I do own an Allen & Heath QU16, which offers both control surface and digital summing with a decent set of effects. Likewise with the Allen & Heath R16 although I have read recently if you can find an R16 that still works then using it across the ADAT AD/DA is a fun workflow… But I think getting the control side of that to work on modern operating systems is pretty tough going.
I used to really enjoy the look of the Audient/Focusrite 2802. There have been a few hybrid mixers that have interested me over the years, but just never quite sold it for me. Maybe what I really need is to actually just try some options out for workflow on an actual project. Definitely not the vibe you might get from lots of other maybe less expensive options. Technically excellent in terms of options, routing and such, but fairly just a fairly clean and uninteresting sound, which is fine for lots of projects. I have heard that about the SSL desks before.
