I don't understand this exactly. It's a test using optical outputs, so all the real hard work (the D/A conversion, which is the part that really affects the sound quality) is done by something other than the players themselves.

I mean, it's nice that the Rio Receiver won and everything, but why should it have sounded any different from the others? They should have all sounded identical because they were all sending essentially the same digital stream to the D/A converter.

The only reasons I could see that might cause them to sound different would be:

- Errors in the MP3 decoder algorithm resulting in differences in the playback.

- Time-base Jitter on the optical outputs, not properly compensated for in the outboard D/A equimpent.

What was the purpose of this test and its parameters?

Edit: I see that the SliMP3 didn't specify if it used optical outputs or not. If it was analog output, then you're not even comparing apples to apples by pitting it against an outboard D/A converter.