Well, after ugprades (the M-Audio card)..
What I have:
File server / router:
Antec 1000AMG case
Antec TRU550 PSU
Epox 8KHA+
Athlon XP1700+
1G memory
Linux 2.4
600G RAID1 storage (not RAID0)
All Vantec Stealth 80mm fans
Thermalright SK7 heatsink
Matrox G550
No audio cards, yet all PCI slots full
Blue cold cathode lighting
I wrote a quick Perl script which pulls together several tools to automate my CD ripping: cdparanoia, oggenc, lame, flac, cddb. Wave files are not saved. Automatically rips my cds, meta tags 'em, and sorts/moves all files into properly named directories in my CD/mp3 directories.
Entertainment box:
Kingwin 436S case
Antec TRU380 PSU
Epox 8KHA+
Athlon XP1900+
Thermalright SK7 heatsink
1G memory
Windows XP
Seagate SATA 160G
All Vantec Stealth 80mm fans
All pci slots full.
ATI Radeon 9800 AIW
Canopus ADVC100
M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496
Sound Blaster Live
Red & UV cold cathode lighting, separate switches
Audio Path:
M-Audio Delta -> Earmax Pro -> HD650
Satisfaction:
The M-Audio is MUCH better than the SB live. I can turn up the volume and not hear a thing when nothing's playing. This setup is tons better than using my Sony dvd player as a source. My HD650 has finally come alive. Slight improvement on my SR80. Definitely satisfied, for now.
I realize I'd have about 1.2TB of storage if I was using RAID0, but I've seen too many hard drives fail, and actually had two in the same system fail on me at once, so I'll only ever use RAID1 for my stuff. The extra cost for storage is worthwhile to me for peace of mind.
Audio Improvements:
When the bank account recovers and my wallet likes me again:
RME Digi 96/8 PAD
Scott Nixon TubeDac
Benchmark DAC1
Or something like that. I haven't really decided yet. Still trying to figure out how to improve my audio with minimal to no processing and without using over/upsampling/filtering. I'll probably end up A/B'ing the TubeDac & DAC1.
Computer Improvements:
Aside from the RME card, no computer upgrades planned. I'm going to use what I've got until they're unusable. I can see the Linux box lasting about 5 years before it'll need an upgrade, and the Windows box going about 2-3 more years before the next version of Windows will force me to upgrade.
Overall, very satisfied with my current audio setup & the convenience of my music library.