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.”
Thanks for the links. Nice example of an advanced pipewire DSP configuration. The SmartAmp is also nice example of monitoring and tweaking alsa controls in rust.
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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After crashing my Mac, hard! And having to actually pay to get it fixed, absolutely humiliating, I ended up buying an HP laptop and am using 2/3 of the drive for Linux. It’s Ubuntu for now, Mint didn’t want to load and I didn’t want to go into the rarefied levels of versions and distributions. So, here I am, after hours of messing around with Windows. I really wanted Fedora to work on my Mac Mini but I got nuffin out of the USB. I will continue to check in on Asahi but I think the Borg is taking over.
The Asahi sound thing is related to the built-in speakers. They went to great lengths to replicate (or maybe even improve) Appes DSP techniques to prevent the built-in speakers from blowing up, and to make them sound nice.
This has nothing to do with the ouput of sound data via USB to an external device (like a DAC), which seems to be what you're interested in.
This has nothing to do with the ouput of sound data via USB to an external device (like a DAC), which seems to be what you're interested in.
You are correct. That’s exactly what I mean. They made the sound on the laptop great through its little speakers, but there is no sound through the USB. That’s pretty useless to me since I use my Mini as a media player. I would think that the first thing to do is get the interfaces working, but Asahi has spent many hours making the tiny little speakers on the laptop sound very good, maybe for legal reasons? Eventually they’ll get it going, but it’s been over three years now. I’m impatient.
Sorry, I’m just very frustrated with the state of my ‘computering’ lately. Windows 11 is an absolute mess, a total load of spyware and extortion-ware. Why anyone uses Windows is beyond me. I’m warming up to Ubuntu, at least they use Gnome. I prefer Mint though, and I would like good sound thru HDMI if possible. Which I can do on my cheap laptop.
I tried a few equalizers on my Mini and they are horrible conglomerations of boomsizzle. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry, I’m just very frustrated with the state of my ‘computering’ lately. Windows 11 is an absolute mess, a total load of spyware and extortion-ware. Why anyone uses Windows is beyond me. I’m warming up to Ubuntu, at least they use Gnome. I prefer Mint though, and I would like good sound thru HDMI if possible. Which I can do on my cheap laptop.
I tried a few equalizers on my Mini and they are horrible conglomerations of boomsizzle. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Just get mainstream hardware that is supported by Linux. Or use a virtual machine to run Linux on M/M2 hardware.
Reading this thread considering a change of setup if it's worth it. I'm currently running a headless dietpi with a low noise ifi power supply driving a smsl sanskrit 10-edition mk-III dac. Is it worth changing to a mac mini to have less noise transferred to the dac. Or doesn't that really matter at all?
reg
willem
reg
willem
I haven't seen a Windows/Mac/Linux test for audio performance. It would be very interesting though. I think the noise will be mostly from the components in the hardware. Simply, better components = better sound. I think Apple is somewhere in the B+ or A- range, very good, or above average. Mac Mini's are not a huge expense and can be used for many applications, so whether it matters is up to you. I use the HDMI interface from my Mini to my Denon and it is very clean and pure. You might want to try different interfaces from your PC first (if you can) before buying new stuff. On another system I use the SPDF output from my Linux PC to a DAC and that is great. It's better (improved clarity and depth of image) than the Mac but I think that's because of the better DAC not because of the source. Sometimes USB can be really noisy, even changing between USB ports can make a difference due to different processing on the computer boards. I think there will probably be improved sound stepping up to a Mac from a DietPi, but you could buy a good PC and have the same result.
I've used linux for several years ( mint, debian, fedora, opensuse etc) and am now trying windows again (ver11). FWIW I can't hear any sound difference when playing direct via a USB DAC, unless something is broken or set up wrongly, so it almost doesn't matter from that perspective. TBH I'm unconvinced with most audio-optimised distros unless one needs something specific - e.g. live recording situations.
I'm not really a windows fan but I seem able to turn most of the unsolicited crap off, so it isn't obtrusive; not sure if that is because I have the pro version or not, but it is reasonably pleasant to use now. The main interest/benefit to me has simply been compatibility - with application and hardware support. My PC and laptop both support linux, but out of the box the support in Windows is more refined, which makes a difference (particularly on the laptop) for things like heat (which can translate to fan noise in some systems) and battery life - but there is no noticeable benefit for audio quality. I would return to linux (probably debian, maybe opensuse or mint) very easily if windows became too annoying, and my ears would know no difference.
I'm not really a windows fan but I seem able to turn most of the unsolicited crap off, so it isn't obtrusive; not sure if that is because I have the pro version or not, but it is reasonably pleasant to use now. The main interest/benefit to me has simply been compatibility - with application and hardware support. My PC and laptop both support linux, but out of the box the support in Windows is more refined, which makes a difference (particularly on the laptop) for things like heat (which can translate to fan noise in some systems) and battery life - but there is no noticeable benefit for audio quality. I would return to linux (probably debian, maybe opensuse or mint) very easily if windows became too annoying, and my ears would know no difference.
I honestly don't think so either but I'm a fan of the openhome/upnp protocol which allows me to run a headless dedicated streamer. The pi is very capable of doing just that. Especially the controlling part which allows me to control met music, albums, playlist etc..including volume from any device in my local network.
w.