Hello,

I have made a very important decision in a man's life: I will upgrade from a "standard" 5.1 home theather to a brand new hi fi audio system.

I hope you, experienced people, could help me with that urge....

My budget goes up to USD 1.500, max 2.000 if those extra 500 are worthed. Also have untill Jan'12 for that call.

I am a classical guitarist and love classical music and live orchestras.

My only source of music is the desktop PC, from flac to MP3, going through recordings of orchestras and live concerts. I'll also see movies and sound will come from this same audio system - although no doubt classical music is the main topic. Because data will come from PC, there is no need at all for cd players or any kind of reader/player.

Currently, audio comes from analog motherboard - P5K Deluxe output. That is a ADI® AD1988B 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC. Mobo also has a S/PDIF out port.

That said, I have a first doubt: is it really worthed to invest in a dedicated sound card for a hi fi stereo or 2.1 ? If yes, which would you recommend?

For the standard 10 yrs old satellites I use now, it seems fine. I don't know how it would sound in a decent amp and speakers, and I guess I won't have to chance to test it with and without a sound card, so I guess I will take your advices on that...

(from steve toy's What is the art of sound? ) I am looking for components to be selected on their ability to make more sense of different melodies, and give the greatest possible insight into the musical performance.

It is also a core for me that the set is capable of recreating life-like dynamics, because there are many insights which just happen in a live concert hall, during performance. So I would like to have the closest to that within that budget...

Also, I live in a small apartment (around 80 m^2), and desktop is in the office, even smaller I stay in front of the computer almost the whole day, and here is where I listen to music most of the time. So although a sound that fills well and fully my apartment is important, near field listening is the most common scenario.

I would not like those computer aimed "compact" solutions, like, just as an example, B&W MM-1.

Could you suggest me what can I sound best with this budget?