Digital error correction, which all digital processing must have, will make or break the sound. If there was no correction, the playback would fail within the first 100ms. Most manufacturers do not do a good job in the area of error correction. Some do an excellent job. Digital is still transmitted as an electrical signal. Not all of the signal originally encoded in the recording studio arrives onto the consumer cd. Assumptions will be made by software to fill in the gaps. These gaps come in the form of media scratches, clock timing misalignments, mastering, and signal loss through circuitry and cables. Extracting all of the data is the only way to get what was originally recorded. Unfortunately, the way music is created and the media is manufactured, getting apples to apples data from studio to consumer is just not possible. Getting apples to apples data from your cd to your cd players outpput is next to impossible. How the gaps are corrected is mostly what makes a bad, good or great digital player.
My Cary Xciter through it's USB input makes all of my redbook cds sound better than ever. It is odd that flac ripped discs sound better than the original, but it just plain does on this dac.
My Cary Xciter through it's USB input makes all of my redbook cds sound better than ever. It is odd that flac ripped discs sound better than the original, but it just plain does on this dac.