Well...he hasn't said he needs ADAT.  Honestly, there are lots of fine cards out there if you want things that just sound clean.  
The ESI Julia, the other Deltas, Edirol's stuff, EWS stuff... heck you can get affordable RME stuff nowadays.
Honestly, I think the step from Delta 1010 to E-mu is not a big difference, having owned a Delta 66 and Audiophile in the past.  I'd say it's a touch a better, a smidge better in the sound quality department.  The noise floor is definitely fantastic, but in terms of the quality of the sound, I wouldn't say it's a huge difference.  (OTOH, go for something like a Lynx, and...YEAH, there's a difference there, even though the numbers don't seem like as huge a jump)  There really is a lot of parity in the quality of cards DAC/ADC these days.  I think features and drivers are far more important.
If you really want to check out something, get a sound card from a place that has a good return policy.  There's a Sam Ash I go to with a fine return policy on opened sound cards.  American Music Supplies is an internet guy with a good return policy.  See for yourself, on your system, with your monitoring and other stuff in the signal chain.