Good point. Some of these recommendations have no preamp which you will need. If you have a great preamp, then the convertor only cards are fine.

I just bought a RME Fireface UFX and i am extremely impressed by the sound quality.

karalie said...
Any difference in sound quality or latency issues?

 
As I mentioned I went from a Lynx card which has very good sound quality and the RME Babyface is as good (in my opinion).
 
As far as latency, I actually am getting better latency with the RME than I did with my Lynx which was a PCI (not a typo it really was PCI not PCI-E) card.  I was very nervous when I switch from a PCI card to USB because of all the stories I read here.
 
Now to be fair, I did upgrade my processor and motherboard right before I got the RME so the additional bandwidth and processing power probably also helps with the lower latency as well.
 
I agree with the others about a really good pre-amp.  These two card I'm referencing do not have pre-amps, so a good pre-amp is needed.  I currently have two main pre-amps that I choose from depending on the material.  So, that is definitely something to think about as well.
 
We can really spend your money, right? 
 
Hope this helps,
Tom
 
 

Houndawg is right!

If doing GREAT vocals is your MAIN thing, then you need a decent mic, and a decent preamp/channel strip to feed a WONDERFUL sound into your A/D converter.

I would worry more about your mic/ mic preamp, and less about your A/D converter.

These days, the quality of A/D's have really ALL improved and the premium converters don't stand out as much as they did 10 years ago. Today you can get very respectible quality without having to reach for premium brands....that's my opinion.

I think something like a Focusright Scarlette 18i6 would serve you well, and spend the money you save on a Unversal Audio LA-610.......or something similar.

It would stretch your budget, but think about it this way:

10 years from now, when your computer is a dinasour, and the Focusright is on it's last leg, the UA LA-610 will be just getting warmed up. :) Same thing with a quality microphone.

I have used two RME interfaces for the last ten years. I never regretted the decision to buy them. they are great, but my recordings didn't sound professional until I invested in a quality preamp and microphone. 

I just purchased a Focusrite scarlette 18i6 and it sounds just as good as my RME's, which I bought 10 yeras ago

another thought: if you are recording a group, here is a product worth considering.

Focusrite OctoPre Mk II     It gives you 8 preamps with an interface combinded.