Great deal on RND 5059

I think the preamp (and/or other hardware) on the mix bus is a good start but, speaking for myself, I was actually referring to using preamps on each individual output from DA, so that you're getting that color on each output in addition to the mix bus. If doing that, I become much more skeptical about a summing mixer bringing anything additional to the table.

For example, if you ran 16 channels out of your DAW as hardware inserts, each of them running thru a CAPI VP28, and then another pair of VP28s on the mix bus, I wonder what the real world difference in tone would be between that scenario and using the CAPI Sumbus summing mixer?

Or insert your preamp(s) of choice and compare that to your summing mixer of choice. I'm just saying, it's essentially the same thing, if comparing to a summing mixer with active inputs of some kind.

Maybe it's even better than the summing mixer, considering that most summing mixers, the 5059 included, don't even have transformers on the inputs. If you used something like the VP28 as hardware inserts, you'd have THREE transformers on each channel versus none with your typical summing mixer.

Granted, you need a lot of colored preamps to try this, but many of us already have a lot of colored preamps with line inputs just sitting there at mix down. Why not patch them in on each channel if you're already doing hardware inserts anyway, even if they're just at unity gain?

they have two left at $1299
www.zenproaudio.com/phoenix-audio-nicerizer-junior