If you don't already know (but you should), BitPerfect ($4.99) is an add-on application for iTunes that makes it sound better. BitPerfect also adds some very useful and practical features including automatic sample rate switching, gapless playback, memory playback and integer mode to name just a few. And it does all of that for under five bucks.

Perhaps the most interesting thing we learned in the BitPerfect room at SSI 2012 is the new beta version of BitPerfect ($TBD available "in a few months") sounds a lot better than the existing version. And I'd go as far as saying it sounds a hell of a lot better as it makes your music sound more compelling. More like the kind of musical presentation that you can dive into and get lost within without getting distracted by the fact that you're listening to recorded music through a bunch of stuff.

But from a certain perspective there's bigger news to this news and that's only half of the story.

“Copper cables provide adequate data transfer for use over short distances of up to six meters (about 20 feet), but optical cables will be good for data transfers over longer distances of tens of meters”