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.

Right. Exactly. I'm aware of everything you just said. But this cuts right to the issue I'm trying to get at (and probably didn't word it correctly before):

The jargon-names that you see on consumer audio CD players... all of those different DAC techniques have various advantages and disadvantages. As I understand it, the ones that are most prized by audiophiles are the ones that make the CD sound its smoothest and most natural, with the least amount of high-frequency noise, or the least amount of jitter, or the least amount of harshness.

So when we're playing back our MP3s or WAVs on our PC sound cards or our car MP3 players, are these devices using those same, audiophile-pleasing techniques to turn the data into sound?

___________
Tony Fabris