286 S : A game changer

One of the top two or three most significant pieces of gear I've ever purchased. It made such an immediate and profound difference in the sound I was getting from our microphones that I've been kicking myself for not buying one sooner. In addition to being incredibly easy to use and sounding terrific (on both male and female voices, in our case), it has paid for itself many times over because of the time saved manually editing audio tracks which are now recorded with such an optimal dynamic range and noise already gated out - especially impactful when you're using a condensor mic that picks up absolutely everything.

Speaking of picking up everything... for anyone who is working in a small space or who might not have the luxury of a recording booth completely isolated from the control room: this unit does produce a hum that condensor mics will pick up very clearly in a quiet room. (I have two of them, and they produce an identical hum, so it's a feature... not a bug.)