Just my 2 cents. I was messing around comparing a few mics yesterday. Ended up hooking up a few other peices of equipment(always rearranging stuff in my studio). Right now, I've got a den area working as a makeshift studio with a laundry room that's halfway treated for vocals. Nothing professional at all.
Mind you, I have a Washer Dryer unit in my 20x35(fair estimate)"booth". Tile floor with rugs down to absorb sound, cheap charcoal auralex covering the wall in the section where I record, nothing fancy.
I can get significant differences from mic to mic, pre to pre, but nothing that cannot be emulated with stock plugs in Pro Tools. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, but I keep checking coming up with slightly better(but nothing super significant) chains. Certain Mics give off less noise, certain pres sound better with a lil saturation on them(but I always record in the cleanest signal possible and add stuff like 'saturation" with effects to tracks as needed).
Preamps tested....
M-Box 2 - Been using it directly forever now since switching to a Mac. Clean signal, do notice it makes certain mics a little airy-er? But not a significant enough difference to bug me, especially when combined with the right mic.
Art Tube Studio V3 - Scary, always said this sounded cleaner than an M-Box, you can find these for super cheap now, it was like $70 when i bought it. Has a "fatter" sound to it, but not a better sound for mixing IMO. Sounds like they give you a "cheap fix" for guys who aren't going to take the time to get their vocals where they need to be. Once you start mixing you find crappy elements in the recording that sounded "fat" straight out the box but become an annoyance once you wanna clean stuff up. Still great pre for the price, but second look, M-Box 2 sounds better.
Then...the big boy...Avalon M5 - I get the idea this thing was intended for instruments or mine is "broken'(bought it off someone). The difference is definetly night and day to the others. Very warm, nice low cut, does an amazing job boosting signals, could be I expect too much for the retail price. I instantly know it's the winner, but then I start messing around with effects in the m-box 2 recording's channel. With just
the 7 Band EQ in Pro Tools and Maxim(very slight ammount of limiting), I can get a close to identical sound. By "close to identical", I mean, I can hear a difference, but not enough of a difference to justify the price to a novice who probably won't get the best mix anyway.
My issue with my current setup is that it's in my den. I have kids that I allow to play on my gear, so I don't think I'll be leaving the M5 out. Will break it out a little more after hearing it again, but I couldn't recommend this type of upgrade as if it will change your input chain.
Same time, an M-Box 2 is a "$500 interface with pres", I'd recommend it over this Art Studio V3, so if other $500 Pres have a similar sound(don't have anything else to test in this same environment, but if my ears don't lie, most $500 Pres sound way better than an M-Box)and othe $100 units sound like the Art, I could see you going with the $500 pre. But I used to have a 1 channel Presonus Tube Pre I paid $100 for. Wish I still had it, because I would've tested it. Remember preferring it over my M-Box back when I had the option to run it directly to my soundcard.
Also, keep in mind I do hip hop. Only thing I'm recording is vocals and the occasional guitar. If you're going to be working with singers, a pre and choice of mic can make a dramatic difference IMO.
Hope some of this can be helpful. It's hard to compare chains because of all the factors involved. I've been in studios that sound better than mine running stuff like the Grace or that firewire M-Audio Unit, been in studios that sound worse than mine running a chain with the 2 Channel Avalon and vintage limiters(mainly because it was a studio ran by a rapper so he could "self record his albums" and he oversaturated everything nomatter how many times I told him not to).
Good luck with your purchase.
