I don't think you'll get a lot of push back on the quality of mp3 vs. FLAC and it sounds like you found a nice way to make FLAC portable in the PC domain. I used Winamp and FLAC before going Apple and now do something similar on my iMac with iTunes. I rip to AIFF with the error correction on and then put the music on a 120GB iPod Classic. It still uses the iPod's internal DACs but they are OK and with a nice pair of Ultimate Ears ear buds I'm set for portable use. At home I use iTunes/Airport Extreme/Airport Express to feed my 990 and it is very respectable. Enjoy!