Best ASIO driver / USB Audio Interface

I like my RME UFX. Very solid drivers, good preamps, route anything to anything, and direct to USB recording which is great in a live setting. But agree with Jim too.
 
Over the years it seems the RME and MOTU interfaces always rise to the top in these discussions. Apogee and a few others get a lot of love in the higher price range and Focusrite, Tascam, and Presonus being solid in bit lower price group. 
 
I'm sure there are other solid products as well but these always get talked about in the forum when people ask about interfaces.
 
Budget is the biggest question, the RME interfaces start at ~$750 and go up. MOTU about the same although they have a few at lower price points. The Focusrite/Tascam/Presonus/Other products go all the way down to ~$150 or sometimes even less. If you're looking at Apogee, Antelope, Lynx then you're probably already an expert at these things and I want to come record in your studio :)
 
gabo

Most interfaces will work fine w/ most music computer systems.  Most of the problem comes from latency, which is how long it takes for sound to come into the computer (for recording) and then back out (so you can hear what you recorded).  If you have over 10 ms of delay, it can really be a problem.  However, most interfaces today have the ability to send the track to be recorded directly out of the interface, too (thereby skipping the latency).  So all is well.
 
All modern music interfaces cards will perform as above (or every one I've heard about), so you are good to go.  When you read user reviews on a manufacture's site etc. you usually get comments from people that have had problems, so the unit looks like trouble.  Fewer people write in to say it works great and "I didn't' have to think about it."  Since different PCs are stuffed w/ any number of choices for components, nobody can test all the variations until the public gets ahold of it.  You might be the unlucky 1 out of a 100 whose computer just won't work w/ a specific unit and driver.  The solution is to buy from a retailer who lets you return your buy for another, similarly-priced unit which should work - 99 out of a hundred times.
 
At this point, using SONAR, I'd check out the TASCAM units (Gibson owns Cake and TASCAM so everyone uses those at the office).  TASCAM is as cheap as anyone on the lower end, and has the best bang for buck in a couple of categories.  One good thing is that TASCAM (never known for great drivers) hired their own driver writers and their drivers work across the range of their newer products.   Updates seem to be coming out regular-like and each iteration seems to have less latency.  And since TAScAM is coming out w/ new units, it looks to be a good bet.  See the latest Tape Op
 
http://tapeop.com/
 
for a review of their 20x20 unit.

Never look on the internet and customer reviews for this sort of info. Reading posts on actual music forums will give you a much better idea of what's being used by experienced people. Reviews on sites like Amazon and such are full of posts by total idiots who don't have a clue about setting up the equipment. 
Right now there has never been more choices for good interfaces. Most are USB. Seems internal cards died with PCIe.  Firewire is fading fast and thunderbolt is still wait and see and Mac drivers. 
Tascam is really taking off as they are finally writing good solid drivers.  
Nothing wrong with Focusrite. Very good stuff. Both are my recommendation in the lower price points. I will buy RME next upgrade as it is over and over the most talked about in a good way. 
Here's a little blurb I put together with a shopping list that include all the details you need to think about. 
Make sure you get all the features you require. 
http://www.cactusmusic.ca...0Interface%20blurb.rtf