Jim Roseberry
ot sure I follow you there. A-D, fx and D-A latencies in Apollo (at least for fx likely to be used when tracking) are minimal compared to the RTL when tracking and monitoring through fx running on a UAD card in the PC.
I'm basically saying that if you're processing the signal post A/D, it's not the same as having used quality hardware pre A/D (especially dynamics). In this case, you might as well process upon playback...
As you well know... the RME UFX is awesome. 
Ah, ok, you were referring to running through (analog?) outboard gear on the way in?
I was talking about lower monitoring latency of effected inputs when tracking than when doing the fx ITB, which seems to be a major appeal of Apollo.
Yeah, UFX is very nice, but the fx don't really match the Apollo's emulations of some of that quality hardware to which you referred (but at less cost and availability of multiple instancing).
Not that I necessarily support UA's approach, although I do find some of their emulations are very nice. Whatever works best in a particular situation/budget.
It's a shame e-PCIe never got developed as an external interfacing standard so we're stuck going forward with whatever Intel (and Apple?) permit with TB, or else the few PCIe offerings (and still-supported PCI stuff) and FW and USB. e-PCIe coulda' been a real contender.
Anyway, always nice to have more options/choices. Like, Liquid Channel, or Liquid Mix? Or neither? Or both?