E-MU 1212M is the best sub £150 soundcard, no contest. The only downside to it is that you need 2 PCI slots to get all the connectivity, which can be a bummer if you don't have 2 spare. Or if you use a Small Form Factor PC and only have 1 PCI slot.

Its totally balanced. Synchronised digital outs that is switchable to AES/EBU. Pro Tools 192 convertors. Its the budget soundcard daddy. Not sure what the drivers are like these days because they used to suck but I hear they have gotten much better recently.

hercules 16/12 firewire....had it for almost a yr and is rock solid and inexpensive, can be rack mounted as ive done, brackets included... check it out....