Alin

Of course there can be a difference, people that claim otherwise don't understand the term "Software" - especially those that invest a lot of money in Hardware and claim software is all the same. Admitting that even software has potential could make them feel bad about their expensive choices which do just that: bring a positive difference. Current software gives us as the option to select an output, which in the old days was only possible with professional software. And that's not all, we also have options like DSP and VST and you can't get more professional then that. And all this because processing power is really advanced, with current CPU's (even cheaper ones) those software options are easy tasks, compared to old CPU's which could bottleneck, which leads to a bad experience. Those thing being said, I'm back to Foobar2000 which is capable of all that. I didn't use it in the last time, especially since moving to Vista and the last versions of Foobar2000. But now that one of my favorite DSP is updated and compatible, Foobar2000 moved back to 1'st place as favorite audio player. Here's the DSP I mentioned above: Noise Sharpening (foo_dsp_delta) 1.0.0 The Noise Sharpening DSP boosts high frequencies. The effect depends on the signal's sample rate. http://foosion.foobar2000.org/components/?id=delta&version=1.0.0 As for VST options, same as with capable hardware there expensive and free alternatives are limited in options.

Some studios like "Chesky Records" are aware about this possibility which might be the future of High Quality/Definition Music (there's a 90% probability). Check http://www.hdtracks.com/index.php for example, and you'll find there some high quality material (like 96 kHz/24 bit). It's true, that this option is already available on Amazon but .mp3 is not popular format among audiophiles, wile at HDTracks you can find lossles format like .FLAC .

Ok, but are they available on market, and used by recording studios?

Hy and glad to join your friendly site/forum. I've seen some open minded opinions which got me joining in. As for Audio Player (I own a PC) I use "Lilith (a Japanese player, English version is not available for now, but working on it). No, I'm not Japanese, I'm Romanian but I find Lilith Player sounding better and tralseted it to english so I could enjoy his features. In rest, I try new versions of Foobar2000 from time to time, it used to be my favorite player in the last years. What can I say, when listening to music, I care more about the sound of the player then his looks (interface). Oh yeah, since I got my AKG K271 Studio Headphones, .ape, .flac and .wav are my basic formats.