I have never hear those pres, so I can't compare. Just know that Symetrix is a company that made its name buy selling good quality professional equipment at a decent price to radios and studios, and I have yet to hear people ranting about them making bad, low end products.
If it's anyway close to the 528 (which it kinda claims to be), you'll have tons of clean gain, a very fast preamp (perfect for picking up the transiant of any accoustic/percussive instr.), a surgical EQ (but quite not handy to tweak), and a decent compressor as an added bonus.
By the way, it might help to read through the manual:
http://www.symetrixaudio.com/kb/628_ug.pdf
(You should also know that these guys are usually great at answering any question you may have regarding their products).
Best,
Sampiero