I don't have a great amp/preamp setup (just a Rotel receiver for now), but I have excellent speakers (Aerial 7T's). I honestly cant tell the difference between CD flac rips that are stored on a solid state drive installed inside the BDP-2 vs the same files that are stored on a Windows Home Server, attached via Cat.6 to a gigabit switch, Cat. 6 to another switch, and then Cat. 6 to the BPD-2. I also don't hear a difference when using the BPD-2 into my BHA-1 and then my Audeze LCD-2's.