My stance on it is, I won't recommend something I haven't personally used. I will never recommend an EK because I'm too cheap to run one myself. I will point them to threads that shows others' experiences but I always add my $0.02 about my beloved Apogee GT. I usually recommend the Apogee GT for two reasons:
1) It can be found in the FS/FT section for $25 shipped or less used,
2) I have abused mine and it takes everything I throw at it, so it's a proven performer in my eyes.

It's hard to beat that $ per C performance, though as soon as I get my D-Tek Fuzion v1 mounted and tested, we'll see as the price on those is falling as well.