Opinion of the day: SPL is certainly one of the most interesting manufacturers of audio related gear out there.

When I first found out about them, probably around 1987, they had the Vitalizer, a psychoacoustic enhancer/exciter which was far more efficient than what the competition was offering at the time. For those people who weren't attracted to enhancers, the Vitalizer was a practical, mix-friendly way to mess with phase and harmonic content.

Well, since then, SPL has been putting out some very cool devices, most of which I have not had the opportunity to try out. Those that I have listened to are amazing. The ones I have not played with yet still seem like very nifty concepts. Like the Transient Designer, which treats sound independent of levels in manipulating attack and sustain.

Now they've come out with something a bit less inspired, an eight channel mic preamp called the Gainstation 8. I'm willing to bet it's a great sounding device. It features 24/96 AD conversion, simultaneous tube and solid state topology, switchable input impedance, plenty of dynamic range and limiting on every channel. Nice, eh?