I completely agree about the API. Best bang for your buck easily. Of course, this assumes that you can spend 2500 bucks on a preamp right now, regardless of it having 4 channels instead of one. As far as the two you mentioned, I guess I'd recommend the Focusrite, though I've never really liked it(sounds a little dimensionless to me, not one of Focusrite's best moments). I've used the Mindprint stuff a few times, and was quite unimpressed with it, as it always sounds smaller than the other preamps we had at the studio, including the Focusrite.