OK, What's next?

[audio amateur]

Once again, if the sound of lossless files isn't as good as direct CD play, then you are likely right that new DAC is a good idea.

You obviously have the choice of connecting any DAC with S/PDIF input to the corresponding Philips s/c output, or getting a USB DAC. The state of knowledge is such that no one can say categorically which approach is better in general. The big problem is jitter.

However you should also consider the O/S, drivers, and player. Since WinMP is basically WinXP, it will have the 'kmixer' issue that purists complain about. No technical expert here, but certainly this means avoiding the Windows default 'Direct Sound' drivers. One option in this regard is to use an ASIO driver. I don't think Windows will let you select an ASIO driver under Control Panel > Sound & Audio > Audio: instead your player has to allow you to select it as special option. As I understand, Winamp does provide for the use of certain non-standard drivers.

There is the issue of where to get an ASIO driver. You Philips s/c might come with one: check it out. Otherwise there is something called ASIO4ALL which is a software implementation of ASIO that some people recommend. (I haven't used it myself because my M-Audio s/cs have each had their own ASIO drivers).

I do know for a fact that with standard Windows drivers I don't get bit-perfect delivery from my s/c's S/PDIF output to my DAC. This is evidenced by the objective fact that the HDCD indicator usually doesn't light up for HDCD material unless I use the ASIO driver (or the 'kernel streaming' Foobar2000 component in that player).

Bill,
Does the ASIO driver work with WMP? If so how do you configure it?