External HD Changing the quality of the sound?

Ah, Ghosthouse. I get what you mean. BitPerfect just needs to know where iTunes keeps the music files the first time it loads up. The main options are just listed in the drop down menu.

If your DAC displays the sample rate, there is one way to check if it is running, Play some music files in 44.1 and in 96kHz. Without BP enabled, iTunes would resample everything to whatever you set in AudioMIDI setup for the audio device.

So if it is set to 96kHz, even yr 44.1kHz music would be resampled. With BitPerfect set to native mode, it would switch between different sample rates depending on which file you are playing.

If you intend to play hirez files, a higher connection speed is important for hardware protocols. In that case use the fastest hardware connection available (esata, firewire, etc). If you are using a network connection, speed is again important, hardwire Ethernet is faster than wireless.

Thanks DH - The V-DAC is pretty barebones...no display of sample rate, no display at all. I can try some other things messing with sample rate in MIDI to see what BitPerfect does, as you suggest. Davide - (if that was for me) no hires files yet.

Spent time the last 2 evenings A/B 'ing CDP vs Apple Lossless version with BitPerfect through DAC. Listened mainly to Peter Gabriel's "So" that I am very familiar with...especially tracks 3, 6 & 9. Have to say I found it VERY hard to tell a difference. Any differences were subtle if not imagined but with CDP sounding a little more "there" (I did try to make sure SPLs were the same). I'll continue to experiment but at this point computer audio makes sense mainly for convenience. Can fit a lot of CDs on a portable 1TB hard drive. Also good for downloading music files that aren't available in physical format. To me, doesn't seem worth the hassle of "ripping" CDs to hard drive for a superior music listening experience. That's not to say others aren't enjoying something improved by doing so. Just that to me, given what I'm willing to invest $ & time-wise to realize an improvement in computer audio - not worth it right now.