Hi arw, there was an article in Recording magazine this month called, Just Like Downtown by Paul Stampler and it addressed the issue of getting a professional sound from a DAW setup. He suggested these choices;
Mark of the Unicorn 2408 and it's 24 bit companion the 1224, or (and this is what I'm interested in),
the Rosetta AD from Apogee. There are only two channels of super high quality digital audio converters and it lists for $1200
http://www.apogeedigital.com
Next is a high quality Mic pre-amp. He suggests the all tube Peavey VMP-2 which is a two mic input with phantom power. Haven't found a price for this but I'm guessing around a grand. There are differing opinions here but his arguments were pretty persuasive.
A good condenser mic like the Rhode NT-2 for $380 or he suggest the Alesis/GT Electronics
AM62. Check out the microphone forum for lots of other suggestions.
Cakewalk 9.0 seems to be a stable choice for the PC but there are a lot of opinions. Check those forums as well.
I'm a PC user so that's my strength. You can buy or build a great machine for under $2400
try to include a second hard drive just for recording. Check some of the older threads they really get into what is needed for a speedy computer. I have found this site very helpful, hope you do too.
Layth
