SPL SMC 2489

This is a very flexible monitor controller. With my last soundcard (DIDGI-002) found D-sub was a slight pain, but with new one (Apogee Ensemble Thunderbolt, it makes life a doddle (once the outputs are reassigned in the Apogee - this is weird design on behalf of Apogee rather than SPL). I have two sets of surround inputs (DVD and Soundcard) that I can easily switch between and on the output side, several pairs of stereo monitors as well as my surround set up; I do need to use an extra switch beyond the SPL, as there is only the choice of surround and one extra set of stereo monitors here. It's handy to be able to switch the channels in and out in surround to isolate what's going on in each speaker. I find the sound remarkably transparent at this price point. On the downside, there is a slight stereo mismatch on the very lowest ranges of the knob, and I did have to get a capacitor replaced on one of the stereo inputs. I had never used this input before and so don't know if it left the factory like that. Unfortunately the warranty ran out just before I discovered the fault, so I don't know what SPL's support would have been like.