They don't! There is always some variance in tonality. It is hard to believe that there are still people who believe that all bit perfect players sound identical. I've stuck with Audirvana+ and use JRiver as a catalogue and search function. Typically I use a Quad Core i7 Mac Mini and a Micro Rendu with LPS-1 feeding a Metrum Hex DAC. WOW!!! Am I imaging things or does this version of JRiver sound WAY better than anything else? Going back to any other playback software reminds me of third generation bootleg 8 track tapes from back in the day. There was no hype that I saw about this new version having better sound quality.

After looking through some of the menus and seeing nothing new or unique, I finally decided to connect my computer to the DAC via in the most easy and convenient manner using a cheapo 20 foot plastic toslink cable. I really just wanted to see if they changed the interface of JRiver. Expecting nothing different sound wise, I downloaded it to my everyday work computer (i5 Mac Mini). Having nothing better to do last night, I downloaded a trial version of JRiver Media Center v24 after they sent me a promotional email. I own a copy of JRiver v20 but never use it.

Jriver setup audiophile