I'm planning a new system based on a new MacPro desktop. Currently I have a MOTU 2408 interface. I'm considering purchasing another of these for my MacPro, but am wondering about other options. Specifically I'm wondering about the RME Fireface 800 and some combination of Apogee products - - e.g. the Symphony card and Rosetta 800. I would also consider a PCIe version of the RME 9652 card and Multiface. Is there, in anyone's personal experience a significant difference in audio quality between these units that justifies the large price differentials - - in terms of sample playback? The MOTU 2408 is attractive because it is enormously flexible. It does not have, at least currently, the software "loopback" capabilities of RME products, but it does allow for physical loopback. You can also have up to four 2408 breakout boxes attached to one PCI 424 card and MOTU drivers for MAC OSX have, in my experience, been consistently timely as far as their release and reliable. The FireFace 800 is attractive because I could use it with both the MacPro and with a MacBook Pro, but is a firewire based audio interface as reliable as a PCIe based interface? The price differentials are enormous - one could, for example buy a MOTU 2408 and the new MOTU 828 mk3 for just a little more than the price of a single FireFace 800 - - and for significantly less than the price of an Apogee Ensemble.
Another consideration is the time frame for the release of 64-bit, OSX compatible, versions of VE 2 and VE 3. Is this a year away or 3 months away? I could envision a system consisting of a MacBook Pro running Logic with the MacPro running Vista 64 and the 64-bit Windows version of VE3 - - in which case the choice would be between the RME FireFace 800, the new MOTU 828 mk3, the Symphony Express card with a Rosetta 800 or an Apogee Ensemble for the MacBook Pro with audio transmitted via Ethernet from the MacPro desktop.
Finally does anyone know if the software accompanying Apogee interfaces has "loopback" capability?