You're simply not going to find the bang-for-the-buck that the MOTU 8pre USB packs in the next 8-channel preamp you run across. If you've already got a recording interface with light pipe input, then the 8pre USB is exactly what you need to flesh out your system. If this is your first interface, then congratulations - this thing totally rules! Seriously, what's the point of getting an 8-channel interface if the preamps are substandard? That's exactly what separates the 8pre USB from the rest. You'd be hard pressed to find a set of eight preamps that sound this good, even if you spent twice the scratch - and that's not even taking the MOTU 8pre USB's killer extras, such as 16-channels of MIDI I/O, complete SMPTE time code sync, and full hardware/software integration into account.