Mixer & soundcard or Interface ??

[mikeon]

Hi I am in kind of a dilemma now. I was wondering what would be a better option.I am going to be doing mainly vocals maybe guitars sometimes and don't need many inputs.I originally planned on going for a Yamaha mixer (MG 8/2) and a M audio audiophile 2496.I am in India and the prices here for the sound card is about 200$!! I then looked up an interface. I tried USB and found Ediron UA-1EX which is 24/96 like the M audio but is way cheaper. I was wondering if this would be as good as the m audio.(the A/D converters etc, quality wise) I wanted to know if it was worth going for it.

While looking around I found the UA-25 which has 2 mic inputs n preamps all on it.It is 24/96 too and it seemed real good. This would cost me here, about the same as the mixer+UA-1EX combo. so I was wondering what would be a better choice. Pros n cons of both.

Please don't suggest firewire as they are too expensive here.Help me choose between these 2 and some suggestions. Thanks.

[mikeon]

Could someone please help me out with this ? Doesn't anyone use these things ?

[tdukex]

If it were me I would stay away from anything USB. On a budget I would go with either the M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 or the EMU PCI 0404 and the M-Audio DMP3 preamp. If you could afford either the M-Audio Delta 44 or the EMU 1212 sound cards that would be even better.