Yeah so, I won some Paia stuff on Ebay

I won a Hiss Wacker, a Dual Channel Compressor, a Dual Limiter, and Parametric EQ...sort of by accident. I was not planning on winning them...and I accidently was using my wife's account too...oopps. Busted.

At any rate, assuming that this stuff works, and was put together with a modicum of skill. How good is the Paia stuff?

It's OK, the best thing about it is it's easy to mod.

Well I got all that stuff for less than I would have picked up comparable Behringer or other bargain basement brands so I will give it a whorl and I will have to start searching for mods...

Well, if you like building plastic models, they are way fun.

Oh wait, they are already built.

I haven't built those models, but I have had and built several pieces over the years (tube mic pre and a 4700j synth). I feel that the pres are noisy

Compared with other kit built stuff (the last thing I built was a couple of Sevnth Cricle audio preamps), their stuff feels like it sacrifices sturdy components for price.

Still, the synth sounded nice, and the mic preamps were about as good (though a little noiser) as the similar crappy tube preamp that I replaced them with.

If you like messing with that stuff, they are fun. If you like cheap gear, they are workable. But the paia stuff I've heard is neither high quality nor great sounding.

BUt who knows. Maybe those devices are sleepers.

It's hobbyist level at best. Circuit simplicity, affordability, and ease of comprehension are emphasized over professional specs and features.

^ This, although I would remove the qualifier, "at best". It's not bad stuff, it's just not pro-level. If you like to tinker and have a limited budget, PAiA is great. I built their MIDI-CV converter; it's spartan, but it does the job.

Yeah, I hate it when I win {censored} that I was really just making a reasonable bid, but not expecting to take it... Oh well I am sure that if the compressor compresse and the limiter limits and the EQ gives me some level of EQ can use the it in my rig, even maybe to just strap across my mixer main outs to control some volume peaks and save some poor dude's PA when I crank the resonance at an unquestionably too low F.C.O.

Well, at least you can sleep knowing you honor your bids, instead of the usual "don't need it after all, Ebay will relist for you" jackanapes out there.