If you are a little patient, you can pick up an Avid mBox3 for ~$50 including shipping off eBay or Reverb (mine was $30). They are USB class compliant, built solid, and have high quality electronics consistent with a $500 price when new...two mic preamps with 70db gain for ribbon mics. They also do direct input and have additional jacks on the front...you could spend a lot more and do worse on an audio interface. [1] Avid is a high end company.

But of course, I am advocating used gear.

[1]: Also makes a pretty good headphone pre-amp that just needs USB power (like from a power brick).