Thanks for the responses, fellas.
On the volume knob tip I found this:
Mpatchs 2 Passive Controller. I also looked at the SPL and it's a sexier knob (something I hope to hear my girlfriend say
), but I do like the 2 output option of the Mpatch. Either one looks like it would work great.
The big point of concern was the converters in the Ensemble over Fireface. I've been under the assumption that the Ensemble is gonna sound better because it's $500 more than the FF, and because it's Apogee (and for some reason that means better? ...an old Jedi mind trick!). But after I checked out the audio samples of this thread-
Rosetta vs Fireface , I found I preferred the Fireface over the Rosetta...by a lot. I thought it was a pretty remarkable difference for my ears. I thought the Apogee sounded tinny and cheap, whereas the Fireface sounded warm, more alive and had more sparkle. So ironically after all my excitement and notions of "upgrading" to Apogee I ended up thinking it would be downgrading. But as all units from the same manufacturer are not created equal, maybe the Ensemble sounds better than the Rosetta? I'd be very curious to hear the same test with an Ensemble vs Fireface.
If the Ensemble's converters are worse or equal to the Rosetta, then it's Fireface with a volume knob all the way for me. And that's like...$1k cheaper.
On another note of saving money- I now remember how the shootout between the DAC-1 and the Fireface's outputs went when my engineer buddy came by and brought it to my studio. We both agreed it improved things slightly, but didn't justify buying the $1k box. The FF's D/A held up surprisingly well. Of course, looking ahead I'm thinking about upgrading my JBL LSR6328P's to Genelec 1032A's, and I very well might hear a bigger difference with the DAC-1 then.
Ah the soul searing conflicts of studio upgrades. It's a good problem.