I have had the opportunity to compare and contrast, on numerous occasions, the DAC output from my Creative Sound Blaster X-FI HD, Sony DVP-S9000ES, OPPO UDP-205, Sony TA-E9000ES, Sony PCM-7010F DAT Recorders, and Apple Airport Express. The only divergence I've sensed so far is when I use the OPPO's usb DAC, up sampling to 24/192, AAC downloads of 50's and 60's DOO WOP music seems to reveal tape splice edits. That could just be my imagination, or it may be I'm hearing tail end notes not as resolved from other listening means. At any rate, since hi-rez pretty much sounds the same as AAC from my OPPO's DAC I no longer see any point to downloading the more expensive hi-res media, except for 5.1 multi-channel music which is not available on SACD.