I think I'd be inclined to go with one of those newer thingers with plenty of preamps built in, as well. You may not have use for all of them, and may very rarely use more than one or two, but it'll save you money down the road instead of having to buy a bunch of extra outboard cheapies in case you do. It's not like you're getting a rack full of APIs or Great Rivers or something without dropping thousands, so screw it, just get something that will do it all in one unit.
But if you don't need all those inputs, I'd probably just get as little of a firewire thinger as possible.