Well, to close the firewire/usb/thunderbolt thing, I would just say that:
 
Nowadays:
*ALL computers support USB, either 2 or 3.
*No laptop support firewire anymore. For desktops,you can still find addon cards and mainboards,but they tend to be a bit old.
*Few laptops and desktops support thunderbolt. Just check the number of mainboard that have thunderbolt compared to the ones that don't have it and we'll talk about it again. Moreover these cards tends to be on the expensive side. Too, there's still no PCIe thunderbolt card to add thunderbolt to desktops which do not have it (one has been announced by intel, but we don't know when it'll be out and how much it will cost).
 
So:
Yes,firewire is a bit better that USB2, but it's just a "on the verge of death" technology as were SCSI(which was better that IDE), Floppies, HD-DVD, etc..
 
I would definitely not take the Apple Firewire adapter to be something granted. Apple just care about Apple and it's definitely not sure they'll maintain drivers for windows for a long time.
 
The important questions are:
Will the soundcard enable me to do what I want? 
Will I be able to use it on my computers to come or do I plan to change both?
 
Personnally, I don't know if my next computer will have thunderbolt or firewire. Thunderbolt is expensive and not mandatory on current PCs. Firewire is dead. I just know my current core i7 laptop only has USB 3.0 and that my next one will have USB 3.0 too. My desktop has firewire and USB 3.0. I like to be able to use my DAW on both so choice is quite simple.
2 monthes ago, I bought for my band,a new soundcard/PC . I had to downgrade CPU to get a thunderbolt (a shame). When choosing the soundcard, the choice was between an UAD Appolo and a RME UFX. We ended buying the RME which is USB and Firewire. The appolo which is firewire and Thunderbolt ready (500euros more for TB card) was just unusable on the bands private laptops (no firewire and no thunderbolt). With the RME, we are sure we'll be able to use it on any computer available. A very good point since it's good to have some spare in case of a computer crash. Also, the RME handle twice as much inputs as the Appolo, with less latency, even using USB.
 

Funny how exactly the same arguments are being put across for firewire as for thunderbolt. People are using firewire and thunderbolt as interfaces.... now. No USB 3 soundcards at the moment as far as I am aware? So do I conclude USB 3 is dead... of course not!!!
 
" but it's just a "on the verge of death" technology" 
 
No less so that USB 2 - totally irrelevant anyway.
 
To say something will die when Apple is fully backing it (and for firewire adapters also) is a bit of joke frankly, as well as the fact this is actually an Intel product and is featured in HP products amongst others. So you don't trust Apple - join the rest of the gang, that's not a particularly good argument however considering this is one of the most successful IT companies in the world (like it or not they can buy small counties with the money they have).
  
There is no doubt that USB 3 is probably going to be far more popular than thunderbolt, just like USB 2 is far more popular than firewire. There is every possibility of this becoming a niche product or at least a good replacement for people who already own firewire devices, just like there is every possibility of USB 3 soundcards coming out next year, heck I may even buy one.
 
These are facts, everything else is just your own biased opinion based on no facts other than you prefer maybe green to the colour blue. And you think something is a bit old.
And NOBODY will know what will actually happen for another year, you are not Nostradamus nor am I. And probably the opposite will happen to what you or I will think, you just have to look at history... Amazes me that people think this is a game of top trumps, it is not.
 

CakeAlex, we don't really seem to be arguing the same thing, and I've lost the will to continue. Good luck to the OP with his new interface, I say! May he have many happy recording hours :)

My thoughts is USB interfaces are really only convenient. In my experience any professional audio internal CARD is much more pro...cleaner sound...more stable...etc etc.  But there are times when one cannot upgrade to a card. Such as a laptop.  At the end of the day it doesn't matter what you use as long as it has the features you need to DO what you need to do.  
 
I would stay away from any usb interface (or firewire) that doesnt offer ZERO LATENCY hardware monitoring.    

The bottom line here frankly is that "it doesn't really matter" - as long as certain factors are accounted for. If you've got a compatible FW chipset and audio device and you won't be swapping computers or laptops regularly then FW is just fine. If you need more widespread compatibility with multiple computers, then USB might have an advantage. But either way, both interface types will allow for enough track count and resolution to cover the needs of most users, except for those recording very high track counts at higher than average resolution.
 
This is good news for all of us. It means that basically most interface types will work just fine. So what it comes down to is driver stability, latency performance, how suitable the I/O array is for your particular needs, and price.
 

usa423

Brandon Ryan [Roland]

usa423
My thoughts is USB interfaces are really only convenient. In my experience any professional audio internal CARD is much more pro...cleaner sound...more stable...etc etc.  But there are times when one cannot upgrade to a card. Such as a laptop.  At the end of the day it doesn't matter what you use as long as it has the features you need to DO what you need to do.  
 
I would stay away from any usb interface (or firewire) that doesnt offer ZERO LATENCY hardware monitoring.    

Internal PCI audio cards do not offer inherently cleaner sound nor do they offer greater stability. In fact, A/D converters placed inside the computer must take far greater care in shielding to ensure lack of interference. Of course it's entirely possible to design although more difficult and/or expensive. The sound quality of A/D devices placed outside of the computer, regardless of how they interface with the computer (PCI, FW, USB) is purely determined by the quality of components and the design of the circuitry. The interface itself is inconsequential. 

 
In 2013 yes its finally a level playing field. Now say all that what you just said 10 years ago and keep telling yourself its the truth.  As I said "In my experience".   A usb interface TODAY is much different then the external interfaces of years ago.  I am just speaking what I know personally.

With regards to sound quality, it doesn't matter if it's 2013 or 2003. PCI interfaces do not currently, nor have they ever, inherently offered "cleaner" sound than USB or FW interfaces. In earler days, PCI and PCIe interfaces offered lower latency than their external counterparts, but not cleaner sound. Let's not conflate performance and sound quality - that's all I'm saying.
 
For instance, A Lynx Aurora can interface with the computer via PCIe or via optional FW add-on card. Regardless of which way it interfaces, the sound quality is identical.

Brandon Ryan [Roland]
 
With regards to sound quality, it doesn't matter if it's 2013 or 2003. PCI interfaces do not currently, nor have they ever, inherently offered "cleaner" sound than USB or FW interfaces. In earler days, PCI and PCIe interfaces offered lower latency than their external counterparts, but not cleaner sound. Let's not conflate performance and sound quality - that's all I'm saying.
 
For instance, A Lynx Aurora can interface with the computer via PCIe or via optional FW add-on card. Regardless of which way it interfaces, the sound quality is identical.

Oh now you tell me. So my 24 carrot gold diamond studded USB cable, made on the international space station by well trained monkeys, which I bought for $210,000 from Snakes R Us isn't giving me the audio quality I'm expecting ;)

corgidaddy
 
 
Then I bought a saffire 6 USB for the PC laptop. It was dependable but the latency was noticeably worse. It went from 5 ms with the firewire to about 25 ms with the USB.
 
Now these both use the midi protocol. I don't know why firewire would have faster response than USB 2.0, but it does. If you are only using it for recording, more latency may be fine.  
?

What happened, when you lowered the latency settings using the USB 2?
People have been using USB 2 interfaces with under 5 ms latency for a long time, and 25 ms latency was much already ten years ago, so I doubt this was a USB/FW -issue per se (?).
AFAIK, most of the latency usually comes from the actual processing of the signal (>soft synths, amp sims), not from transferring it.

Some random factoids...
 
FireWire has hardware to take over certain tasks, USB uses the CPU. This made a difference with older CPUs, but is no longer really relevant.
 
FireWire 800 is much faster than USB 2.0. FireWire 400's bandwidth is theoretically lower than USB 2.0, but the practical difference is negligible and FW 400 can outperform USB 2.0 by a very slim margin under some conditions.
 
FireWire dates from 1984, so it's a pretty old protocol. FireWire devices will work with Thunderbolt via an adapter, although not all PCIe devices will.
 
FireWire can be pickier than USB in terms of hardware, but if you get it working initially, it will pretty much stay working.
 
Don't expect to see a flurry of USB 3.0 interfaces. USB 2.0 covers most applications, and for really hardcore pro applications, companies will skip directly to Thunderbolt.
 
Virtually anything will work if you don't need a lot of I/O.
 
FireWire is no longer being included in many Windows laptops, and these laptops also don't have a card slot for adding a FireWire PCMCIA-type interface.
 
Tests based on copying files via one interface or another do not necessarily mean you'll achieve the same results with audio.