My HTPC @ work... In the box: Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev.B Asus P5G41C-M LX G.skill Ripjaws series DDR3 8Gb kit EVGA Geforce GTS250 Turtle Beach Montego DDL Samsung 840 120Gb SSD Hitachi Deskstar 80Gb HD Seagate Freeagent 750Gb USB2 WD Elements 100Gb USB...

  I'd be interested in that comparison as well.  I'm sitting on a set of 32s....and I prefer my OTKs over them.

  Did you get the USB option for your DAC?  If not, you'll need something to get optical or coax output from the new PC.   Depending on how one goes about building a standard (ATX form-factor) PC, most of the CPUs on-offer also contain a GPU on-die so it's just a matter of having a system...

Energy efficiency is still relevant to the noise discussion since it's a measure of how much input is lost to heat.  A low-efficiency PSU will ramp up its fan sooner and faster than one of higher efficiency.

Even with quality components, it becomes a matter of how much power is being drawn through the system.  I've used a variety of Seasonic PSUs from 350w through the current 850w which is louder by at least an order of magnitude.  Even 80+ Platinum-certified PSUs are going to get loud under load...

  There's also the corner-case of a multi-GPU/card gaming system, and the one fan you have considerably less control over:  the PSU fan.   Until I built my Ivy-Bridge i5 system, I never really had a noise issue.  I had a single 570 GTX in the prior Q6600 system on a 500w PSU, and even...

I haven't needed one in any home A/V or computing capacities... I use that very JK transformer in the car when I connect to the AUX input and charger at the same time.   I don't have anything else I can really compare it to, as I jumped straight to it on the recommendation I saw somewhere 5-7...

  Not all isolation transformers are created equal...

Certainly if you went for the i7 model, but that's almost $800 just to get started. The whole point of my suggestion was to illustrate that one could get mainstream processing power (i5) in a very small form-factor for under $700, as opposed to the previously suggested entry-level system (i3)...

There's also the ultimate in compactness:  the Intel NUC http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/overview.html ~$650 on Newegg will get you an i5 model, 16Gb RAM, and a 120Gb mSATA drive.  another $34 would add wireless capability

If you mean to tag the .WAV files, don't bother--It's not a part of the file format.  The best you can do is have an appropriate file name.   I've never had issues using EAC => FLAC and tagging, and the built-in album art and tracklist search has generally been quite good.

I'm very much interested in what's in your "to sell" stash... ;) 

I don't have any experience with the amps you've listed, but I would definitely push you towards a tube amp.   Every amp is going to color the sound each in its own way.  With a SS, what you hear (after break-in) is all you'll ever get.  The tube amp gives you that extra bit of customization...

I'll gladly accept the nomination for Complete Pedant, but that lighting is too bright by at least half, and the rear wall isn't 50% grey.     As for needing art, Sky Image Lab has many wonderful images that can be printed in large formats...

Thetubestore.com also has the Teslas.  It's also where my Russian tubes came from.  Go back a few pages and you can see my opinions on both in my setup.