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Can you actually HEAR 96 KHz in direct side by side double blind tests? MANY / MOST people can not. Does your other hardware / software support 96 KHz? What are your needs, and what other gear do you have? What features are most important to you? What's your budget? All of these things (and many more) need to be taken into consideration when deciding on which devices are the "best" for you - and what may meet my needs perfectly may not meet yours at all.

I'm not going to knock either board, because they're both very capable (and I don't personally own either one), but IMO, the new Tascam is a INCREDIBLE deal, and because of the other gear I have and the price / performance ratio of that board, it would probably be the one I would choose. It's considerably less expensive than the Mackie - you can get two of them for the price of a Mackie with NO problems. But the Mackie's plug ins may be something that are a MUST HAVE for some people... again, it depends on what is important to YOU.

So check them out side by side if you can. Get some demos from people who have them and know how to show you how to perform various different tasks (routing, etc). Ask them what they like about their boards and what they'd change if they could. ASk them how reliable the board has been, and how good (or bad) manufacturer support has been. Listen to them and decide what you like best and what is going to meet your needs. At that point you'll be better equipped to make an intelligent decision regarding what is going to work best for your needs and situation.

Best of luck with your decision.