These new interfaces look the bees knees - I may trade in my Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, as I recently purchased an Apple macbookpro which has thunderbolt connectivity. I only need two inputs for my purpose, seem great value for $600.00 retail.
The pre amps are the best, not to mention the air mode, which gives your recordings that little sparkle in the upper frequencies - I'm very tempted, but need to wait a couple of months before I can get my hands on one - No demos yet, why don't they I wonder put one out now?

demo them against the UA Apollo ,  I've heard great things about both.  Seems like some of the guys at gearslutz like the preamps of the Apollo better, but you know  how that goes.  I think my next upgrade is going to be RME.  Or  just get some Black Lion Modded Motu HD192's can get em cheaper and from what I understand the kick ass with the mods. 
I'm a ways off before I spend the $$$ on a mac computer with thunderbolt. I made a decision that I have enough gear to do what I need on a professional basis. From here on out it's use what I got and get good with it.

Thanks for the info, It makes sense to check out the competition.
One thing I can remember when I resesrched interfaces, the RME although is superb quality, is said to colour the sound? It was for that reason I went for focusrite, hence I like to hear as true sound as possible. Anyway you can always colour the sound after the initial recording. I think ultimately I like to have as clean recording as possible with analogue warmth.
You have got me thinking though, I love my current set-up, so why upgrade?
Anyway I still have an art gold tube preamp which has the option to change the frequencies, which I assume is the same as the 'air sound' in the new Focusrite claret range. The art gold pre has to be tweaked to eliminate any unwanted noise, but I've sort of mastered that. I returned two of them under warranty, and the one I have is tempremental. I guess you get what you pay for. When I bought that I also looked at TL Audio tube pre, I think they are associated with Neve, I believe the components are better quality.

a lot of guys to bring in air, just do a high shelf eq at 10k-12k on up. about 3 db or whatever sounds best. I watched a video of a pro with a cheap Behringer interface, record a guitar and a woman's voice,. by the time he got through with it you'd have thought it was done on a SSL board.  The point of the video was train your ears before you go spend lots of $$$ on gear.  I took that to heart, so now I just keep working on tracking and mixing improvements.  With the gear I;'ve got there is no reason (other than my own inabilities)  that I can't turn out pro mixes.

A neat little device to bring sparkle in your recordings is the Triton Audio fethead. It's a sort of pre-amp-plug for your mic (or any line signal, for that matter) that's not only inexpensive but also really brings up that sparkle that you mention. Admittedly I know these guys in real life so this is a bit of a "plug"     but they get really good reviews, and may be worth checking out. The fethead seems like something you're looking for.

Looks interesting for the price - Followed the link you gave, it mentioned it works well on ribbon mics - I actually do have a ribbon mic, but don't use it much now, they are great for recording anything shrill, like a Violin, but I love the warm sound they give anyway, I just wonder if fethead would take away the warmness?  Anyway as I said in TG's reply above, I still have an Art Gold Tube mic pre which has a frequency knob - it basically adjusts the sensitivity of your mic, sounds pretty amazing, if that's the sound you are looking for - I think it will produce the same effect as the new Clarett Focusrite audio interface and possibly the fathead device.  I'm not so into polishing up my production as I used to, I realise now that you are MUCH better off polishing up your act/performance to make your music sound good.

Dennis wrote "I realise now that you are MUCH better off polishing up your act/performance to make your music sound good."

 +1 getting the tone you want at the source, and recording a great performance is the best improvement you can make.  I would also say that I'd spend more money on improving/treating my mixing environment over new input gear for me.  I could have the best preamps and converters, that isn't going to improve my mix any if what my ears are hearing is off.