Mac AIR 3 beta vs Windows AIR 2.1.x

[Confused]

Please note that this thread is not about all the technical issues with AIR (and there are very many of those!), these issues are covered extensively elsewhere.

AIR 3 beta is out for the Mac now, and for those who have been successful getting it to work, there have been some very favourable reports regarding just how good the sound quality is.   However, and without going into all the details, I do have a theory that the new Mac AIR 3 and the current (V2) Windows version of AIR are in fact extremely close with respect to sound quality.

Unfortunately, I am not aware of anyone who had actually got both the Windows and Mac versions running and stable and so able to do a direct comparison.  (ok, ok, this is a bit of a long shot I know)

Anyway, has anyone actually performed this comparison?  Any observations as to sound quality?

I must admit, I am wondering if this thread will get an all time record low number of posts!  I'm not optimistic, but thought I would try anyway.

[Rufus McDufus]

Pre-AIR 3 I always marginally preferred the sound from my Windows PC over my MacBook AIR but I didn't particularly like either so I didn't stick with them.

[Confused]

Pre-AIR 3 I always marginally preferred the sound from my Windows PC over my MacBook AIR but I didn't particularly like either so I didn't stick with them.

Not exactly a definitive response to my question, but interesting at least.  That is, to Rufus' cat like ears, Mac AIR in pre V3 mode was slightly behind Windows AIR.  Therefore, if Mac AIR is now improved, it should be somewhere near Windows AIR 2.  OK, this is a bit of a stretch of logic I know, but it's something!

[ledesc]

You mean that as I'm running the Windows Air 2, I shouldn't expect any SQ improvement with the windows v3 ?
I'm so sad to hear that...

[Confused]

You mean that as I'm running the Windows Air 2, I shouldn't expect any SQ improvement with the windows v3 ?
I'm so sad to hear that...

Not necessarily, no!  I'm just saying that I have had a suspicion for a while that AIR performs better via Windows than on a Mac, and just a suspicion, I haven't actually tried a direct head to head.  ( I am referring to sound quality performance here, I think stability has generally been much worse via Windows). With Mac AIR 3, it would appear the gap has gone, maybe the Mac version has pulled ahead.

So what does this mean for Windows AIR 3?  (if it ever actually gets released?)  Not much really I think, maybe Windows AIR has already reached the limits of its capability with respect to sound quality, maybe Windows AIR 3 will be a massive step up.  Who knows?  With the lack of any firm data from Devialet I think it is anybody's guess.

[hk6230]

I think I have managed to finally get AIR3 to run more stably now with a Cat6+ ethernet cable hooked to my Mac Mini to the router that is used as wireless AP to Le200. I will let it run for awhile to ensure reliability before I start to do a meaningful comparison between AIR3.0 on Mac and AIR2.1.3 on Win8.1. Both are run as RoonBridge.