hi. i own the rnp, quadmic and vtb1 and have used them all for about two years now on numerous recordings. the rnp is hands down the best and most versatile of the three. the quadmic second and the vtb1 last. all of them are fairly good and useful. the vtb1 is the noisiest of the bunch. the quadmic is the cleanest and the rnp usually sounds the best. both the rnp and quadmic are kinda clean(not transparent or colorful, just kinda clean) with the quadmic sometimes sounding boring to me compared to the rnp. i almost always go with the rnp for kick, snare top, rythem guitars and vox. the pres on my digimax lt are often more useful than the vtb1 or quadmic. unless you are going to build something, the rnp is pretty much the clear winner for me in the 250.00 a channel range. i have got results i liked with the vtb1 and quadmic, just not as many times as the rnp. good luck.