I like the idea of internal soundcard + external mixer as I think it is quite silly every time you buy another interface you have to buy everything else, especially if the mixer has good functionality and high quality components.
EMU, M-Audio, Echo, ESI made cheap, high quality, multiclient and low latency PCI(E) studio soundcards with balanced I/O, some of them have MIDI and ADAT I/O as well, but now they are all discontinued, and dead.
EMU, M-Audio, Echo, ESI made cheap, high quality, multiclient and low latency PCI(E) studio soundcards with balanced I/O, some of them have MIDI and ADAT I/O as well, but now they are all discontinued, and dead.