Snow Leopard and audio quality


I just took the trouble of making a clean install of Snow Leopard on my dedicated MacMini systems with iTunes 9.

I am convinced that the new software and the clean install have made an extraordinary improvement in my computer & DAC-based music systems.

Tonality, depth, detail, soundstage, musicality: all seem to have improved in dramatic ways.

Has anyone else had the same experience?
istanbulu
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)
Joelz... that's interesting. What were you using as playback sw? iTunes? or something else?