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The wood moulding edges on mdf is a good approach in lots of circumstances, it's way more durable than bare mdf so it works well for desk edges etc. Going back 15 years I would do that on most things too. It just adds to the cost for pro work. I make them in any size I need from soft or hardwood with a table saw. Usually a little oversized, glued and pinned on then planed and sanded to disguise the joint. Sometimes needs a little filler, it's all a time-consuming.
The domino is the one that most diyers dream of, I have the smaller one they released 10 years ago and it's paid for itself over and over. They make a larger one which I've not had enough call for yet, I still make mortice and tenons for windows and doors by hand, it's easier than it seems if you have a good mortice chisel, japanese pull saw and accurate mortice marking tool. The domino spreads the force of the dowel on mdf too as the mdf is quite weak on the edges and force applied to a large box before it's installed can be enough to split it.
I think the Kreg gets used by a lot of guys but I've never used it. I used to use doweling by putting the boards together and drilling a tiny pilot hole through from the outside edge then drilling from the inside part way through following the pilot and into the edge of the other board again following the pilot hole. It's surprisingly easy to get it right. The jigs you can buy for dowelling work on a similar principle but guide the drill bit at 90 degrees.
The backboard does save you from a lot of issues with strength in the joints, sometimes I rebate the back edge of the box and use a thinner panel or tack the rear panel on because I'm sure the box is square.
I'll look for links on the sound deadening material but I get it from a mate who has a load of offcuts from the work he does. If you search for van acoustic deadening it's a very similar material. I can usually find offcuts of different materials when I need that kind of thing.
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Airhead
No probs, just calling it as I see it!
Thanks for the further tips. Re. sanding and putting a radius on MDF edges, since I've worked mainly in 18mm MDF my approach (in the absence of a good sander) has been to glue on D-profile softwood mouldings. Obviously that take the paint well and seems to be fairly durable.
That Festool looks interesting. As you say though, it's pretty pricey. I went to a window-makers recently and the owner was banging on about how great rounded tenons are, so I can believe it makes for pretty strong joints. What's your opinion of Kreg jigs or similar for pocket-hole joinery? Apparently they make very strong butt joints, but I guess for the kind of cupboard you're describing here the backboard takes care of most of the shearing force that would push the box into a parallelogram shape.
Edit: Can you post some more details/links of the sound-dampening material please. That might come in handy very soon!