Apple 24 Bit 96 KhZ

L.D. Moore - I noticed that too as my DAC has an external display which shows the locked signal sample rate. However, I asked around on various forums and it seems that the AudioMIDI sample rate changes when it's switched, but iTunes still locks on to the sample rate that was set upon the app's opening. So, AudioMIDI is up (or down) sampling from the iTunes locked in rate.

Tbg - Max and WAV are two very different things altogether. WAV is the file format for uncompressed PCM audio (for PC), the Mac equivalent of which is AIFF. Max on the other hand is a Mac application, used for such tasks as secure ripping and transcoding.

You would thus be comparing Max (Mac) to EAC (Windows) in terms of apps; or AIFF to WAV in terms of formats.

Tbg - I believe you can, but don't hold me to it as I have not done that myself ;-) ...I usually rip with EAC to FLAC, tranfer files to the Mac and use Max to transcode to ALAC. That also provides an additional form of backup.

For ripping directly on a Mac, I would look into XLD which has recently been update to use the latest CDParanoia method and AccurateRip, and I believe is said to be superior to Max for ripping.

As for playback I stick to iTunes - simple, intuitive, quick, looks good too. Additional players include Cog, Play and Songbird.

One of the reasons I use a Macbook (battery powered) for playback :-)