High-end 2 or 4 channel interface?

I had the Clarett 8pre.
In fact I've had so many of these interfaces over the years that I'll try to give a little rundown.

The Clarett: I found the AD/DA to be very clean, with a little sheen on top. It kind of reminded me of my Lynx Auroras tbh, I found the conversion was really the high point of the unit. The preamps I found horrible, I really really did not like the preamps, I found they really lacked weight and were bright but dull at the same time, and I felt there was always something kind of plasticky sounding about the initial transient, on drums and acoustic guitars, kind of hard to explain but I really didn't bond with the preamps, listening back on some tracks I did with it it's not so bad but I remember really being unhappy with them. I guess I'll probably be in the minority here but I will take the new scarlett preamps over the Clarett pres....
The headphones amps were pretty bad, some of the worst I've heard in these kind of units, at  least for my taste.
The system was very stable on my computer and latency quite low, even though I always use direct monitoring when I can, so downside of it is that it doesn't have compression or eq in the monitoring software.
But If you have your own preamps and don't need the headphone outs, it's decently priced for the conversion alone.

RME Interfaces:

Fireface 802: quality unit. Very comprehensive IO. The conversion is top notch and the headphone amps clear. The preamps are good. I can't imagine anybody being unhappy with this unit. The only downside to RME is their monitoring software, the routing is second to none and the possibilities endless but I sometimes wish they'd have a simplified version of it as an option. 
It's a step up compared to the RME 800, which I still find to be a decent unit. A guy I work with uses it in his home studio and the tracks sound great.
The UFX is also great, I find the sound of the UFX and the 802 to be pretty interchangeable, I'm sure there are nuances but they sound like RME to me.

The babyface and the babyface pro.
The original babyface was a decent unit, though I found the conversion a little harsh for my taste, at least compared to the 802 or UFX. And that splitter with all the cables dangling always felt cheap to me.
The new babyface pro is much better sounding and they got rid of that stupid splitter cable and put all the connections directly on the unit.
For the nomad producer this is great even though I'm not a huge fan of the form factor.

Audient:

I had an ID22 for a little while for remote stuff. It sounded good, conversion and preamps basically sounded like the asp880 so good workhorse.
( I also had the Audient console 8024 up until a couple years ago and I still think their preamps sound better in the console). The headphone amp was pretty average and the monitoring software just too basic, and latency pretty high, I switched to the Clarett right after the ID22 and found the focusrite drivers to be much more stable. I've never heard the ID44, the specs are pretty amazing but an interface is only as good as its software and its drivers and I really felt like Audient was way behind the competition on that front and lost any interest. I would happily recommend Audient 880s or 800s for anyone looking for reasonably priced quality extra inputs.
Also it had only one headphone output. I don't know why so many brands put out these little interfaces with just one HP out, it doesn't seem like it would cost that much more and it makes it a lot more convenient when tracking someone else.

Apogee Element:

This is was a I currently own and have for the last 2-3 years I guess, which is a record for me. I'm sure there are better units out there but I'm very happy with the Element, the preamps are decent , I really like the sound of Apogee conversion. The software has been super stable and they added a bunch of plugins, that sound great and can be used to direct monitor, you can also print the plugins as you would with UA stuff.
The IO is very limited but is fine for what I need, and it's just so small. I've gone to rehearsals and have been able to track an entire drum kit with just the stuff in my macbook backpack.
The headphones outs sound good.
I'm sure I'll get the upgrade bug at some point ( I do love the symphony converters so some day maybe even though it would be a lot less portable ) but for now I'm really happy with it plus the optional remote is really convenient.
The Element just gets out the way and let's me work. Like most of these interfaces, I find the preamps to be the low point, but I barely ever use them except for extra inputs like toms...


These days, if all I needed was interface and conversion, no preamps and HP outputs, I might check out a used Lynx Aurora 8 or 16 with one of the onboard interface cards. I think the old Auroras still sound great and the Lynx drivers are nice.

Sorry for the long winded post but I thought some people might be interested and I feel like I'm still forgetting some of the stuff I've bought over the last couple of years.