ok y'all thanks for the info... but i have now dug up even more questions about adc's:
first of all, i respect the amount of hassle that coresounds has seemed to dish out. but both the mic2496 and the ad-20 are coresource (or is the ad-20 just sold by them and its really zeph) so i cant really say either sucks in quality without saying both have the potential (esp on the cust service end) to suck.
second, and here is where i am most confused. i get that the jb3 is 16 bit only. but it seems every adc is 24 bit (with the exception of ad-20, which is 20bit, and i will address that later) + the 8bit info. so if both the ua-5 and mic2496 are 24 bit adc, how is it that one is better than the other for the jb3 if there is still going to be a certain amount of truncing? does the ua-5 dither the 24 bit to 16bit? i thought the mic 2496 dithered as well if you chose the right switch config - 44.1 and 1x (vs 48 and 2x = 96) even the ad-20 is going to trunc 4 bits of data (on top of the 4 bits that it already zero'd) to get it into the jb3. i sorta get where the 16 bit and 20 bit arguement is going on the ad-20 faq, but it seems that its not the complete or whole story.
finally, the modded version of the ad-20 which basically adds the ps-2's function to the ad-20 with the addtion of an extra 9v. is this doable on my own? with the assistance of someone here? or do i have to shell out the redonkulous cash to get the modded box.
i am sure i will have more questions, thanks for your help and patience.