No experience with the UA5
Big surprise.
I've listened - sounds nice...although the mic pre is capable of adding quite a bit of color - depending on the mod...hard to evaluate all-in-ones...
Any mic pre is capable of adding quite a bit of color, but what does that have to do with one's ability to evaluate the units? And it's uber-easy to evaluate all-in-ones against, well...other all-in-ones, which is what we're talking about here.
"Average" = all in one unit, weak ergonomics, no metering..."average" isn't as disparaging as it may sound...
So an all-in-one unit is inherently average? Guess my V3 is average, too, eh?
Ergonomics aren't great, but they're not awful - better than the MMe, IMO. And the ergos don't prevent one from effectively using the gear, it's just a little quirky.
Minimal metering isn't all that big a deal - if you ran one, you'd know. I honestly don't get the few people who have built external meters - using the UA5 as the peak indicator and a DAT / JB3 as the L/R balance, it just isn't that difficult. And again, it doesn't prevent one from effectively using the gear, it's just a little quirky.
Why am I not surprised you neglect to include any mention of the UA5s
sound in your description of it as "average".