I seems to me that the general consensus is that it's a good thing that digital transports sound different and that I don't get. When suggesting that a Squeezebox Touch and Cyrus XT-SE sound the same, I've had suggestions that my hearing and/or system is deficient, isn't it more likely, that they do indeed, just sound the same?
In fact, properly implemented shouldn't they all sound the same? Reading a digital file from a (good) CD or HDD is hardly a differentiating capability and it's not like transmitting a digital signal over a network or a couple of metres down a cable is beyond the wit of man!
I get hi-fi components sound different, and having normal hearing and the interest, I have been able to clearly hear differences between various components over the years.
However, if consumers and the industry could agree the choice of digital transport was one purely of aesthetics, usability, functionality, etc. we could then move on to more important factors, e.g., loudspeaker design, sufficiently powerful amplifiers at reasonable cost, etc.
Sorry for the rant!