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Hey Guys, Been reading this forum for that past couple of months and it’s been very helpful so thanks to all that contribute & educate. I’ll ask my questions through a couple of scenarios which I think will provide a little more color/context. Down the line I would like to start getting into Vinyl but first would like to maximize my experience with the digital content I own and was wondering if a DAC would help in that effort. First, here is the setup I’m using when listening to music. Hope this info helps AVR – Onkyo HT-RC160 I also have a Yamaha Aventage 1010 which I may swap out down the line [*]Mid 2010 Macbook pro [*]B&W CM5’s [*]Apple TV & Roku Scenario 1 – Roku vs. Apple TV Generally when I’m listening to music it’s from playlists that I’ve created in Spotify. I spent a night listening to Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms and it sounded pretty damn good, especially Private Investigations. For local content/files I’ll either use Plex on the Roku (Plex media server running on the MBP), or from the Apple TV I’ll point to local computers and play the content contained on the hard drive. Here is the question. I’ve tested listening to the same local file via both devices but: Why does the Apple TV seem to sound crisper and cleaner? Does this have anything to do with the internal DAC of each device? I would assume that both devices which are lead out to the AVR via HDMI would not be processing the file and that would be done by the receivers DAC. What am I missing/not understanding here? Scenario 2 – iTunes vs. Windows Media Player Setup – Macbook pro connected directly to the AVR via HDMI with the display adaptor attachment. Running parallels desktop on the MBP, this test was conducted in Window. I right clicked and opened the same file with both itunes and windows media player. Windows media player sounded significantly better to my ears and it wasn’t a matter of application or system volume. Both were clocked in around the halfway to max mark. There was no EQ alteration applied to each application prior to launching the files either. Both applications EQ’s were flat. What would cause this sound in difference? Essentially, I’m envisioning a USB DAC running out to my AVR from the MBP but was wondering if there would be any real benefit to such an addition. Also, last question, when you’re running a DAC out to an AVR, the AVR should be set to it’s pure mode, correct? I assume you want to minimize the avr from processing the file allowing the DAC to do its thing. Thanks guys, any responses or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.