Firstly I should state that my experience wirelessly streaming over UPnP to KEF speakers has always been generally good. Very few playback errors. However since AS was released I have had an issue with the last track in a play queue often failing to be recorded in the playback history (all tracks prior in a play queue are recorded as played). I have always believed this was a network issue after extensive personal testing and also working with Audirvana and KEF on this issue but to date no solution has been found.
More recently in the last 6 weeks or so I have had issues with playback randomly stopping at the end of a track and in more recent days even during playback. After resetting up my network (part ethernet/part fibre/part WiFi 7) and confirming it is running at historically good performance levels without a resolution, i turned my attention to what else could cause this on an intermittent basis.
A couple of weeks ago I spent an evening meal with a security expert friend of mine (and longtime mac user). To cut a long story short he was of the opinion that the inbuilt macOS security was sufficient to avoid malware infection providing you adopt prudent security measures (dont download cracked software, visit dodgy sites and allow them to install software, blindly click on dialogs asking for permissions without checking them first etc etc). He cited the potential conflicts between macOS measures and the security software monitoring processes amongst several potential issues.
I have always run either Intego or Symantec’s security packages on my Mac and his statement made me re-evaluate. I have internet security software running as part of my TP-Link Wifi 7 home networking setup (another subscription!), and the inbuilt macOS security protections. Why do I need to run additional security software (other than a decent VPN when using public hotspots). I have often run my macs without these packages during beta testing of new OS versions every year (over a 2 month period typically each year) and once completed have never found malware infections which I put down to my suspicious nature and good practices (all my software is legit from the app store or purchased from the suppliers website). The only personal information of mine present on the dark web, according to Symantec is caused by hacks of Adobe, Microsoft and a couple of airlines over the last 12 years.
To cut this long story short I have removed all additional security software from my macs relying on the routers malware protection and firewall and macOS inbuilt protections. The results are;
My mac (m3 MBP 128GB, 4TB) runs noticeably faster (I expected this from my time spent beta testing without security software installed). This is not a surprise.
I have not had a single issue with failure to record the last track played in a queue played over UPnP to the KEF’s.
There has been no playback stops at the end of, or during, playback of a file
This flawless performance over UPnP for the last 10 days certainly gives food for thought…
The debate as to whether you need additional security on a Mac has gone on for years and will continue no doubt. The often noticeable performance degradation of using security applications supposedly offset by the enhanced protection provided by the advertised “enhancement” to macOS security being the primary justification.
Based on my findings here I will stick to relying on macOS inbuilt security and my routers hard and software protection whilst keeping NordVPN handy for public networks……. And of course, using a huge dose of common sense when dealing with unsolicited emails or whilst wandering around the labyrinth of the internet……
Generally speaking, if the Apple platform OS is no longer getting security updates, then it is vulnerable and user internet-use behavior will always put the system at risk…
The MacOS is derived from BSD Unix… CERT/CISA is a good place to follow if your concerned with security… Many US Gov systems run one form of Nix or another… AT&T system 5 and/or BSD mix and matched as needed for many high performance systems…
The security features in macOS have improved greatly over the last 5 years or so. A good outline for IT professionals is provided in the following link.
I think my issues with UPnP communication with the KEF’s appears to have been caused by the “enhanced” intrusion protection/firewall “smart” elements of the Intego and Symantec suites resulting in throughput over my network suffering occasional delay and/or packet rejection in the communication between the KEF’s and Audirvana. Hence the intermittent errors. Removing the third party suites has resulted in no issues whatsoever for 11 days and counting My security researcher/university lecturer/UK cybersecurity advisor friend was somewhat negative on utilizing third party packages on a Mac for multiple reasons. For a layman like me the performance improvement is visibly significant.
As an aside the forthcoming macOS Sequoia update now allows you to rotate MAC addresses on wireless, selectable on a per network basis, this enhances snooping prevention if you are on a public hotspot, useful for those who do not deploy a VPN when utilizing public open WiFi hotspots. Currently Sequoia is at the release candidate stage and I can confirm there does not, in my use case, appear to be any issues with the latest Studio release.
Fell in love with Unix using a Sun Microsystems Sparcstation in the early 90’s. The main reason I switched to Mac for all my personal and work use was the introduction of OS X. That and the wonderful design of Mr Ive and the design team pushed by Mr Job’s design ethos.
A bit flaky on first release but by Mac OS X Tiger it became the best OS out there in my opinion and remains so to this day (apologies to the Linux Lovers but form as well as function matters!)
The Stanford University Network/ SUN Microsystems SUN-1 / NeXT Computer / Apple Macintosh nexus (no pun intended) is an important benchmark in the evolution of ‘personal’ computers and UNIX based operating system platforms… All of this innovation surrounding the Motorola 68000 series CPU’s, happening in my home-grounds in and around Mountain View, California… I am a year younger than Steve J. and went to the rival high school (Los Altos High) to the high school that both Steve J. and Steve W. attended (Homestead High) and became buddies… As young children, Steve J and I shared the same babysitter… I was working at Stanford University Hospital when the Stanford University Network was established and SUN Microsystems and NeXT Computer companies were born.
Essentially the smartest decision Steve Jobs ever made… Was to visit Xerox PARC and get a glimpse of what Alan Kay and friends were up to… These were the real visionaries inventing personal computering… And so much more…
Built my first S-100 buss, Intel 8080 “PC” in 1977… Have used DG Eclipse, DEC VAXen, Textronix, Intel, Apollo, Sun, SGI workstations and ICE devo platforms…
Certainly right up there as one of his best decisions, like partnering with Steve Wozniak and assembling the Macintosh development team which included the primary architect of the Macintosh Operating System, “Software Wizard” Andy Hertzfeld…
Before Apple Inc. we could go into Xerox PARC and hang with the researchers… It was a different time back then, with Hewlett Packard just up the street, NASA/Ames Research Center just to the south, Varian, Sylvania, Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, National Semiconductor, IBM, Lockheed Missiles and Space, etc, etc. etc in close proximity to one and other.
Seems to me that Andy was one of Alan’s wiz kids… Andy used to sneak prerelease SW to a small group of us first Mac users when where were only three Mac apps…
It was probably Jef Raskin that pointed Steve J. to the mouse and the rest is history for the MAC OS GUI… The Stanford University and University of California Berkeley nexus is strong indeed and the Silicon Valley environment was fertile ground for these innovations.
I got my first Macintosh (SE) with a student discount…
Several of the Lockheeds and NASAs were my customers back then… LMSC, Kelly Johnston in Rye Canyon and Skunk Works in Burbank, NASA Zero One, NASA NAS and JPL… Apple, Fairchild and LLNL too…
I had one of the first 100 Mac 128s to hit the OC… Fun times… Later I modded to 256kb…
I came to the OC in 76… I can’t guess what Jeff might have thought… And I can suggest what Alan K might have thought about software development… And that is something for another thread… In the mean time, I am more a fan of OOP devo than scrum…
This has nothing/something to do with my experience in the entertainment market place…
Yeah it’s just back story it seems for the both of us… I actually left the Valley in 1999… it became a grind… The music business was even less kind there in the Bay Area… burned me out… nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, so I found shelter in the Great Pacific Northwest.
Steve J. saw the Alto running Alan K’s team smalltalk… That is where the desktop metaphor seems to have originated, again with influence from Engelbart and maybe from even an old Evans & Sutherland graphics box I had a chance to see Mandelbrot having fun with in the early or mid 80’s…
I was in a computer graphics lab in mendota heights learning how to run jobs on an early XMP… I sense behind me that there is this guy taking flash photos of an old E & S graphs workstation… So I look over my shoulder and there are these beautiful fractals on the screen of this crazy E&S workstation… And there sits Benoit Mandelbrot… Cray-z times…
My security researcher/university lecturer/UK cybersecurity advisor friend was somewhat negative on utilizing third party packages on a Mac for multiple reasons. For a layman like me the performance improvement is visibly significant.
