[Cowboy Bob]

OK, I just got one. Connected it up in place of my trusty 003R+. Eleven Rack connected via SPDIF, just as before.

First impressions; WOW! I have done some listening testing, because after all, that is what most of us do more than anything, listen.

Even on tracks recorded with the 003R, there is a clarity that wasn't really there before and imparts no color in playback that I can detect. It just seems to ME to sound better.

Eleven Rack into the Clarett is equally good. I recorded some short riffs on some things that I'm working on, and again, WOW. I even recorded DI into Eleven MKII and no issues for me with latency. Thunderbolt seems to be very fast. (Actually the 003R connect to Thunderbolt via the Firewire adapter was much faster than it was connected to Firewire on my PC).

I have to record some acoustic guitars and vocalists later this week, and am looking forward to testing out the AIR setting.

FC control.....a little strange to me but it certainly isn't insurmountable. I'll get a handle on it quickly enough.

I don't tend to gush, promote or even recommend much, but I do like this unit so far.

IMHO this is what the 00X R family should have morphed into.