Allen & Heath ZED-14 Mixer

ZED-14 is a fantastic entry-level mixer for small bands, solo performers or AV applications. Its comprehensive feature set, compact size and fine lines combine to make it one of the best small mixers around. Provided with configurable USB audio in/out makes it easy to capture stereo recordings, 6 mic or line inputs, 4 stereo inputs with EQ, there are an incredible 157 controls on the front panel of the ZED-14. 
This is a mixer for anyone, from entry-level to professionals, who appreciates fantastic sound, rugged build quality and imaginative feature sets. It'll be equally happy running your gig on stage, recording live or mixing down in your studio at home.

USB audio flexibility
Getting audio to and from a computer easily is now a common requirement for live sound and music production. The way this has been implemented on ZED is super-flexible and super-easy! No longer do you need to fiddle around the back of your PC to get to the soundcard inputs, only to find that the levels are all wrong and noisy. Just plug in a USB lead to your ZED, select the USB routing on the mixer and the device on your computer and thats it! CD quality audio to and from your PC or Mac. Switches and connection through jack socket terminals provide different send/return configurations:- 
Send options
1) Main Mix Left + Right (Post-fade)
2) Main Mix Left + Right (Pre-Fade)
3) Auxes 1-2
4) Auxes 3-4
Return options
1) To Stereo 3 channel

MusiQ
ZED-10 features a responsive 3-band, swept mid frequency EQ design which utilises MusiQ with optimised slope (or Q factor) for equalising individual instruments.

DuoPre
Based on the proven pre-amps from the hugely successful PA series, ZED-14 has DuoPre pre-amps, which use a two stage design, with carefully controlled amounts of gain in each stage. When amplifying the signal from the XLR input, the gain range is huge 69dB of range to be exact and is very evenly distributed around the gain control, meaning better control of signal level. Most of the gain comes from the first stage, so unwanted noise is kept to a minimum. Line level signals are simply plugged into the second stage of the pre-amp by using the line input jack socket, which has the great advantage of less noise when using the line input and also matching to a higher input impedance.