I used to produce albums for bluegrass, Christian and rock artists. Nowadays I produce for a weekly radio show. I don't think that makes me an expert but it does mean that I've dabbled with music in various formats for years.

I have a mental block with FLAC - if the CD is in WAV, why compress it to another format when you can use freeware like Exact Audio Copy to copy it to a hard drive? With the price of hard drives being so affordable these days I don't see the need to compress audio to save space.

Since you have a vintage amp and speakers that you like the sound of, and since you'd like a higher quality sound to listen to, in my opinion the best option for you is CD-->computer using EAC then computer-->DAC-->amp-->speakers. I do this signal chain in the studio using a DAC, an amp I like the sound of and high end passive studio monitors from the 1980s that I also like the sound of.

It is true that many DACs will sound different, but it's a subtle thing and not very noticeable unless you are comparing them on higher end systems in tuned environments. Also, unless you have crazy good ears often a DAC won't sound different to you than the soundcard on your computer. I prefer using a DAC over the soundcard probably because it's what I'm used to. Finally, there are DACs for sale now for around $100 that sound as good as DACs from years ago costing many times that amount.

Slightly off topic, but there is really no debate that mp3 sounds inferior to WAV and FLAC. In fact mp3 sounds inferior to mp3! You can hear this for yourself. With a freeware program like Audacity you can export any song to mp3 and change the kbps from 145 to 320. Then do a comparison. The 145 kbps version will have harsh sibilance - the S and TH sounds - compared to the 320 kbps version. You will also hear a thinner sound overall, less bass and muted mids compared to a louder and more brittle sounding high end.

What you are experiencing sounds familiar. My wife is a former ICU critical care nurse who now works as a Nurse Practitioner. In her view, most physicians practice within a framework of what they were taught in medical school. Too often she finds physicians are stuck because of this, that it leads to an attitude that there isn't anything new to try. Thus, different generations of physicians practice differently, as do physicians from different medical schools. She offers no solution other than what you are doing, and that is to find a physician who is familiar with your symptoms, or who is willing to think outside the box. Here's hoping you find the right one soon!

I worked for 14 years producing albums and visiting various highly regarded major studios in and around Los Angeles. What I found intriguing was the $.29 cent Radio Shack cables being used to connect many of the mixing board components (patch between talkback amp and speakers, preamp and eq, or compressor, or . . .) to each other. Then I would fall into the world of audiophiles and read about $40,000 for a single channel of preamp or amplifier. So, the rich audiophile was spending tens of thousands of dollars to playback the sound produced by $.29 cent cables. Unreal.