I had the opportunity to compare a PC running Foobar2000 with WASAPI and a Hackintosh running Amarra (full blown version) in the same setup.
PC: HP dm1 (AMD E350) with 4GB RAM and a 60GB SSD, running Win 7 Premium 64bit with just Foobar2000 (with WASAPI Plugin), Chrome and AV installed. The PC is not a dedicated music PC, but is mostly a "dedicated" browsing PC.
MAC (Hackintosh): Desktop setup running OS X Leopard used as a "regular" PC with a lot of software installed and just 1GB RAM. Absolutely NO optimisations made for music. Generic power supply and cabinet. No idea what motherboard or processor, duh!
Rest of the setup:
- PSB Alpha B1 speakers on hollow concrete pillars filled 100% with sand. (VERY solid base).
- DIY Power Amp that's pushing about 80w RMS per channel. (Very good effort)
- A Beresford Caiman doing duty as DAC and Preamp.
- Connection Audison RCAs and Speaker Wires.
- A generic USB cable (snagged off a printer, I think) connects the source to the DAC.
The music was in 16/44.1 FLAC in a 2.5" external HDD.
My friend (whose setup it was) and I listened to the Hackintosh+Amarra setup first. We then connected the HDD and the DAC to my dm1 and played the same track/file though Foobar via WASAPI. We did this switching a few times with different tracks. There was NO blind testing involved, but we both shared our individual conclusions only at the end of the exercise. And our conclusions were the same.
The MAC+Amarra beat the PC+Foobar2000 setup hollow in terms of soundstage width, image definition and staging (the singer and individual instruments standing out in an identifiable way in space) and bass definition. I was quite surprised myself, as I've always been a staunch PC+Foobar fan. Both machines were NOT dedicated setups, but I'd say the PC setup was far less cluttered with software than the Hackintosh setup.
I hope to be able to try this test out with my the dedicated Music PC and setup at home sometime soon. I must say my faith in my PC+Foobar temple has been shaken, and the Temple of Mac looks a lot more attractive now.