The original ADA8000 worked pretty well, especially for the price. (IIRC MC had a bit of a hand in its design - or was that the UltraMatch??) There were a couple of production changes during its lifetime, including replacing original Alesis components that went out of production, and not all of these were for the better. I was more than happy with the results I obtained (using it with an original BabyFace) for the jobs I gave it. Biggest operational issues - only worked 44K1/48K and phantom powering was "all 'er nuthin'" ... Much happier when I got the UFX
I have not used the new version (ADA8200) but improvements are said to include the pre-amps (the Midas touch??). Obviously what you get when the price is about 2 or 3 SM58s (a unit of economic comparison rather like the "Big Mac") is different from the price of a pair of C414 ULS'
De gustibus - et sonus - non est disputandum