im quite sure that those not so poor guys with the API consoles have a larger than life mic collection to chose from so they can get much closer, im much on the poor side cause i do not have a super large collection of mics, and i have saw it more than a few times not work so good with a male vocal or female for that matter, P-1s and Hardy is a much better choice for vocals before i got some MA5s and sometimes they still are.
FWIW, that quote about the Neve sounding better than Neve is on the MA5 thread i think where i quoted that someone else said it sounded better than the real thing, NOT I, i was only repeating not agreeing, lol again i do not have enough $$ for some Neve gear to A/B it with, so the next best thing is the MA5, who knows maybe better.....Have a great weekend !!!!