I've tried various programs (Jriver / Winamp / Foobar etc) on my Dell laptop running Windows Vista on ASIO / kernal streaming and WASAPI and the Dac always has a 'distortion' on the same track when played through USB input. When played through SPDIF I hear no distortion - iIalso hear no distortion when the orginal cd is played on a cd transport or any cd player that I have and played through the Benchmark Dac (SPDIF).

The track in question is Will Smith's 'Wild Wild West' (the album version) at the very beginning of the track when he's talking to his son the background noise sounds like a clicking noise through USB input to the Dac but through SPDIF just sounds like background hiss / ambiant noise etc.

I know this is really picky - but its been bothering me for years - but just today tried the built in upsampler in Foobar to 88.2Khz - still sent out through USB via WASAPI into the Benchamark and bingo - now sounds similiar to the SPDIF input.

My question is - is there an inherent flaw in the way any computer decodes a Wav file and sends it out through USB without first upsampling the song ?

DJ

- Dell laptop

- 44.1Khz Wav ripped file from CD

- various USB leads tried

- WIndows Vista - no other application running