My reading of this thread, Bruce, is that you seem to prefer PCI cards for output rather than FireWire or USB. What about D/A conversion on the actual PCI card (eg Lynx L2) versus digital output to off-board DAC (eg, Lynx AES to Aurora 8)?
Regards zydeco
The best sounding conversion on a soundcard I've heard is the LynxTwo-B, which I have in my HTPC. The LynxTwo either has 4 in/4 out, 2 in/6 out or 6 in/2 out, if I'm not mistaken. What you will need to find is 8 out. You might have to go with one of the LynxTwo cards and a daughter card like the L22.
I don't know if you can run more than 1 E-mu card or not. Your choices are very limited in this area. Seems most manufacturers want to make more money going outside the box.