I've been struggling over what interface to buy for my G4 PowerBook based studio. I looked at the Lexicon Omega, M-Audio FW 410, Edirol FA-101, the ESI Quatafire and the money I had to spend. Wanted to go Firewire, but would consider an exceptional USB unit. Well I've finally done it. Today I got a great deal on a Lexicon Omega, 4 in (four 1/4" line inputs assigned to outputs 1, 2, 3, and 4, and two switchable XLR inputs assignable to outputs 1 & 2. which include an FX send and return function, a 1/4" instrument input jack, S/PDIF in and out, +48V phantom power for mike 1 & 2, Midi in and out ports and L & R line outs. There are gain knobs for all inputs with Peak indicators, USB channel assign buttons, Monitor and Meter assign buttons and Monitor mix and Output level knobs. 1/4' headphone out. 24 bit, 44100 or 48000 Khz. dbx pre-amps for a hot, clean input signal, plenty of headroom on the output levels and monitor mix, in short; this thing is awesome. True plug and play out of the box. I plugged the studio output of my guitar amp to the XLR in, an SM57 to the other XLR, the line outs to my powered near-field monitors, checked that the Audio/Midi Setup recognized the Omega, and had the bit rate correct (yup), Opened up a song I've been working on in Logic Pro, assigned a audio track to the guitar, another to the mic, checked the levels (hot with no clipping), hit record and overdubbed the guitar and vocal. On playback the sound was killer. When I soloed them the tracks were noiseless and crisp, all the character of the guitar and voice with no weird artifacts. All you desktop guys out there, check this thing out, it's exceeded my expectations.