Help Me Choose A Firewire Interface

[cobhc]

Ok guys, I'm looking into getting myself a nice firewire interface, and I really value the advice here, so I'm gonna throw down a little list of required qualities, and hopefully someone can come up with a few solutions for me to ponder.

-Preferably no more than 4 Preamps (Quality over quantity, and I don't need any more than 4 right now).
-Balanced outputs (To output to my Little Labs RedEye as well as my monitors).
-Something similar to CueMix on Motu products (So I can run my DVD Player through it and control the output volume without having my PC on).
-A £400 maximum price tag (about $800 for you guys in the US).
-An active volume control on the front of the unit (something like the Mackie Big Knob built in, as an example).
-Decent driver support (really want to try Vista out more extensively, but M-Audio's slow driver support makes this impossible for me at current).

Thanks in advance guys.

 

[JonWormwood]

Before I read 'Something similar to CueMix on Motu products...' I was thinking, MOTU 828mk II?



Unfortunately the pre's in it are quite muddy and are disliked other wise it would fit the bill quite nice. Unless you can go for used then buy some nice pre's or get it it modded...

I picked up mine virtually new with only 3 months of use for $400 USD.

 

[cobhc]

Yeah, but I'm not sure about modding stuff, and I'd like to just buy an interface where the pre's are already up to a pretty good standard. Maybe I'm asking too much from one unit, I dunno.

 

[cobhc]

What do you guys think of the Mackie Onyx 400F?