RME and MOTU are renowned to have some of the best drivers in the marketplace for audio interfaces, but notice that their price point is considerably higher than the others ?

Just as a data point: My current audio interface is an old M-Audio FW-410 - used in Win 10 Pro!
 
Turns out the last M-Audio Win 7 (64-bit) FW-410 driver (5.10.0.5058) WORKS just fine in my Win 10 Pro - good thing too since I dual boot Win 7 Pro and Win 10 Pro and didn't want to have to buy a new audio interface.
 
My machine is a self-built workstation (multi-purpose machine: DAW, gaming, and an actual "put food on table" work machine).  The MoBo is an ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 and I use the MoBo's FW port.
 
That is in spite of the (incorrect) rumor mill that was saying Win 10 wasn't going to support IEEE 1394 (aka FW)  anymore.

noynekker
RME and MOTU are renowned to have some of the best drivers in the marketplace for audio interfaces, but notice that their price point is considerably higher than the others ?

My MOTU Midi Express 128 gets tossed out of my system on a more regular basis than a baseball in the World Series. I cannot recommend MOTU based on this, although granted, the Midi Express isn't an audio interface. Likewise, my M-Audio interfaces at school have pretty regularly checked out of the system when recording or playing back.
 
My RME Babyface, however, is solid as a rock. This is a great unit both in terms of driver and sound quality (here are pictures of my unit and the updated Babyface). You do get what you pay for:
 

 
 
 
 

bluesplayer
Just as a data point: My current audio interface is an old M-Audio FW-410 - used in Win 10 Pro!
 
Turns out the last M-Audio Win 7 (64-bit) FW-410 driver (5.10.0.5058) WORKS just fine in my Win 10 Pro - good thing too since I dual boot Win 7 Pro and Win 10 Pro and didn't want to have to buy a new audio interface.
 
My machine is a self-built workstation (multi-purpose machine: DAW, gaming, and an actual "put food on table" work machine).  The MoBo is an ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 and I use the MoBo's FW port.
 
That is in spite of the (incorrect) rumor mill that was saying Win 10 wasn't going to support IEEE 1394 (aka FW)  anymore.

Same here.  I had originally bought the FW-410 10 years ago to use with a Dell P4 laptop with Firewire as a portable DAW (Sonar 6) recording rig.  The laptop has been retired (it actually still has Sonar 8.5 installed), but when I built a new desktop/DAW studio/workstation I no longer had any PCI slots for my M-Audio card.  So I bought a PCIe Firewire card cheap and hooked up the FW-410 on Windows 7 on the new PC.  No issues with Sonar, sounds great.
 
The funny thing about these M-Audio drivers is, they actually work better now with my mobo and Intel chipset on Windows 10 than they ever did on Windows 7.
 
I could NEVER get sleep to work with the Firewire connected. It would crash my system. Blue screen, with a debug pointed right at mafw.sys every time.  Even some warm reboots occasionally blue screened for me.
 
But on Windows 10, this thing sleeps like a baby now!  Reboots are clean now too.  Happy!!!
 
As a loyal Midiman/M-Audio customer over the many years since I first set foot in the Cakewalk/DAW world, I am sad to report that it's no longer the same company.  It has been acquired and sold a couple of times since the FW-410 was made.  So I no longer feel that I would trust them enough to continue buying their products.  They seem to be quick to end of life their products and/or quit development of their drivers.  I bought an Axiom 49 and called their parts department a few years later for a spare part.  Sorry!  But we have a new version of the Axiom we can sell you !  Ha!

I picked one up at Guitar Center on a whim.
Disapppointed so far, mainly because the inputs are so weak; need to run the gains up almost or all the way to get a decent signal. Tried my steel guitar directly in, my stomp box modeler (Zoom multi-stomp) which is what I always use to record direct, a CAD GXL-2200 studio condenser Mic, and my ipod out full volume.
 
First AI have tried so I have no comparison,  but would like one with way more input gain!
 
bob

I still use an M-Audio 18/14 without issue.  I was upset they didn't update it to have a Win 10 driver.  However, it seems to work flawlessly under Win 10 so far.  Thus it still works just fine.  
 
They are lazy and should update/support the drivers for older hardware and my future purchase will reflect that even though this one happens to work now.

While it is possible to use older OS drivers on "legacy" M-Audio equipment, it is clearly not the intent of the current owners to make that easy to discover or implement. I have what might be called an M-Audio/Midiman studio, but I would be reluctant to buy any more product under that name.
 
One way to overcome the costly consumer policy of if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it is to just stop writing updated drivers, on the ill founded assumption that customers will happily buy new products under your brand as they trudge to the dumpster with their outdated hardware. The cost of writing and making a new driver available in a format that the average user will be able to find and recognize as working in a new OS, is actually pretty small if spread over a large customer base. Making the drivers available for automatic discovery and download from the Windows driver catalog is not that expensive either. Reaching out to maintain access to drivers for products you no longer sell (or even own in some cases) would seem a small cost in comparison with an advertising budget to keep your customers' good will. 

For price vs value vs quality I'd definitely go with Focusrite as others have already mentioned. My 18i20 has been rock solid with Win 10/64 bit and Sonar Platinum. Very good pres and A/D's too...

For a cheap 2x2 AI for my laptop, I think I have narrowed my preferences down to these 3:
 
1. Tascam US-2x2: Tascam's own Ultra-HDDA discrete mic preamps. MIDI in/out. Optional AC adaptor.
 
2. Steinberg UR22MKII: D-PRE Class-A discrete mic preamps from Yamaha. MIDI in/out. ASIO drivers from the developers of ASIO technology. Optional power adaptor.
 
3. Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (2nd Gen): Upgraded preamps from 1st Gen. No MIDI. USB powered only.

I upgraded my M-Audio M-track to a Focusrite 18i8. I'd say get the Focusrite. Lot's of quality for a few bucks more. Worth it.