On my base M4 Mac mini, super, v2 and v3 works at x256 48K with DAC correction. I find with at x256 I don’t have any issues with most filters I tried.
x512 I need to do some budgeting as it is pushing he limits of the M4 Base Mac mini.
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I was just going to reply that I will test this tomorrow but it looks like Brian beat me to it!
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I have to, as you say, do some budgeting with a Mac Studio M1 Max with 512, actually it a lot of budgeting, but most work with 256.
This is without dac correction though.
May have to wait out a bit on an M4 upgrade.
Thanks for the feedback. 
I now have a DAC that has corrections available, i am able to get 256 48k with corrections enabled using ASDM7 (EC, ul, light, fast, and super) using a good amount of filters. Some of the longer ones as expected do not work. The v2 & v3 are problematic.
I’m using a M1 Studio Max.
Now I wonder how much faster the M4 Studio Max is compared to the M4 Mini Pro.
I’m asking the question here, but I currently have a Mini M2 with HQP5 Desktop and a Holo Cyan 2 + Naa on a NUC I5… no problem with SDM256 and the new ASDM7 filters.
*Does switching to an M4 instead of the M2 make any real difference apart from being able to switch to SDM512?
I thought it was better to opt for the 256 with the Cyan 2.
Another question: wouldn’t opting for a NUC I5 or I7 with a Linux distribution be better than an M4?
Jussi,
Would you mind sharing your base Mac Mini M4 settings when using ASDM7EC-super 512+fs for DSD512? It doesn’t make sense to me that I get stuttering on my Mac Mini M4 Pro so I am wondering if have something set incorrectly.
Here are my settings:
- Default Mode - SDM
- 48k DSD - checked
- Adaptive rate - checked
- Fixed volume - checked
- Oversampling 1x - poly-sinc-gauss-long
- Oversampling Nx - poly-since-gauss-hires-lp
- Bit Rate - 48kx512
- Multicore DSP - grayed
- Blocks per cycle - Default
- DAC Correction - enabled
Thanks - Nick
I’m thinking if you’re happy with the filters you’re getting @ 256 with the M2, the M4 isn’t going to help you much. If you’re trying to get to 512 it may help. Much like your M2 mini, the M1 Studio max I have is good with most things @ 256 with DAC correction enabled. With 512 it’s very limited on filter and modulator choices.
I’ve curbed the urge to get a M4 Studio, before you know it the M5 will be here. 
I would think your M2 will be better than a NUC. NUCs are mobile Intel CPU’s, I don’t believe their single core score is better than the M2, let alone an M4.
I’d opt for a desktop chip with a good GPU and Linux before a NUC. If you’re thinking about a NUC because of size or power consumption, you’ll probably better off with what you already have.
With Apple Silicon, I would try graying the Adaptive rate and the Multicore DSP.
Thank you for the suggestions. I made a couple of mistakes on my settings. I have Multicore DSP grayed and Blocks per Cycle set to Default. I will gray Adaptive Rate tomorrow and test it out.
I don’t think I’ve got such working. Looking at my earlier screenshots, DSD512 with ASDM7EC-fast and DAC correction, or DSD256 with ASDM7EC-super and DAC correction.
Your overall settings seem otherwise similar to mine.
No dice! Thankfully ASDM7EC-fast 512+fs works with no stuttering and sounds pretty good.
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I’ve been following this thread and have a question. Compared to a M3 Max MacBook Pro (36GB RAM, 14 Core CPU, 30 Core GPU) using a hardwired ethernet adapter, what would be the performance difference compared to using a M4 Pro Mac Mini for running the more processor intensive modulators?
For listening to music, either is a gimongous overkill performance wise.
For just Roon, I would say this.
For hqplayer, ideally you want single core speed and memory bandwidth.
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It was HQPlayer I was concerned about. I have Roon running on a Nucleus on the network. I am planning to run HQPlayer on either my M3 Max MacBook Pro or get the M4 Pro Mac Mini. Using the Holo Red as a Roon endpoint into a T+A DAC 200.
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I would try with the M3 Pro and see what you think, and more importantly how you use it. I’m not sure the M4 Mini will offer any more capability in terms of filters / shapers you can run, but even if it does you may not be that interested in the sonic edge.
I have an M4 Mini as my daily driver computer and I had started using hqpd on it with all the usual NAA discovery occasional hiccoughs etc - though mostly it worked great. Having played for a long time, I now installed a very lightweight xfce and hqpd on my 13i9 Ubuntu server that runs the core and 95% of the time I’m running PCM768, DSD256 or lightweight DSD512 on that. Occasionally I get FOMO and go back to the M4. I try really hard to let preference be my guide instead of nervosa. HQPD can make it tempting to “go to the limits of possibility” in upsampling. But I actually prefer 768/DSD256 much of the time. And the usability of having one hqpd instance on localhost is definitely slightly helpful. Jussi makes it simple to have one license, multiple instances, and just not run them at the same time. I’m increasingly a fan of not having more machines to maintain, so I’d encourage you to use what you have and see how you get on.
I would steer clear of the M3 Pro. The memory bandwidth is worse than the M1 Pro and the M2 Pro.
if you go with a Pro chip, the M4 is the better choice.
if your heart is set on an M3 variant, the M3 Max is a much better choice than the M3 Pro.
Why not go with a MacStudio 16core M4 Max with 48Gb RAM.
It’s close in price to a refurbished M3 MacBook Pro, but better overall.
(I missed the fact that you already have the M3 MacBook)
The M3 Pro Max will be close or similar to the M4 mini Pro.
Sure, I agree if the decision was “which new computer to get”. But the question was “should I try the computer I have on hand or get a new computer”? And I almost always think that it’s worth trying it out and seeing what performance you get and what you think first before buying new hardware. The memory bandwidth could be crap and we might say “never buy that new” but it might do the job just fine. And the M5 might be out by the time the poster decides the M3 Max isn’t doing it. Or maybe the M4 mini will be even cheaper (hard to imagine!).
Deferral is a great strategy 
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Of course always try with the hardware you already have and see if it can do what you are after.
In my living room, the old passive cooled i5-7600T with 16 GB of DDR4 RAM is still sufficient for DSD256 to the Marantz SA-12SE. And through another USB port operates as a NAA for T+A DAC 200 (at DSD512).
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So I’ve been using my MacBook Pro with the M3 Max processor and have no issues with DSD512 into the DAC 200 through the Holo Red. Today I saw that B&H (no affiliation) had the M4 Max Mac Studio on sale for $1850. I like the idea of having a dedicated computer to run HQplayer, rather than move my laptop back and forth to use a harwired ethernet conection, so I ordered it. I’ll try it out tomorrow when it arrives and see if I can get it to pass DSD1024 to the DAC 200 (although I have no complaints with DSD512).
What are some of the functions in the Mac OS that I should disable/enable to get the best performance running HQPlayer?