as a music producing tutor I'm familiar with the old gap between qualities, but this gap as been closed for few years, nowadays, sound interfaces have only two function: to render music/sound and or to connect old devices to computers.
Recording the sound waves precisely isn't that much of challenge anymore, the new challenge is how to use a combination of microphones to record the sound exactly as it's heard in the 3D space.
I think we're in a time that when the new top notch devices hit the market, the next generation is already being manufactured.
I remember when I was saving to buy the same sound interface around five years ago. ^_^