Asking as a Linux user for whom PipeWire works fine (for recording, live-streaming, as well as playback), what does macOS do better?

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bayindirh 9 hours ago | parent [-]

Latency for the most part. It's almost non-existent and has effectively no visible load on the system. Also, you can plug any advanced interface via USB or Thunderbolt and carry massive amount of audio data just by selecting that device from a list. It's simple, it's transparent, it's fast and it works.

While I agree that Pipewire works great and pretty transparently for single channel capture and multichannel playback, I don't know what happens when you add a 6 channel audio interface and start recording on all of them at the same time.

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viraptor 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Then you should give pipewire a serious go with multiple channels. It's way better than MacOS stack which doesn't really do independent multichannel by default. There's an API for it that some paid apps use that lets you do it. Meanwhile pipewire just lets you connect whatever wherever. I managed with pipewire to get lower latency on Bluetooth headphones than MacOS allows at all.

What happens with 6 channels? You just connect them where you want and it works.

	▲	bayindirh 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I'd happily do that, and give it a whirr. I have no qualms against that. Unfortunately I no longer have my primary desktop (Linux) system, and no external audio interface to play with at the office. If I can borrow something from my friends, I'd love try to give Pipewire another go.

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majewsky 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Sounds like I need to borrow my friend's Rodecaster for a bit. :)