i'm totally with you on the vst plugins. the're are numerous high-quality plugins available.
I use a soundscape mixtreme 192 (
http://www.sydec.be), a soundcard which can process native use of vst plugins. great!! using a 'tube warmifier' plugin right now, absolutely amazing!! downpart are the drivers (at the moment), which doesn't support hibernating...
But sound uality is superb and you can always upgrade the external D/A converter