But what about the preamps and conversion? In my opinion these things seem to matter more than the way a sound interface is connected to pc.

 

I'm absolutely certain it has, and make no mistake, I'd recommend any current RME product for consideration, their support is superb and their products are just great. But I see a lot of recommendations for decade old and beyond RME solutions and it has to be said, you wouldn't reccomend a DAW from 2011 so why a set of converters? You can get the chips that once could only be found in the Cranesong in some of the modern prosumer offerings. RME is good. But so are a lot of other, more cost effective and feature rich offerings. But RME are very good. No argument.