I'm ready to buy an M-Audio DMP3 pre with 2496 card. Price then Sound
Quality then stability are main factors. For $260, Is there a better
option for digitizing large diaphram Neumann mic and elec. guitar to
1ghz PC running XP? (what about E-MU)?

I assume you mean a DMP3 with an Audiophile 2496 PCI card. There is no
digital output option for the DMP3.

At $260 all you can do is avoid the bull**** gadgets. M-Audio goes cheap on
a 9V AC wall-wart power supply, but they spring for VU meters? The DMP3
might look classic, but you'll find the preamps are no better than a typical
compact mixer, just like everything else in the M-Audio line. The
Audiophile 2496 is a bad idea too, you do not want any analog circuitry
inside your computer, unless you like lots of background noise. Get an
external USB unit.

If you haven't bought the Neumann mic yet, you should consider getting a
cheaper mic and spend more on the preamp. Good mics are more important than
good preamps, but IMO you won't appreciate the advantages of higher-end mics
without at least a $500 FMR RNP, not to mention good monitors.

But if $260 is all you can manage, the only combo that IMO has a chance of
sounding better is a $150 Soundcraft Notepad and a $100 M-Audio Transit, but
it means the audio goes through a minijack, which wouldn't necessarily hurt
the sound but... *cringe*

Might want to give a Behringer BCA2000 a shot first though, it's got
everything you need and a hell of a lot more for $225, but the driver is
still underdeveloped, so make sure you can return it if you can't get it to
work. If it does work, it meets your needs and you can rent a Digimax LT
and record drums through it.