Well, that’s what they say. I’m about to try Asahi Linux (Fedora) on my Mac Mini with an M1 chip. There hasn’t been Linux for it for a long time, the M1 had to be reverse engineered, or at least ‘discovered’. Apple of course was no help. I hope this version helps with the sound from my Mac Mini. We’ll see. I think the Mini’s sound is pretty good if not a bit dry, depending on the DAC. I find direct from the SACD/CD player to be better though.
Fedora: ”With Fedora’s excellent 64-bit ARM support and mature development process, you can expect a solid and high-quality experience without any unwanted surprises. Fedora Asahi Remix is based on Fedora Linux 39, the latest Fedora Linux release with the newest software versions across the board. All M1 and M2 series MacBook, Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and iMac devices are supported.”
https://asahilinux.org/fedora/
About the audio: “Over the past two years, we’ve worked hard to pioneer the world’s first fully integrated DSP solution for the desktop Linux ecosystem. Just install Fedora Asahi Remix and enjoy high-quality audio right out of the box, no setup needed. We’ve worked together with the PipeWire and WirePlumber projects to add support for fully automatic and transparent DSP configuration, and then individually measured and calibrated 8+ different machine models, designing a customized DSP filter configuration for each one.
With our in-house Bankstown bass boost technology and our own pioneering open source Smart Amp implementation to safely provide full loudness and dynamic range, the result is the best audio you’ve ever heard on a Linux laptop. And we’ve even optimized the scheduling and power consumption of the DSP processing, so you’ll get excellent battery life while playing back audio.”
Fedora: ”With Fedora’s excellent 64-bit ARM support and mature development process, you can expect a solid and high-quality experience without any unwanted surprises. Fedora Asahi Remix is based on Fedora Linux 39, the latest Fedora Linux release with the newest software versions across the board. All M1 and M2 series MacBook, Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and iMac devices are supported.”
https://asahilinux.org/fedora/
About the audio: “Over the past two years, we’ve worked hard to pioneer the world’s first fully integrated DSP solution for the desktop Linux ecosystem. Just install Fedora Asahi Remix and enjoy high-quality audio right out of the box, no setup needed. We’ve worked together with the PipeWire and WirePlumber projects to add support for fully automatic and transparent DSP configuration, and then individually measured and calibrated 8+ different machine models, designing a customized DSP filter configuration for each one.
With our in-house Bankstown bass boost technology and our own pioneering open source Smart Amp implementation to safely provide full loudness and dynamic range, the result is the best audio you’ve ever heard on a Linux laptop. And we’ve even optimized the scheduling and power consumption of the DSP processing, so you’ll get excellent battery life while playing back audio.”
I’ve been messing around with several flavors of Asahi on my M1 the last couple of days. I’m currently trying Asahi-Ubuntu (I can’t stand the pinkish orange) but it’s running well. I can only get the sound to come out of the teeny computer speakers. For some reason there is no sound over HDMI or USB/thunderbolt which is complicated by apple who changes their implementation with every model.
I have high hopes for the Asahi team. What they’ve done so far is pretty amazing since they’ve gotten zero help from apple, and if they directly copy apple’s implementation they’ll get sued.
I have high hopes for the Asahi team. What they’ve done so far is pretty amazing since they’ve gotten zero help from apple, and if they directly copy apple’s implementation they’ll get sued.
It should make no difference which OS you are using in terms of how your dac sounds. Understood that sometimes it does make a difference, but when that happens it just means there are problems with dac and or OS (usually its mostly or fully the dac to blame). Most commonly the problem is common mode EMI/RFI noise from the computer on the USB connection which couples into the dac and affects its sound. The solution is not to choose a particular OS, rather it is to fix the dac, or else to build one that fixed by design. Building a good dac is not necessarily simple or cheap though. That said, it can be done if someone wants to badly enough. Happy to talk more about how to fix the problems, but it can be a complex/involved/detailed subject for people not yet familiar with some of the issues.
EDIT: The above having been said, if the issue is the quality of DSP built into the OS, that is a separate matter. Mostly its never done transparently, as is evident on the best reproduction systems. The first problem is just to get a CD to playback without any loss of fidelity. Not always at easy at it may seem.
EDIT: The above having been said, if the issue is the quality of DSP built into the OS, that is a separate matter. Mostly its never done transparently, as is evident on the best reproduction systems. The first problem is just to get a CD to playback without any loss of fidelity. Not always at easy at it may seem.
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