Hi Damien (and other community members),
I have been a subscriber of the Mac version of Audirvana for 5.5 years now. Superb piece of software engineering! I am currently using a Macbook 12" with El Capitan O/S in order to continue using the Direct Mode. I have several terabytes of DSD and SACD ISO files that I only play bit-perfect and never upscaled.
I recently upgraded my system to the MSB Premier DAC (fully max’d put, $34000), Vinnie Rossi’s L2 Monoblock and Signature Pre-amp ($35000), QLN Prestige P3 speakers in Burl wood ($12000), and all Swiss Cables Diamond series cabling. Needless to say, I have a lot of money invested in my system.
With this setup, what I am after is the best digital sound I can get. With that in mind, my question is, is it time for me to switch to the Windows version of Audirvana? My Macbook 12 is getting old now. If I replace it with a newer Mac, I won’t be able to use Direct Mode in Catalina. My understanding is, this is not a problem at all in Windows (no Core Audio bypass needed). Is the sound quality the same or better in Windows?
Also, if I switch to Windows, I understand your minimum spec is 8gb RAM. Would I benefit from and future proof myself by investing in a 16GB laptop? Should I get a core i7 CPU, or would core i5 be fine? Again, I’m mostly only going to play DSD and SACD ISO files in bit-perfect mode with never doing any upsampling whatsoever.
Please advise asap.
Thanks,
-Harsh