That's a good point you make about eBAY having questionable validity overall as all users can hide behind aliases of one variety or another. There's no substitute for first hand exposure to the product and to the current owner I guess.
As far as the Aphex Aural exciter, I've heard very little good about it, see here:
http://studio-central.com/phpbb/view...+aural+exciter
Tweak's site is an amazing resource. I learned all I needed to for my first year of recording by reading through Tweak's Guide (
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm) and by reading the forums.
As far as good vocals, there's a few things for certain you will need:
(1) Good microphone
(2) Good microphone preamplifier
(3) Good nearfield monitors to check the tracks
(4) A room with good acoustics
(5) A singer who actually knows how to sing!
My quest for an ideal DAW configuration has been interesting, I'm almost done actually considering my budget and overall lack of time to utilize it all. The best adice I've come across is "Buy good quality gear, and buy it once."
-Alex