[LAU] Focusrite Saffire line

Hi People, I'm thinking of getting one of the Saffire audio interfaces from Focusrite. Anyone on the list using these units & happy with the results? This, a little off-topic & subjective: happy with the pres & conversion? The SaffireLE, http://www.focusrite.com/products/saffire/saffire_le/ , is the one I'm eyeing. As far as I can tell it's very similar to the Saffire, http://www.focusrite.com/products/saffire/saffire/ , only with 6 in/8 out compared to 4 in/10 out, & minus the hardwar-powered plug-ins. I like having 2 more ins, & wont miss 2 less outs. & I imagined the plug-ins, ahreware-powered or software woulkd be useless under Linux. But the recent thread on the M-Audio Profire 2626 leads me to believe, maybe the times are changing. I'm curious whether the DSP plugins might work in linux with FFADO. Actually, true functionality of any of these models seem to require software to adjust settings, so, what limitations are people noticing right now running these in Linux? & will the pending beta release of FFADO address the Saffire plug-in Suite hardware-powered use & whatever other issues there are, if there are? Or is this a Wine solution? Last, is anyone working on a clone of Pieter Palmers? That'd be pretty useful...