Optimal mp3 sound quality help?

[Flimbo]

How can I get the best sound quality in Winamp for playing mp3's? I have a Soundblaster Audigy connected to an external amp and speakers.
I've tried the HQSoftProc Resampling plug-in but am not convinced it helps, maybe it even sounds worse.
The only plug-in I use is 4Front EQ and running through directsound output.
Any suggestions for optimal sound quality appreciated.
Thanks.

[gaekwad2]

Some people claim to hear a difference, but I don't know how many (if any) of them made a blind test to make sure the don't just imagine it.

You could also try out_ds ssrc (http://sawgstuff.ne1.net/index.html) set to 48kHz.

Careful though, that installer also overwrites the regular DirectSound output plugin (that may be needed for eg. 'protected' wma) with an older version. I'd back up out_ds.dll from the winamp plugins folder before running it and put it back in afterwards.

[Flimbo]

But isn't out_ds ssrc an older version of the directsound output that came with Winamp 2?

[gaekwad2]

It's a modified version with built-in resampler, and it still works with Winamp 5, but it probably contains some bugs that were fixed in the meantime (and may not work with drm-crippled files).