source of decreased signal to noise ratio. Some units offer both these undesired solutions.

This item was attractive to me because I can
use the preamp feature to connect an extra
mic to one of the line inputs on my mixer.
Also I can make use of the compressor on a
single channel without sacrificing an aux
send on the mixer. Luckily I didn't purchase
this product for the noise gate, because it
is completely useless. It responds so slowly
that it cuts off the first word of every
phrase.

Overall, a good product for the price if you
don't plan on using the gate.

Quality:
Cosmetically O.K. Built solid. Not flashy or fancy.

Desirability:
Had it and returned it. No want.

Sound:
Sound was distorted, that is, once I figured out that the gate was cutting off my sound at the top. The gate was useless. Your attack is lost.

Ease of Use:
Not very intuitive. Took some trial and error to make any sense out of it for me.

Overall:
You get what you pay for (unless you get a refund! LOL!)