[Hardtoe]

I think live sounds just fine - I have mixed several complete indie rock albums using it (some with big track counts) and I do not have any degradation of audio - sounds good when I track & sounds the same when I bounce the final mix. Turn off warp, use good plug-ins and keep your levels reasonable and there are no problems (Ableton does recommend to do the bounce at 32bits and do the reduction with a specialized app or plug).

FYI - I use a Therminioc Culture Rooster as my main pre for tracking, an Apogee Ensemble and KRK VXT 8's - computer is a Mac Pro.