+1 the interface is such a critical piece of gear, and I realize there are a lot of folks who are new to DAWs that buy SONAR and hobble themselves with an interface that is nothing shy of painful. I was one of them! Even after (literally) months of hemming and hawing to replies/suggestions I got in the forums, I still clung to outdated hardware and finally conceded when that hardware began to die. It is not until you see/hear all of the recommendations for yourself that you fully understand.
 
In hindsight, I wish my other interface had died 4 years ago, then I could have started doing what I can do now back then.

Better equipment is better, just don't except it to "lift a veil" off your sound.  It is an incremental and syncratic thing.  When I moved from a Firepod - one of the first affordable 8X8 units - and the TC Konnekt 48, I could hear an improvement but not as much as I hoped.  Playing old projects through it gave a marginal, almost imaginary boost.  Once I started recording w/ the better preamps, projects did sound better, the more I managed to use those slight advantages.  My ears and techniques got attuned to using it.  It almost sounded like a pro studio recording.  But it was only after bumping up the analog side of the input chain that I felt my home stuff was equal to a big studio sound.  Not that earlier home brew sounded bad - it was just there was more clarity and defination to the acoustic stuff.
 
So it was really a feedback loop, where better equipment means you can better record stuff techinque wise, which makes it easier to mix, which makes a better song, and you start planning the next song around what you've learned.
 
If you plan to stick w/ recording, it almost always makes sense to buy the best thing you can afford.  Because if you stick w/ it, you'll end up replacing your kit.  Also, you learn that the entire chain is equally important, from mic to monitors.  You'll miss out on some of the subleties of sound if your monitoring is not up to snuff, or your room is bad.  The sound improvement, say, from the Forte from a Saffire will be there, but you can't take full advange of it with a cheaper mic.  And it will take a lot longer to develop your ear for those subtleties.
 
There is also the point of diminishing returns.  The Warm or ISA One preamp is just about as good as you are going to get preamp wise, tho you can spend a lot more money.  One twice as much will be better, but at the margins and for certain things.  A lot of times people spend the extra money because they know their old neve on vocals or guitar will work and they can dial it in easy and w/ confidence.
 
Unless you need to record drums, the forte might be worth the extra bucks.  My only qualm w/ it would be the lack of digital in/outs to expand it.  I was checking the specs out on it and saw that B&H in NYC had them for $390.  That might have been an old price, but you might want to check.  You seem to have gotten the itch and you can only scratch it.
 
@

Take your pick at any on-line store or local store.
Just one of many type businesses.
 
http://www.sweetwater.com/shop/computer-audio/audio_interfaces/
 
and no I have not tried even a small part of them.
I bought an RME and that was it for the time being, and probably spent too much money on it.
(Although a excellent unit).
 

would a Maudio Audiophile 192 card do the trick?
 
that's what i've been using for several years now, and i really enjoy the sound of it.
 

batsbrew
would a Maudio Audiophile 192 card do the trick?
 
that's what i've been using for several years now, and i really enjoy the sound of it.
 

I have a couple of M-Audio products, but I wouldn't use their sound card, personally. It's not the sample rate we're talking about, it's the quality of the algorithms they use for the analog to digital, and digital to analog conversion that we're referring to.
The top notch ones are Apogee and RME, etc. but like it was said, you get what you pay for and you pay for quality.

hm.
my buddy has a RME unit, and my tracks sound as nice as his on playback.
maybe there is another element there, that is missing in the big picture.
 

batsbrew
hm.
my buddy has a RME unit, and my tracks sound as nice as his on playback.
maybe there is another element there, that is missing in the big picture.
 

Lots of factors there. You would have to almost have a controlled experiment with all things being equal and then only switch out the sound card--once for recording, and then once for playback. Maybe M-Audio sound cards have improved since I worked at GC, but back then, they were the entry level card.

"they"....
6 different cards, all suited for different levels.
 
i don't know, i only know what i hear, and that, i trust.
 
maybe there isn't that much difference.
 

batsbrew
"they"....
6 different cards, all suited for different levels.
 
i don't know, i only know what i hear, and that, i trust.
 
maybe there isn't that much difference.
 

I'm glad you're happy with the sound card. Since I won't be able to do my own A/B comparisons I have to rely on others, like this forum, You Tube, and manufacturers literature.

Ears are the name of the game with everything audio, but you have to have a starting point.

Thanks for the info.

just don't get lost down the rabbit hole