I'm always a little apprehensive about posting here, especially as someone who only recently quit using ATRAC and switched to EAC/LAME (It's like I'm a shamed, recovering drug addict ). But here goes:

I've searched around the forums and haven't found anything regarding this. Do different software players - everything from WMP to iTunes to VLC - have differing levels of sound quality? Sometimes, after spending the time to rip CDs using what seems to be a 'high quality' method, I feel a little silly using Windows Media Player 11. Of course, that could be totally irrational - I wonder if there are any objective tests that demonstrate the sound quality of, say, WMP 11 versus Winamp or other players and if there is in fact any difference.

Anyone know anything about this? Any clarification or links would be much appreciated.

[Edit]: Sorry, I feel I should have clarified that I meant playback through PC hardware, rather than whatever encoders these pieces of software use. I realise that 'PC Hardware' makes this question even more ambiguous, but I was just hoping someone might point me in the right direction as I know very little about all this.

-Nav

For CD, MP3, Ogg, etc everything should sound the same.

Some players do offer different types of EQ and special features like dither that you can enable. However ignoring those, you should get the results either way.

You may want to look up the MAD challenge for more info. It was an interesting test done some years ago.

Edit: By should sounds the same I mean if everything is working correctly. If you pick buggy software, you may get buggy output!

With all EQ, DSP, and gain values turned off, all players should sound the same.

The difference occurs with ripping and encoding. EAC takes care of the former, while you have a myriad choices for the latter (see the wiki for help deciding).