I'm a classical music lover and Audiobytes rival the sound of the very expensive system in my living room. Thanks to my computer I can listen to radio stations all over the world.It is now time for me to upgrade again. My computer guru strongly
favours Intel over AMD chips. In carefully reading the specs
I notice that most computer companies these days are favouring chipsets over soundcards. I seem to recall some folks saying the latter provide better performance.I would love to here from knowledgeable audiophiles.

Welcome to the forum!

I know that my Sound FX external sound card returns a ruler flat response vs my on board sound chips in all 4 of my PC's and my laptop when I calibrated my REW software, so I say the card route would be the better way to go.

Welcome Martin.

Onboard sound vs. soundcards - I believe this is a question of evolving history. The original on-board sound from some years ago used to be greatly inferior to having a dedicated sound card. Depending on your exact purposes and functionality needed, that gap is always being closed. I think today it is to the point where basic stereo (or surround even) playback likely doesn't need a dedicated sound card as long as you have good flat response, low THD on-board sound. However if you want to get into REW and other advanced uses then a dedicated card can definitely be worth it. Carefully evaluating the OB sound versus an add-on card for your specific purposes I think will give you your answer.

I'm to the point where I don't want a DAC inside the computer at all. Give me at minimum an optical out, but PCM over HDMI is perfect.

I'm kind of with Chris on this. Just have the computer give you the digital output and convert it to analog outside the computer. I'm assuming the Audiobytes don't have a DAC.

Yeah, the Audiobytes don't have a DAC (how about that Axiom, a USB/optical DAC integrated into the Audiobytes amp?), so that makes the prospect of getting an external DAC a little less appealing. Those products are not priced for normal humans.

But a small receiver paired with M2s would be really nice (and probably still cost less than most stand-alone DACs).

Good point. I have never associated music played from a PC with 'serious listening'. That's my own quirk as I simply don't have a PC anywhere near my HT room to tap into - guess I'm behind the times on this one!

Great idea on a built in DAC for the Audiobytes.

Okay, well, what about an external USB sound card, then? Is that a suitable compromise between "inside the PC" and "stupidly expensive external DAC"?

I'd say it's pretty much the same thing as "stupidly expensive external DAC."

Yeah, there are some good ones around (but a lot of junk too).

It's hard to find something that does 24-bit/96 kHz over USB (that isn't built of diamonds and gold).

HRT http://www.highresolutiontechnologies.com/ does make several levels of USB, stereo DACs that start out at reasonable prices. Just a little hard to find dealers.