Looking to move on from my old Echo Audiofire 12. Would like 16 channels. I'm approaching retirement and need to get the best sound/performance at a reasonable price.
The MOTU 16A looks interesting but, trying to watch my budget. Two MOTU 8 pre's would save a bit. Heard good stuff about Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 & Octa Pre.
I've never ran 2 units at once. Don't know about stability doing so. Was hoping some nice folks might share what they are having success with.
I'm running Platinum, Windows 7, Intel core i3, 8 gigs RAM.
Thanks for any insight!

Don't expect to run two units together with ASIO. The interfaces that can do that are few and far between. 

Hi, I've been using the Focusrite 18i20 and a Presonus D8 into it through adat giving me 16 channels. The mixer for the focusrite may take awhile to get use to but I have not had a single problem. Rock solid. You have to option of 4 stereo headphone mixes or 8 mono. The focusrite was around $450 and the presonus was less than $300 if my memory serves me correctly. Excellent quality. The only thing missing is onboard DSP in case the vocals wants reverb of whatever but that hasn't been an issue. Anyway, good luck!

I see that you are still on Win7, but I have to say now that Tascam have released solid, working Win10 drivers, and given the fact that they have brought driver development back in-house, I can easily and heartily recommend the Tascam US-16x08. It's a terrific interface. I'm easily running the new driver with a buffer size of 64. I was at 256 minimum before. Very nice. I'd look for a special. Don't know if there will be any before Black Friday, but I managed to pick mine up on an MF Stupid Deal Of The Day for $200. A real bargain for a great piece of kit.
 
http://tascam.com/product/us-16x08/overview/

Ah, yes, Craig! I forgot about that. I also should mention I need 16 line inputs. So, I guess that kind of really limits me to a single unit. I guess I really didn't think about that limitation since I see many people using a main 8 channel interface and ADAT out to add 8 more channels.

RME Fireface UFX

I use an analog console and outboard pre's so don't really need any pre's. However, if whatever I end up with happens to have some.... bonus. But, 16 line inputs is a MUST.
Jeff Oliver: So, then, you're not using ASIO?? What are you using?
 

Edirol FA-66 Firewire here

The new Tascam 20X20 is coming out next month and looks to be a winner.  I suppose you can gang them, but it has an ADAT and Spidf for the extra 10 inputs, w/ 8 mic pres and two in lines, I believe.  Craig likes the other units in family so it should be a winner.  No idea about latency, but I should get one in next month.
 
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So, I guess I'm confused.... I've never used more than one interface at a time. I do realize ASIO will only address 1 interface at a time. Somehow, though, I was under the impression if you have your main interface and add another unit through ADAT lightpipe, it would work. Please, enlighten/educate me.
So, everybody using a second unit hooked up with ADAT can not be using ASIO??? What are they using?
I am confused and, this stuff is what has kept me from buying a new interface up until now.