The Superb Sony MXP-290 mixer! There's a lot of talk on the net about modding these guys for individual outputs as the eq is really focused, and the mic pre's are a freakin' joy to work with - they literally punch Way above their price range when it comes to clarity and sweetness ... there's even a phantom power (48volt) option for condenser mics.
You can send the channels to either aux output if you want to just use them as 2 mic pre's.
For me though - it excels as a summing mixer - not only a bunch of fun and faster to get a mix balanced than in the box - the tonal ranges and the speed you can apply them to each bus makes mixing a joy. The Hi eq is beautiful air, the low is tight and punchy - but it's the mid eq that has this astonishing focus that brings any audio run through it to life - check out the vid .... it's a beautiful thing!
I've personally tested everything I can - not sure what the Sub In thing on the back is - maybe something to do with the multi port on the far right (editor 1 and 2) or a sync thing for video / film (they were built as broadcast mixers).
Both Aux sends work beautifully - I brought the returns from a reverb rack back into channels 7 and 8 - and also back into my daw ..... sounds sublime. The headroom on this mixer is way better than it's price range suggests.
Headphones work fine - oscillator works fine - even the talkback mic works fine. There is one small issue - channel 1 pan for some reason is fine hard left - is fine in the centre - but panned hard right there's still audio coming out the left. Never worried me - I either left it centred or panned it left.
Mazin' bitta kit!
So ... if you want to do real world mixing but don't have the 20 grand available to go big console - treat yourself to this little booger!
Runs on 240 volts - all the way to audio Nirvana!