Wow... They still make that thing...
Okay - On the bright side -- If you bypass everything - and I mean everything - No low cut, certainly no EQ circuit engaged, no gain at the output (and it's not incredibly easy to find unity on that unit if I recall), it isn't the worst thing out there.
The low cut is horrible. The EQ circuit should be illegal. The gain is dirty. The "toob" is fake. The thing has somewhere close to *0* usable headroom beyond line level. But *IF* you keep your input levels "normal" (peaking around -15 to -12dBFS, certainly not even going over unity on the input meters on the preamp itself) you could do worse. Yes, it's still somewhat noisy, yes it's a little 'pinched' with transients (again, no reasonable amount of headroom), but YES, you can actually capture a decent signal with it if everything else is bypassed.
Personally speaking - If the family wouldn't take it personally, returning and upgrading to M-Audio's DMP3 would put you in another world of quality for a relatively tiny investment. Still no usable headroom (you're really not going to find a "hearty" preamp in this price range), but for the $$$, you'd be challenged to find a unit with more focus and clarity.
