flatmap,

There are lots of threads on this topic down under "Computer Audio" and also a few under "Digital Sources" (these are not mutually exclusive which leads to a bit of confusion). I would recommend this seminal thread as a good place to start. You will also find the Benchmark Media Wiki is an excellent resource. There are many other helpful references in the various threads.

The good news is that playing high resolution files is eminently possible on both PCs and Macs and sounds phenomenal. The bad news is that both are general purpose computing environments designed for ultimate flexibility rather than the single-minded pursuit of audio excellence. Extracting the very best sound from computers is still something of a black art, as you will appreciate if you read all the way through the thread linked above. Once you have achieved it the next challenge is to keep it through the torrent of upgrades and patches that characterize today's personal computing environment.

THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED (don't say I didn't warn you). If you are completely non-technical, a computer novice, or otherwise allergic to anything that doesn't work 'out of the box' I would turn back now and come back in a year or so. You are about to leave the cosy PhD world of consumer electronics and enter the twilight zone!

Good luck!

Plug N' Pray

RG

I am currently using the Benchmark USB DAC-1 on my iMac. It upsamples to 24/96,. Benchmark has recently revised its earlier statements about iTunes. It seems the volume control in iTunes 7.5 is excellent and does NOT need to be set at maximum; it's only earlier versions that were inferior. The great thing about the Benchmark is that, once you plug it in and open Mac's AudioMidi set-up, the computer immediately recognizes it and allows you to make appropriate settings. Very very easy. I'm astounded how good the combo of the Benchmark and AudioEngine 5 speakers sounds. Of course, I'm using excellent cabling to help things along. I can just imagine how much better it would sound if I had some power conditioning. Still, it's quite impressive.

jason victor serinus

Interestingly, the Benchmark DAC doesn't upsample to 24/96. It actually converts the sample rate of all signals to 110.633 kHz. Thus, some signals are upsampled, others are downsampled.

Thanks all, for these helpful posts. I'm starting to read through some of these links. I must say the Benchmark DAC1 USB is looking good...and the information on their site is informative.