Apple vs PC for Music System

Cool, a bare knuckles slug fest between two heavy weight A'goners. Maybe it will evolve into an interesting and useful dialogue.

I may be mistaken but over the last year or so of reading, experimenting, listening to other systems (some of them high end) I've concluded that it's the equipment upstream of the computer that is really important.

Also, over the 25 years or so since I've been using desk top computers I've noticed that Microsoft and Apple, while using different operating systems, tend to converge towards one level of performance in a general area of applications (ie. word processing, spread sheets, internet support) I suspect that MS and Apple have reached a point of convergence in consumer level audio and I suspect they will soon meet a point of convergence in consumer level Home Theater computing.

In the near future discussions about differences between MS and Apple audio and video applications might be as interesting as discussions about competing word processing applications.

In the mean time, let the games begin.

JPO

I am primarily a PC guy. I really enjoy building my own. I purchased my 1st Wavelength Audio DAC over two years ago. I stubbornly held out using a Mac as per Gordon's recommendation.

Today I own 2 Macs and many PCs. The Mac just sounds better for music. I have an iMac and MacBook Pro, and would never want to go back to XP Pro or Vista for my music.

Help me understand how this could matter? If one is sending data from either pc or mac to a dac (I'm using pc to Benchmark DAC1 USB), should they not both be sending the same data and then the dac is doing the work. I can understand if one is using an internal soundcard out to an amp but not with a dac.

Many people will tell you that the quality of your digital cable can influence what you hear and see too...

but I think this discussion is directed towards digital conversion occurring inside the computer, rather than using a Mac or PC as a server for raw digital data to an external DAC. Correct?

The operating system, USB drivers, and the way iTunes deals with Core Audio makes the difference. Vista is not bad; in fact it is quite good. I just prefer Apple OSX. Either you can hear it or it doesn't matter. You just have to try it.