Well - that didn't take to long to revert.
I encountered a few problems with MixControl 3.1 and its driver, so I reverted back to 2.2 and I'm happy again.
I did not notice any problems running Sonar X2a, but when I ran Kontakt 4 standalone, there were small crackles and noise obvious on quiet, simple instruments that use little memory (just single samples).
I tried a number of things, but concluded it had to be the new driver, so I reverted back to Mixcontrol 2.2 and these problems went away.
FYI, here are my current Firewire and audio specs:
Firewire VIA 6315N (standard Window 7 driver 6.1.7601.17514 - NOT Legacy)
Audio - on motherboard - (disabled in BIOS)
Firewire Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 (driver 3.5.3.8786) (MixControl 2.2)
Naturally, your system is most likely different than mine so just take this with a grain of salt and test for yourself.
For me the differences are easy to hear, not at all subtle.