Well, the Fostex D1624 in my studio has 8 channels of A/D, and 16 channels of D/A, does 24/96, and was available a price that was reasonable enough for me to be able buy it. The 2424 appears to have 8 in, 24 out. So what else is new? There's not much market for entry-level 4-track stuff anymore that isn't handled adequately by the 4-track Sony or Yamaha MD recorders, or all the different analog cassette-based machines from all the different vendors. If you're no longer entry-level and are prepared to ante up for a tapeless multitrack, they are certainly out there. But not at your desired price point, maybe: the next step up brings a lot of bang for the buck.
With the Fostex stuff, I found that once you've paid for the power supply, chassis, and 8 A/D converters, the rest is essentially free. Which is why I chose it over the Tascam and Mackie units. The Mackie was vaporware at the time I bought it, and the only thing the Tascam shows up with is a power cord: all the converters and I/O for that unit are a *small* additional charge...
There's been a significant shakeout in the low-track-count project studio market. The low end is gutted. What used to be served by the Portastudio is now saturated by 4-track cassette or MD machines from multiple vendors. And realistically, very few people will pay the additional freight for "high-quality" digital, in the face of that seriously low-cost competition: few enough that it is not really a viable market segment. Competition killed the machine that you desire.
So the vendors focus on 8 and up for their 24/96 HDR offerings, because that is where the multitrack volume is. Realistically, they focus on 16 and up these days, because very few people actually _want_ (read: are willing to pay for) just 4 or 8 tracks any more. Shoot, finding out that La Vida Loca was done on a mere 150 tracks in Pro Tools really took all the wind out of the sales of 4-track hardware to songwriters like you and me, didn't it? (;-)
I've personally been comfortable with 16 tracks since 1980 (when it was an unbelieveable luxury). Of course, I've never claimed to be anything but a dinosaur. If, Gawd forbid, I need more than 16, I can sync Cubase to the 1624 with timecode, and it will probably only eat my data 1 or 2 times out of 20. Or maybe 3. Cool- I'm set, right?
Now, what was that about a 4-track standalone HDR? (;-)
If there was a good one out there (say, equivalent to the Masterlink), you can bet your butt that I'd buy one as well for my remote work. But it's you and me versus entropy there, sir. The rest of the world just _knows_ that they need 150 tracks to do their Music, and a whole art form has died: just like making vacuum tubes, or hand-setting 24-point Cheltenham Italic type out of a wooden cabinet to print a short run of wedding invitiations on a hand-fed Chandler & Price letterpress...