Need Help On Soundcard Choice Options

[straydog]

I just bought a brand new imac G5 and I'm looking for a somewhat low-priced soundcard option (since most of my extra cash was spent on extra memory). I already have an AER compact head acoustic preamp (great!) so I really have not much need in terms of gain control, XLR ins or phantom power. I checked out the m-audio audiophile USB, which seems to work fine for me, but since i have some more to spent, I also think of buying the Digidesign M-box (no MIDI,sadly). So I guess three questions arise:
a) Does the audiophile have decent sound quality?
b) Is there anything at about the price of the m-box to rival it?
c) Is the Protools LE software (never tried it) so much better than Cubase that it would be worth buying the M-Box just to be able to use it?

Any help will be really appreciated

Odysseas

[rickenbacker]

The downside of Pro Tools is that it always requires the Digidesign hardware to be attached in order to launch the software. And you are locked into a proprietorial system, such that upgrades and plug-ins are more expensive and sometimes not available at all. I have no axe to grind, but this is all true, so consider this a friendly warning. You do get a nice software bundle with the MBox, though, so it's a better deal now than it's ever been. Also, FireWire interfaces are preferable to USB devices, but consequently more expensive. Worth it in the long run, though. As for Cubase, IMHO SX3 is a really nice product on paper, but it's full of bugs and can't be relied upon day in, day out.