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I mean, most music is produced on a Mac mini / iMac, so... 🤷🏽
Unsure where you have got this info from.
Ableton on a MacBook Pro is good for a DIY mobile setup. But most studios I know use Pro Tools on Windows workstations racked in another room along with a tonne of storage and a shedload of audio interfaces.
And most music does come from studios.
Why not use a Mac mini or laptop? Word clocks and low noise circuitry, speed and latency, software and driver range (not just the DAW but all the things that drive the audio interfaces).
You can even look up deadmaus on twitch and see him work, there's no Mac mini in sight, or a Mac... It's racks of Windows machines.
Maybe you mean something else by produced, but most music you hear is produced on racks of Windows machines.
Velocio-
Ok cool, yes PCs too, but you’ve entirely proved my (imperfectly argued) point which is that there is a huge amount of juju around the ‘purity’ of digital sources, usb cables and power supplies when applied upstream of the DAC on playback. I’ve even seen claims that the speed you rip a CD at makes a difference 😂
The most important thing for quality is how music is captured, mixed, processes and laid down in to its final recording. If mastering is done on a computer of some sort, and in most cases it is, then why is a computer unsuitable to perform the very simple task of extracting the data and buffering it to a digital stream?
I’m not doubting @StevePeel’s ears but equally I think I understand reasonably well stuff like clock syncing and jitter. When being mastered, most devices in the studio containing an ADC will have their clocks synchronised, but that’s because you’re dealing with multiple different embedded OSs, ADCs and connection methods (optical, USB etc). On playback however, clock syncing / jitter is rarely the cause of poor audio unless you’re dealing with a very poor quality stream converter or DAC. It’s far more likely to be caused by poor galvanic isolation or software drivers.
TL/DR: perfect streaming with Sub -120dB noise is quite achievable on a (properly functioning) computer, windows or Mac.
Sources: http://archimago.blogspot.com/2013/04/measurements-laptop-audio-survey-apple.html
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/auralic-leo-gx-dac-clock-review.11001/
freddo
I mean, most music is produced on a Mac mini / iMac, so... 🤷🏽