Hey, what a pleasant surprise to see this thread revived after I'd given it up for dead.
Ethan, thanks a lot for your input. I think you're definitely right that my monitoring environment is worth an upgrade. I'm in a new room with new monitors, and it's still kinda' hard to be sure what I'm really hearing. My problem is that right now I can't get into the treatment phase until I'm done with the re-wiring and painting phase... Haven't had enough down-time to get that stuff done.
The other thing that keeps me from just ordering a bunch of MiniTraps etc. (aside from the shipping costs to Canada) is that figuring out what I need and where to put it might be as tricky and costly as the materials themselves... Are there any Mac tools for testing your room and making acoustic treatment decisions?
Treatment aside, I still want to improve my input chain as much as possible, especially now that I've gone preamp crazy (6176, OSA lunchbox, TG2). So far the most tempting solution to me is the UA2192 coz at least it's A/D/A and clock source, all for one formidably 'affordable' price... Very interesting to hear about your experience with the Big Ben and HD192 conguero. I think I'll have to see if I can try out some of these options, test my ability to hear the difference, then who knows? I'll probably end up just ordering some mini-traps. And a Silence Case. And a 2192. And... AHHRG! DANG YOU GEARSLUTZ! Do you realize I was once a happy portastudio owner?!!!!!