I have recorded a couple of CDs for fun at my house and am serious enough about it that I recently upgraded my pre to a UA LA610 because I got a really good deal on it used. I recorded this last CD on a PreSonus Firebox and it worked fine except that tracks were often interrupted because of hiccups while recording. I'd be singing along with the backing track and it would suddenly delay a half a second and the track was ruined and I had to start over, turn off plugins, etc.

I recorded this on a 2.6ghz PIV machine with Cubase SX3 and Waves plugins. I recently got a powerful i7 machine with Vista 64 and SX3 does not run on it. Cubase 5 is $499.

I really have minimal needs in a DAW. I want good sound of course, the ability to run Waves VST plugins and my EZdrummer program.

I was thinking of buying a PreSonus Firestudio Mobile because it supposedly has better A/D converters and a more stable clock for antijitter than the Firebox and also comes with a program called StudioOne- which might meet my needs.

My question is this: Do you think I would hear a sonic improvement with the new converters and less jitter or would I really need to go up to an RME Fireface before I'd notice any difference? (I have no plans to buy an RME anytime soon, so if this is the case, I'll hold on to the Firebox). Second, is the StudioOne software any good or would I be better off buying Cubase 5? I was happy with SX3 and I'm hoping it may run on my i7 machine once I get my free upgrade to Windows 7 later this month.

I was hot on getting an EMU 1616m but it won't run on PCI-e which the new computer has and I'd still have to buy all new software. Anyone have any experience with the cheaper $299 version of Cubase 5? That might be good enough for me. I might also be able to qualify for the student/educators version. My work is in education but not audio recording, so I don't know for sure if I can get it.

Basically, my two goals are: being able to record on my new PC and higher quality audio if possible at a decent price.

I'm kind of long winded here. I type fast, so I can type a lot. Congratulations if you read all the way to the end and didn't die of boredom. I eagerly await your advice.