Mic preamps/channel strips vs. integrated solutions...

Many modern interfaces include mic preamps, and often have hardware compression and EQ for monitoring.  But there's still what seems like a healthy market for external mic preamps and channel strips to get a "golden signal" into the interface. 
 
There is a recent thread that suggests that the newer interfaces might have preamps that are as good or better than some older external units.
 
Do you think mic pres are important, or do you roll with what's handy?  (since handy might be quite dandy)
 
For my part, my interface doesn't have any pre's, but the external pre's I have strike me as better than the integrated ones I've tried. 

schwa
Many modern interfaces include mic preamps, and often have hardware compression and EQ for monitoring.  But there's still what seems like a healthy market for external mic preamps and channel strips to get a "golden signal" into the interface. 
 
There is a recent thread that suggests that the newer interfaces might have preamps that are as good or better than some older external units.
 
Do you think mic pres are important, or do you roll with what's handy?  (since handy might be quite dandy)
 
For my part, my interface doesn't have any pre's, but the external pre's I have strike me as better than the integrated ones I've tried. 

Most mic preamps from mid-priced interfaces to the higher price range will be decent and it will be hard to spot a difference, even when trying to some sort of A/B comparison ... yet, there some new units out there (like the most recent MOTU AVB units) with an almost shockingly low noise floor. it's incredible what these pre-amps resolve with clarity which would have previously been masked by higher noise floor (like drum room mics 3m away picking up the drummer scratching his ****) but if you want that masked, you can always later crank up the "noise" dial of some analogue emu plug-in.
 
As regards compression and EQ of modern interfaces ... well, great stuff to carve a near zero latency monitor mix using interface DSP rather than CPU but since these EQs/compressors are digital, I don't see the point of applying them to the recording. With all the plug-ins available you can do that later in a non-destructive manner.
 
Analogue pre-amps and channel strips are a different animal IMHO and despite the high quality of interface preamps will always have their place in a studio rack. I use them if I'm after a different sound e.g. various degrees of tube saturation, mild compression or EQ on the way into the DAW ...

and i think it's better to keep them separated than put them together...
 
modular makes more sense from a 'mix and match' perspective,
and from a maintenance perspective.
 
 

no substitute for a great pre.
Makes the rest of the job so much easier.
It's like using a knife- a dull knife will usually get the job done with added effort and mess.  
But a sharp, well-designed blade will have the best, and fastest results.
Wait, what were talking about?

BlixYZ
no substitute for a great pre.
Makes the rest of the job so much easier.
It's like using a knife- a dull knife will usually get the job done with added effort and mess.  
But a sharp, well-designed blade will have the best, and fastest results.
Wait, what were talking about?

Thanks to everyone for their comments.
 
My interface doesn't have built in preamps, so I have always had to use outboard with my rig.  For many years, I used a pair of preamps that were decent at best. 
 
Last spring, I picked up an SSL preamp, and Blix's "sharp knife" metaphor rang true to my experience.  It somehow seemed to simplify things.  It's got 4 channels, and seems to handle whatever I plug into it well, where previously I sometimes had some trouble. 
 
I also just picked up a UA LA-610 (yesterday) for a price I could not refuse.  I'm interested to see if I can appreciate the "character/small EQ/slight compression" side of things.