the motu 828 mkII is a stellar piece of gear. it has something the firepod doesn't: adat in. you may be asking yourself: so? i'll tell you why: behringer makes an analog digital interface that is around $200, that with the price of a motu 828 is cheaper than 2 firepods. 16 channels in. i know this because one of my students was putting together a home studio and he was going to go with the firepod, we looked at several rackmount units and the motu with the behringer was way cheaper.
rich