The ARTcessories USB Dual Pre is designed to work over a wide variety of applications from remote field recording to desktop / studio tracking. Each of the two low noise input channels has up to 48dB of clean gain. Inputs can be either XLR balanced or 1 / 4-inch TRS. Each of the 1 / 4-inch TRS outputs is buffered low impedance balanced. The USB Dual Pre can be externally powered from the mains via a supplied 12 Volt DC adapter, or from an internal 9 Volt battery, or from the USB bus itself, or any combination of these power sources. When running off of the battery alone, you should get in excess of 50 hours of operation when phantom power is off. Battery life drops to around 20 hours (depending on microphone) when phantom powering from the battery alone (still enough time to get through a session). The built-in low noise +48 Volt phantom power supply allows you to power up to 2 microphones as well as the preamplifier when running from any power sources including the USB bus. For monitoring, an 1 / 8-inch TRS mini headphone jack with level and monitor mix controls on the rear allow for latency-free local monitoring of the inputs while recording as well as playback monitoring of the USB bus. The monitor mix is also routed to the 1 / 4-inch TRS balanced outputs. This lets you use the 1 / 4-inch outputs as either a preamplifier out or as the monitor feed to your powered monitors. The USB interface is fully compliant with the USB 1.1 specification and uses USB adaptive mode for playback and USB asynchronous mode for record. It will work with the USB audio device drivers built into Windows 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP / Vista and Apple OS9.1 / OSX computers with native USB support. No special drivers are needed. The compact black anodized all aluminum case with rubber sides makes for a rugged design. The USB Dual Pre will provide years of trouble free service and its high quality audio channels and versatile powering options make the USB Dual Pre the obvious choice in a wide variety of applications from Podcasting / Broadcasting to Tracking and Monitoring. With the USB Dual Pre, your laptop, and a pair of quality condenser microphones you can do some serious remote recording.