[awediohead]

But for now, I am trying to decide between the small and simple ZED 24, and the slightly bigger and badder ZED 420...

So, having said ALL THAT perhaps I should get to the point

1) Mike, earlier in this thread you stated that the mix buss circuit in the R16 was exactly the same as "the majority" of the rest of the ZED line... Can you be totally specific on this, are there *any* mixers in the ZED line that have an different mix circuit than the rest?

2) Let's talk EQ. How does the 4 band semi-parametric in the 420 compare to the R16. Obviously it's a different design and offers less control, being that it's not fully parametric. But is the sound in the same ballpark? I don't necessarily need that kind of control, especially since I'm looking to work with a "less is more" type of simple workflow. But it would be reassuring to know that the EQ in the 420 is a nice sounding EQ for mixing. I don't expect it to be the same EQ, just something that sounds nice.
Sub question: Is the EQ on the 14/24 the same as on the 420, just one less band? Or is it yet another different design? On your website it talks about the EQ on the 420 being borrowed from the GL mixers, but it doesn't say the same for the 14/24...

3) Are the insert points on the 420 the same as on the 14, in that you can use them as direct line inputs, bypassing the mic preamps? This is huge for me, I don't like mixing through mic amps and when I tried the difference on the 14 (listening to some CD's) I was very pleased with the sound of the direct input versus going thru the mic amp.

4) Is there any future possibility of the USB section being modded/upgraded to USB 2, so that one could potentially send and receive audio of higher sample rate and bit depth than 16 bit/48k...? This is mainly a curiosity, not a deal breaker in any sense.

I hope that is not too many tweaky questions!

I'll also be very interested to read Mike's responses to these questions - same dilemma while I wait for the R16mkII or the R24. I've already expressed my opinion to Mike directly that I think the choice of 16/48 does the analogue side of these little desks a disservice.

cheers