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Here's a serious answer to your question

If you take these steps, there's no reason why Windows Media Player can't sound decent, on any hardware (obviously, the better the audio device, the better the sound):

1. Install Vista. [reason: XP has a component called kmixer.dll that can degrade sound quality]
2. Configure Vista so that the default sampling rate is 44.1kHz and 24 bits. Leave all audio enhancements disabled.
3. In WMP, configure your audio settings to enable 24-bit playback.
4. Install WMP Tag Support Extender (http://wmptagext.sourceforge.net/)
5. Install either the Illiminable Ogg Directshow Filter (http://www.illiminable.com/ogg/) or the Core Flac Directshow Filter (http://coreflac.corecodec.org/index.html). Don't install both.
6. If you rip CDs, try to do it with another program to ensure you get perfect rips (I recommend dbPowerAmp http://www.dbpoweramp.com)

WMP also has the advantage of being one of the very few players that can decode HDCD (Microsoft owns HDCD, that's why).

I prefer to use WMP on all my systems, apart from one (my dedicated music player). It has the advantage of being pre-installed with Windows, a good set of features, and sounds quite decent if you follow the above steps.

The ASIO plugin mentioned by another poster is worth trying if you have an audio device with an ASIO driver. But since you are a beginner, leave it alone for the time being. There is a potential that sound will improve, but that's very dependent on your specific audio device.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Herbie's Audio Lab  

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