I know Doctor Varney isn't actually recommending the Behringer/E-MU set up but, just in case anyone is tempted...
The channel strips on any Behringer mixer certainly do NOT fall into the category of "really nice pre amps". Their sound is brittle, noisy at any reasonable gain level and easy to clip. (The one exception to this would be the new x32 digital mixer. The pre amps there are sweet!) As for the E-MU, Creative have all but stopped making and supporting the E-MU range. The last driver upgrade was almost 2 years ago--and that was a beta version. Check out the complaints on the Creative user forums.