Is the UA-5 not a good stand-alone preamp? I know I've seen significantlly(sp) cheaper A/D converters.
The UA-5 is a good stand alone preamp.
I already have the SX-M2, I like what it does for the neumanns.
My UA-5 is a regular Digi-mod. I basically have it for ADC and so I can easily use a JB3. The UA-5's ADC appears to be better than the one in the PCM-M1 which is the deck I normally run off the sax.
Ive heard tapes with a regular D-mod UA-5, I think Joel is one taper that runs the regular UA-5, and it sounds just fine.
Nothing wrong with the stock UA-5 but it can also be improved dramatically with different mods depending on what the user wants. In my case I wanted a ADC for now with some possibilities later. I bought an Oade one with this in mind and maybe one day Ill send it in and have more mods done to it, but for now Im just experimenting with it as a ADC.