Improved sound quality in El Capitan!!!

[oscarodas]

I can confirm that something has been implemented, I had had DP1, DP2, and now DP3, on the first two previews I used to have lots of interference when playing any type of sound through my Dac and studio monitors, now with this new build (15A216g) the sound is back to normal.

 

[beestigbeestje]

Audio playback quality cannot just "enhance" through a software update. Media players normally play files bit per bit. If you are using an external DAC, you are still getting the same file going to the same DAC. However, they could have put some EQ on the internal speakers of the macbook so it is more clear. Lesser latency is always a good thing . I have an Apogee Ensemble Thunderbolt ADDA converter and on good headphones and speakers, the music just comes loose from the speakers and stereo width is just "wow". Bass is much smoother, and the highs are not so harsh as internal cards. Going for audiophile quality is a never ending story though, there is always something new on the market that is going to be better. Most of audio quality problems are "fixed" if people would stop ripping youtube mp3's.

 

[greenlightwilly]

Sound is much better, more clarity, more presence, louder, overall soundstage and latency has improved.
I wonder what changes have been made to the Core Audio API?

I´m running an audiointerface with high quality AKM Converters and Logic Pro X!

Anyone else noticed this???

I've also noticed a distinct improvement in clarity, separation, dynamic range, soundstage - that is now approaching the level of quality I hear in stand-alone high-end music systems. ...I have a 2010 Mac Mini with a standard-issue Harmon-Kardon speaker system. I have changed NOTHING in the signal path since installing a new OS upgrade - no external DAC, DSP etc. - and I find myself re-listening to my whole catalogue. I have to conclude that Apple has upgraded something in their software (and it may be particular to my specific configuration) that has caused this. ...Whatever the case, the sound is definitely improved - IMHO - and I don't need a double-blind study to confirm it. ..I've been an audio buff for many years and regardless what some have suggested in response to your question, there are MANY factors that can influence audio quality - some of which specifications have yet to be developed that can quantify their effect. Yes, there are some specs that all good systems share but even so, these systems can often be differentiated by a sophisticated listener. Something as seemingly trivial as capacitor quality can make an audible but not technically measurable difference.
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I wouldn't be surprised if it has to do with moving more components from QuickTime/QtKit over to AV Foundation/AV Kit and the recent changes they've made to the I/O audio stack as well (they've done a clean up of the USB stack as well) - lots of 'under the hood' changes have occurred based on the diff they've uploaded onto their developer library. It'll be interesting to see what happens once the final version makes its way out into the real world and the pro's start pushing it in real world scenarios.

It seems that you might be technically knowledgeable on this topic. What do you say to the poster (Mr beestigbeestje) who proclaims that 'audio playback quality can't just improve with a software update'? To me, 'software' can be any collection of configurations and code, and I've heard differences in audio quality when different types of standards/configurations are applied to processing an audio file.