| I record (home studio only) by using equipment in the same price range (M-Audio Delta, cheapo Tube Condenser Mic running through my Sountracs console's pres) and I doubt that I will hear a big difference between my Delta's (or you MBox) converters and some more expensive stuff. This has (at least) three reasons: 1. my ears are not trained enough, 3. my monitors are not good enough, 3. (this will be my main point) the Delta (and so is the MBox) is not bad at all. They are actually quite good.
Regarding your monitoring problem: Unfortunately, I never quite understood how monitoring works when recording with a channel strip or pre without using a mixing/recording-console. |