One nice feature of Winamp is the ability to see if it's outputing the proper sampled rate along with bit rate. Example below:
Output format: 96000 Hz, 24 bits per sample, 2 channels
Active buffer size: 2000 ms (1152000 bytes)
Device: "M-Audio Revolution"
Mixing: software, primary buffer: inactive
Buffer playback cursor: 1149654 bytes
[================================================================]
Buffer write cursor: 1131654 bytes
[===============================================================#]
Data buffered:
Total: 1984 ms (1142826 bytes)
Async buffer: 15 ms (8826 bytes)
Buffer locks done: 966
Underruns: 0
Time played: 0:29.995 (17277654 bytes)
Time written: 0:31.980 (18420480 bytes)
Total time played: 13:51:11.733
Volume: -8.668247 dB / -8.668247 dB