Re: [LAU] Microphone Pre-amp with an S/PDIF output?

The time has come for myself to acquire a microphone pre-amp. I do not require more than two channels and in fact, will probably do mostly mono recordings. My current audio card is a an M-Audio 2496, which has RCA and S/PDIF inputs. Due to the phasing out of PCI slots, it seems that USB interfaces are what most people are choosing to purchase these days. However, I was thinking about getting a microphone pre-amp with an s/pdif output. My thinking is: (1) One will always be able to buy PCIe cards in the future with S/PDIF (2) I don't have to worry about drivers. Just plug this pre-amp into the s/pdif input. However, it seems that the options for such a pre-amp are limited. I found the following items: (1) ART DPS-II Digital/Tube $265 The price does not seem unreasonable for a quality pre-amp. This thing does have a lot of knobs though, and therefore probably has more functionality than I know what to do with. (2) Samson C-Valve Tube Microphone Preamp $99 This item is discontinued but still available on amazon. This item did not review well on this list, but ... it is inexpensive. Is anyone aware of other options?