[EDS_]

I loaded a few dozen CDs into my Macbook using Apple Lossless.  Separately, my entire library lives on an external HD that runs through my Toshiba laptop featuring Vista - store in AIFF. 

It's easy to near A/B the Apple v. the Toshiba.  To me the Apple is punchier, more dynamic and somehow cleaner (less noisy?).

Line up............
Macbook 2.4 DuoCore, 10.5.5, latest iTunes, music stored on internal Fujitsu 160 gig HD
Musical Fidelity X-DAC V8 (accepts USB, coax SPDIF)
Cary SLI - 80
Spendor S5E speakers

cables - generic gray eight feet long USB, Tara 1 meter locking interconnects, Kimber 8TC speaker wires ~6 feet long/


I'm a happy camper right now.

[Crimson]

Good question. IMO, it's not the hardware, but the software, and iTunes running under Windows is.........um.........crap. iTunes in OSX is, indeed, much better. For a better comparison, you may want to try another player in Windows.

[EDS_]

Good question. IMO, it's not the hardware, but the software, and iTunes running under Windows is.........um.........crap. iTunes in OSX is, indeed, much better. For a better comparison, you may want to try another player in Windows.

That's a project for this weekend, maybe tonight. 

BTW - thanks for your knowledgeable posts about Apple stuff.  You've helped me quite a lot.

[EDS_]

Seems like the bass is deeper by a few cycles.  The bass work on Blues Traveler's "Carolina Blues" is nearly absent using the Vista setup v. the Macbook.


Right now I'm really enjoying A Perfect Circle"s "Judith".

[Crimson]

Good question. IMO, it's not the hardware, but the software, and iTunes running under Windows is.........um.........crap. iTunes in OSX is, indeed, much better. For a better comparison, you may want to try another player in Windows.

That's a project for this weekend, maybe tonight. 

BTW - thanks for your knowledgeable posts about Apple stuff.  You've helped me quite a lot.

You're quite welcome.

Happy holidays!

[GHM]

Definitely ear wax... ..just kidding. Crimson is right. iTunes is garbage on Windows. If Vista/Player are setup properly..there really shouldn't be a difference. Both apps can output bit perfect. Only difference.. Vista can do 24/192 SPDIF output without a hitch.

[Crimson]

Definitely ear wax... ..just kidding. Crimson is right. iTunes is garbage on Windows. If Vista/Player are setup properly..there really shouldn't be a difference. Both apps can output bit perfect. Only difference.. Vista can do 24/192 SPDIF output without a hitch.

The only hitch being a Vista machine doesn't come with SPDIF 'standard'. 

[GHM]

Definitely ear wax... ..just kidding. Crimson is right. iTunes is garbage on Windows. If Vista/Player are setup properly..there really shouldn't be a difference. Both apps can output bit perfect. Only difference.. Vista can do 24/192 SPDIF output without a hitch.

The only hitch being a Vista machine doesn't come with SPDIF 'standard'. 

  I wouldn't know.. all mine did.

[Crimson]

Definitely ear wax... ..just kidding. Crimson is right. iTunes is garbage on Windows. If Vista/Player are setup properly..there really shouldn't be a difference. Both apps can output bit perfect. Only difference.. Vista can do 24/192 SPDIF output without a hitch.

The only hitch being a Vista machine doesn't come with SPDIF 'standard'. 

  I wouldn't know.. all mine did.

Call me curious, but I'm unaware of any Windows machines (laptops or otherwise) that come with SPDIF standard? Adding a PCI/PCIx/PCIe soundcard (with associated drivers) is, of course, an 'add-on' i.e. non-standard, and is similarly available in the OSX world.

[Watson]

It's a chore to get bit-perfect audio out of a Windows box (though Vista is much better in this respect than XP). You really can't know whether kMixer, etc. is munging your audio on a Windows machine unless you actually test your machine for clean output. Usually the easiest way to do this is to output a WAV-encoded 44.1kHz DTS file to a home theatre receiver and see if it comes through intact. You can also do a loopback recording, line the samples up, and compare.

In this respect, Macs are much easier. You get a clean, bit-perfect audio output out of the box, and all Macs are capable of bit-perfect output of 44.1 kHz audio streams. (It's not all peaches; I think the way Windows handles 96kHz streams is better, but since most audio is Redbook CD audio, it's not surprising you find the audio is better without a bunch of futzing on your Mac.)

[GHM]

Both of my Dells 410, 420 came equipped with SPDIFs. The newest one Dell 420 came with two SPDIFs(coaxial and optical). It was part of a standard package. I didn't have to add it on.

Yeah XP is a chore I agree. Vista is breeze(plug and play). The Vista sp2 is a large step up from the original release. Vista was a nightmare when I first got it roughly two years ago. Now...I have to give Vista its just dues. It is very stable at this point and the machine just zips through tasks.

I use my 420 for web surfing, gaming for the kids, Home theater(Blu ray) and 2 channel music. I use it now with a 52" LCD mounted to the wall in the Great room. I hope to soon add a 84" screen with projector, which will also be linked to this PC as a second monitor.

I've had a Mac here..nothing wrong with them. I just like the vast amount of software available for windows.