Hi!
I was presented with an interesting theory yesterday, which I was hoping that someone here could help me with...

I record quite a lot of audio in my home studio, and normally use DAW software for recording. (Emagic Logic) I usually work on a pc, but have also tried using a macintosh on a few occasions. (Using the same soundcard, of course)

I constantly get the feeling that the audio recorded using a mac (still using the same recording software and soundcard as on the pc) has a lot more headroom, and generally sounds smoother and less compressed.

A friend told me that it had something to do with how the operating system itself handled files, and that while the mac only dumped raw data to disk, the pc was supposed to encode the files... But... I've set the recording software to use the wav format for audio files on both the pc and the mac.. so I can't understand how that would be dfferent... unless the wav format is different on the two platforms..?

My question is therefore, where is it most likely that the difference lies?
In the soundcard drivers (different for each platform), in the way the operating system handles the files, or is the wav format different on mac?

Any ideas appreciated!

You'd really need to first prove that there is a difference.

ABX Testing

no difference in soundcard <=> no difference in sound. simple as that.

Unless the soundcard drivers mess something up horribly, and unless the soundcard picks up more noise in either environment, that is. After sampling the music is in raw digital pcm format and it will not change unless you process or encode it using your audio software.

It will NOT deteriorate spontaneously, no matter which OS you're using.

(oh yes, tell your friend to lay off the crack.)

Your friend has very little knowledge.

Yup, you're probably right , but that doesn't really explain why there is a difference..

Until you successfully perform a blind test, the only difference is most likely inside your head.
Please read Terms of Service point 8.

First of all, these are licensed versions of both OS and tracking software.
Could it be that you're over-simplifying this?
The issue is experienced when doing mixdowns of multiple audio files into a single stereo file. It is experienced in the way that on the mac, there seems to be significantly greater overhead, while on the pc, you reach 0dB MUCH earlier, and it sounds compressed and harsh.

As far as I can tell, soundcard being equal, the difference would then lie in either:
a) software-difference (possibly designed for mac initially?)
b) processor-difference (meaning that the result of the summing algorithm is different on a mac than on a pc proc)

Not to be rude, but saying that it is "equal since it is digital" or something like that, seems a bit oversimplified/ignorant to me.... no offense...

You are using different software settings such as preamp or volume on the mac than on the PC.
Has nothing to do with OS differences.

Understood, will record and perform a blind test this evening, and provide material for others to listen too..
I will do this by opening the same project on both mac and pc, to prove that there are no differences in settings....

How about lowering recording volume in windows volume control on the PC ?

I am summing identical wavs on two different platforms, using the same software on both platforms, not recording....??

Then your problem makes no sense at all.
Summing identical WAVs is a simple mathematical operation that should work in the same way on PC and on mac, unless your software is buggy on either platform, which it apparently is if the results differ at all.
To avoid reaching 0dB on the PC, you can reduce volume of sources before downmixing.
Anyway, if you post samples of what you get (both mixdown and sources), we should be able to figure what the problem is.

It is as simple as that. Trust me.