Snow Leopard and audio quality

Hi Dbaudiolabs,

Good to hear confirmation of my experience. This is true for my three Mini-based systems with SnowLeopard and a clean install. Really quite remarkable in so many ways.

Thanks Apple!

:) listening,

Ed

It's generally accepted that the S/L upgrade on a MacMini makes major improvements. I use the 2GHz core with 4MByte RAM and a 7200 RPM drive. Others told me I could expect an improvement, and they were right. I understand the Mac SW/HW is tuned to provide excellent sound. It works for me! I can only wait to hook it up to my MIDI keyboard with GarageBand.

It's generally accepted that the S/L upgrade on a MacMini makes major improvements. I use the 2GHz core with 4GByte RAM and a 7200 RPM drive. Others told me I could expect an improvement, and they were right. I understand the Mac SW/HW is tuned to provide excellent sound. It works for me! I can only wait to hook it up to my MIDI keyboard with GarageBand.

They have made only jitter improvements, like the jitter reduction effect instead making on the main core audio.

Win7 is on par with Snow Leopard. I just got through testing this with a USB Audio Research DAC7.

I purchased the MacIntosh under the assumption that it would sound better than the PC with Win7, I can't tell a difference.

Since the gear will make a difference, here is what was used:
Win7 PC (home built, quad core proc, Solid State Drive, 2gb ram)
Latest model 17" MacBook Pro, 8GB RAM (upgraded)
Audio Research DAC7
McIntosh C500 tube pre-amp
McIntosh MC501 monoblocks (solid state)
Wilson Sophia 2's
Transparent Super cabling (XLR interconnects)