Ah, but you see, if you put the receiver into Direct mode (or whatever, mine doesn't have it...) then the pure, pure, analog signal from the external DAC will pass through pristine to your speakers. You can tell I don't put a lot of stock in this. And even if I did, I wouldn't be using a 10 year old $5 CD-ROM drive as a transport. I will admit that good quality DACs could make a difference, but...

I am the Doctor, and THIS... is my SPOON!