Comment by seec
9 months ago
I think you are confused, MacOS definitely necessitates specific kernel drivers to get the lowest latency possible and some other features. Every high-end audio interface has its own driver that you need to install just like on Windows.
Otherwise, you actually use the generic HID (Human Interface Device) implementation which has a 16bits/96khz sample rate limitation along with many other limitations, depending on variables (interface speed, specification etc.).
It's better than what Windows had by default back in the days but at the same time it wasn't THAT good. But the "genius" of it is that for most people it was a seamless plug-and-play experience since the vast majority of Mac users are actually amateurs dabbling in the stuff. So, for "basic" needs, it suffices to pick up a "good enough" interface, connect it, and you are on your way. But if you use a professional level interface, like something from RME for example, you will definitely need to install the drivers and configure the thing properly and it doesn't work worse on Windows. The "advantage" of Mac OS X was that you could potentially get away with a cheaper interface and use the good enough implementation instead of having to buy expensive hardware, but that's a bit of a lie/stretch because you are not getting the same quality/experience at all. But this is usual with Apple aficionados, they are very fluid with reality, distortion field is no joke.
Yes, Linux has become pretty good with audio, but realistically it's more trouble than it's worth for most people. Whether you buy a Mac or a Windows PC, the license cost of the system is pretty negligible but access to specific softwares and support is extremely important. This is actually, in my opinion, the single best reason to get a Mac for audio: all the indie software that you get access to, that are often extremely good and does not have true equivalency on Windows.
Of course, I don't think that people should know their computers inside-out, what I'm pointing is that in general Windows users get by just fine, sometimes doing mistakes or having trouble because of poor choices they misunderstood but they are generally very chill about it. Mac users on the other hand are almost systematically convinced that they use the best thing around and that they know better when in fact they are rarely competent enough to understand properly but have a very large ego.
Personally, macOS used to be my OS of choice and I think it still is very good in many ways. But it has also stagnated too much, made too "secure" and more closed like iOS and Apple's behavior in general is just abhorrent. The Mac is still good mostly because of various exclusive softwares that are very good (which is why Apple should treat their devs much better, they largely underestimate their importance) and the hardware for laptops that is indeed quite good and unmatched if we forget about value.
> I think you are confused, MacOS definitely necessitates specific kernel drivers to get the lowest latency possible and some other features. Every high-end audio interface has its own driver that you need to install just like on Windows.
> Otherwise, you actually use the generic HID (Human Interface Device) implementation which has a 16bits/96khz sample rate limitation along with many other limitations, depending on variables (interface speed, specification etc.).
I currently have an audio interface with 32bits/96kHz which never needed any special drivers, it runs flawlessly without any latency whatsoever, plug-and-play.
Yes, I didn't keep up with the times. Nowadays both macOS and Windows support USB Class 2 for Audio Devices, which does add a lot more capacity, within the limits of the 480mbps bandwidth.
https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/Audio2_with_Errata_a...
Version 4 is in the works, not sure what/how much is implemented in which OS.
My point still stands (even more), if you have such low requirement for your audio, the OS really doesn't matter, you can be fine with an iPad or Android tablet even. If you really are working somewhat professionally with a pro level audio interface, you are installing the drivers regardless of native driverless support, rendering the "advantage" of macOS rather moot.
Audio latency in DAWs is more related to processing power than purely to the audio interface capacity. People get confused because some audio interfaces actually have accelerators in them that offload some of the audio processing from the CPU to allow for lower latency (because of lower buffer size). However, those are very expensive and have become extremely rare with the massive increase in computing power (as well as explosion of cores, allowing each VST to have its own thread) so it's not something most need to be concerned about.
There is however a performance delta depending on the driver implementation and DAW software of choice. It's in the single digit ms range but it still exists. The good thing is that as usual, more expensive is often better and you would only care about that if you are really professional, meaning you already buy the expensive stuff for many other reasons.
Here is some reading if you wish to educate yourself. On latency: https://www.original.dawbench.com/audio-int-lowlatency.htm On the funny idea that Macs are inherently better for audio: https://original.dawbench.com/win7-v-osx-1.htm Make sure to use the part links in the bottom right corner to get the full story.
There are many reasons to like and use Macs but anytime someone pretends it's for performance I get the hick, having been confronted to precisely the reverse. Both my own experience with Hackintoshes (and comparable PC hardware to Intel Macs) and many experiences supporting musician/recording technicians in studios, there is no real performance reason to use macOS, quite the contrary. People use it DESPITE the mediocre performance, because it allows them to use other tools that make more difference than just a little bit more performance.