You can walk into most Guitar Centers & get a M-Audio fast track pro, which will 100% work as a 2 channel preamp/A>D, unmodded. It will also run on a DVD battery with a RS adaptaplug, I believe it is type 'M', but standard polarity, unlike the UA-5.
I have absolutely no idea why this isn't the beginer box of choice in our hobby.
If anyone gets one of these, please post the insides. I'm curious what is in there (... and if it can be modded
).
Seriously, I agree, this *would* have been the beginner box for us. Except i only came a few years too late. Most of us already had (modded) UA5's. Those that needed gear bought the modded UA5's as other people upgraded to all-in-one.
Now, I see no reason to go with the Maudio. The all-in-one, like the Fostex FR-2LE is such a good deal and such a nice package. It even sounds great unmodded.
Richard