Just got 'em in. I recorded a track yesterday with a client of mine and they sounded amazing. I had done 9 other songs with him (all acoustic/vocals only) thru my old rig (Dragonfly, 6176) and as you may have seen from my other post the Dragonfly just died so I returned it and got a AT 4040 (and the URS "a" series and MCDSP Compressorbank LE as weel as a pair of AKG cans). Listening in the car (real world)to the finished mixes the first 9 songs still sound great (I did like that 6176 no matter what people say about the lack of headroom...it worked for me). Then the track that I did yesterday with the new rig came on...wow...hefty lows without being muddy and a very smooth and even response all the way to the top end. Even with a cheaper mic this rig won hands down. I am getting that extra low end phat that I could never get before with API, 9098's, Summits or the 6176. I used the distressor with the distortion 3 setting in opto mode for vox and different attack/release times for the guitar. I am happy. The 4040 is very nice as well. The guys at the store said that they had seen a few other Blue mics come back dead so when I heard that I made up my mind to try a different mic this time. I am going to get a Geffel m930 next time for a "daddy" mic so I figured this would hold me over and still be usefull when I get the big boy. I am very impressed with the Mic Pre and the rest. I will post a review in a few week when I really know the nuances but right away I was very blown away. How do you post songs up here? I could let you guys here 2 songs...one with each rig. Later...more waffles to make...