All I can tell you is that I am using Windows Media Player and use Exact Audio Copy to rip my CD's to the hard drive. I gave my son an Apple I Mac for his birthday a few weeks ago. He insatlled the I Mac on my system and called me to proclaim how great it sounded. He had ripped much of his music to the hard drive already. I don't use a Wavelength DAC however,the DAC is a Burwen using a software plug-in called the Bobcat.
I came home and listened to the CD player in the I Mac going into the DAC in my system. I was unimpressed. He then urged me to rip the selections onto the I Mac's hard drive because it sounded so much better. I came back a few days later and did just that. When I fired up the system, I had the left channel with no sound due to a bad connection on the speaker lugs. I could tell even with the left channel out that it was seemimgly more vivid. I can't tell you what his settings were in the Apple, but what I heard was more density to the music that made imaging more palpable once the left channel was restored. The highs were a smidge more pleasing to me using my Windows-based system but it also had a sound that was a little more thin than that of the I Mac. I also think the sound on my friend's system is pretty special and he uses a Mac Mini.
Based upon my observations using the same DAC with both OS, my nod goes to the Apple.
I came home and listened to the CD player in the I Mac going into the DAC in my system. I was unimpressed. He then urged me to rip the selections onto the I Mac's hard drive because it sounded so much better. I came back a few days later and did just that. When I fired up the system, I had the left channel with no sound due to a bad connection on the speaker lugs. I could tell even with the left channel out that it was seemimgly more vivid. I can't tell you what his settings were in the Apple, but what I heard was more density to the music that made imaging more palpable once the left channel was restored. The highs were a smidge more pleasing to me using my Windows-based system but it also had a sound that was a little more thin than that of the I Mac. I also think the sound on my friend's system is pretty special and he uses a Mac Mini.
Based upon my observations using the same DAC with both OS, my nod goes to the Apple.