Tony,

You've brought up a lot of technical issues that really can't be answered in a short post. However, if I understand correctly, your fundamental question is this: Does a WAV file, perfectly ripped from a CD, sound different than the CD itself?

The answer is no.

Certainly, if I play the identical CD on two different CD players or two different stereo systems, they are going to sound differnt, due to differences in the quality of the D/A conversion and the analog electronics that follow it.

However, if I pull the 16-bit samples from an audio CD, and then I burn a CD with those very samples, then the duplicate will sound identical to the original when played on an identical system.

Likewise, if I played the original CD on a CD player with an external D/A converter, and I played the ripped .WAV file through my Soundblaster Live! connected to that same D/A converter, they should sound identical.

The ripping process does not alter the sound quality at all, unless errors have been introduced in the data. All of the audible differences between a .WAV and a CD are due to the quality of the DAC and the subsequent analog components, and that's it.

Of course, the compression process does change the sound, but we all know that.

Michael Grant
12GB Green
080000266