Topic: Benchmarck DAC1 USB and Mac Question

[moellenium]

I'm getting ready to purchase my first outboard D/A converter and I have a question about using the Benchmark DAC USB with a Mac.  When using a Benchmark DAC USB with a Mac, does the DAC automatically switch sample rates and bit depth depending on the source material?  Right now, I am running Mac > M-Audio Firewire Audiophile > digital coax > receiver and letting my receiver do the D/A conversion.  Since my music covers a wide variety of sample and bit rates, I always need to have my Audio/Midi setup set to 96 khz, 24 bit (the highest fidelity of anything I listen to) on my Mac, since the computer is not designed to switch sample rate and bit depth on the fly.  This causes all of my music to be up-sampled to 96 khz, 24 bit before leaving the computer.  So, say I have iTunes on Random and the first file is 44.1 khz 16 bit, the second file is 48 khz 24 bit and the third file is 96 khz 24 bit, I need to have my Audio/Midi setup set to 96 khz, 24 bit or I risk having things come out down-sampled or truncated without proper dither.  Honestly, the upsampling hasn't really affected my listening experience very much.  However, this is the kind of thing that's always in the back of my mind when listening to music on my archive.  If anyone has any information, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

Joe