I am in the process of upgrading my gear and have a few questions. I currently have a firepod and have been using it for a little over a year. Ive been very happy with it minus a few things. I also realize that although it's a good piece of gear its comes with it's limits. My goal is to buy some good D/A converters and gradually go from there. That way I can continually experiment with new gear and see what works for me. I feel the MOTU Hd 192 is beyond what I need as far as hardware and the the 24 I/O is much more suitable. My only question(and it may be a dumb one) is the fact that the inputs are 1/4 inch and not xlr. Would this make a difference in sound coming from my preamps?