Ok guys, finally made a decision & just purchased a 'Presonus Firebox':
http://www.presonus.com/firebox.html

from my local music store and all I can say is that from the get go, I'm super impressed with it's quick plug/play setup (5 mins) out of the box, and above all, it's super impressive clean transparent sound, and quiet operation.

I was able to compare (side by side) at the music store, the Presonus Firebox, along with the M-Audio FireWire 410 and Lexicon Omega. My salesperson told me that though he was impressed with the USB driven Lexicon, he recommended (and others here have also stated) that I go firewire as it's a more reliable format, especially for this type of application.

Comparing the Presonus Firebox with the M-Audio Firewire 410, I thought the FireWire 410's to be rather cheaply made compared to the Presonus Firebox, which, in constrast, is very solidly contructed, whose control knobs include many finite click position points to allow you to fine tune & memorize prescise knob position settings. The M-Audio FireWire 410's knobs in contrast felt wobbly and overall buid cheaply put together. The Presonus also maintains a very small footprint. At $325, offered me, I couldn't turn it down.

Haven't had a chance to do any serious recording with it yet, but CD music playback thru my PC sounds nothing less than stellar. I've now gone & changed my PC's default soundcard device playback to the Presonus Firebox. I never knew my computer playback of CDs/Mp3's could sound so clean. I'm looking forward now to doing some recording with it.

I'm currently running Sonar 3 Studio version. Do you guys think it's worth the money to UPGRADE to Sonar 4 studio ($79 upgrade sale till 5/30) or Sonar 4 Pro version, which includes Lexicon Pantheon efx package + other goodies like individual per track efx processing ($229)?

The Presonus supports both ASIO & WMD drivers so trying to figure out which way to go: ASIO or WMD. Recommendations?

The Presonus also comes bundled with Cubase LE 1.07 so wondering how that compares to Sonar. It seems the more toys purchased, the more options (and subsequent confusion) there is. Recommendations regarding prefered audio/midi recording software programs is appreciated.

I've also heard that Wavelab and/or SoundForge are highly recommended for tweaking the final audio track. Which one do you guys recommend, if any?

Sorry for so many questions, but that's what this forum is for, right?

Scott