Yeah, OG, it works fine for me. I used to drag around an Altec 1692 rack pre, great unit, but far too bulky for portability. After extensive searching, I found 2 units that met my needs, and seemed to be tailored for the application, the ART MicroMix;

http://www.artproaudio.com/downloads...3_MicroMIX.pdf

and the Rolls MP-13;

http://www.partsexpress.com/pdf/245-032.pdf

Nearly identical in features, both make connection of a pro condenser mic to a PC soundcard a snap. Slightly larger than a pack of smokes, you can easily slip one with a mic and cord into your laptop accy pouch. The unbalanced out is a 1/4" TRS, wired to allow mono monitoring on stereo headphones. Since most soundcard mic inputs are 1/8" TRS, with a trivial voltage on the ring to power PC mics, I madeup a simple adapter cord with an 1/8" male TRS and a 1/4" male TRS, and merely omitted the ring (center) connection on both.

Both units list for ~$80, but best prices are in eBay stores, ~$50. Got mine NIB in 3 days for $46 including S&H.

TrueRTA also has a freeware version with limited resolution and features, good enough for evaluation purposes.

While I'm doing unabashed product plugs, I'd also recommend the Creative SB Extigy, an external USB sound card. Too many features to describe here. Way cool. Way.