In the quest to improve the quality of my mixing, I researched ways that I could get the most improvement from my system for the smallest cash outlay. After consulting a number of sources (books, community sites, etc), it became clear that calibrated monitoring was a notable absence and something I should look into.
There were a few contenders at this price point, but in the end the Drawmer won out on it's well-curated set of features. It's perhaps not the most glamorous piece of gear, but it's clear that each feature was included for real people in real studios.
In practice, the most useful feature on the unit is one you can't even see until you turn it over - trim controls which allow independent level control for each monitor attached to the unit. Though the process of calibrating is tedious (you'll want an SPL meter for this), the result was stunning - perfect imaging and a dead-center mono. The sound quality is also shockingly good - straight-wire with gain, no character whatsoever.
The other controls are just as useful, and a read through the manual gives you a hint just how much the folks at Drawmer built this for daily use - two notable examples being the ability to audition the 'difference' signal and a slightly tweaked 'L/R' channel cut to make this feature more useful when using headphones.
having used it for a week, I'd find it hard to ever go back, and doubt I'll need an upgrade for some time.
