Topic: presonus inspire 1394

[carpa]

I own a presonus inspire 1394; I've used it not so many times with my powerbook.
I recently bought an edirol r09hr deck for better portability, and I'm planning to buy a mic preamp and a couple of mikes to upgrade.

What I would like to understand is how, on average, will the preamp inside the presonus compare to cheap mic preamps like m-audio dmp3 and others in the price range.

Another question is about the presonus itself. It can't be used as a standalone preamp, I think. But then what are the rca outs for?
 It would have been nice to have the possibility of going mic in into the presonus and directly line in the recorder, adjusting the gain with the variable input on the deck(the presonus has only virtual gain controls).  Am I dreaming?

thank for your answers
c