[therealplato]

The only computer i've ever had with what I consider an acceptable level of line noise was a macbook pro

even a $15 USB-to-dual-3.5mm adapter sounded significantly better on other machines

I experienced this annoying line noise on ASUS, MSI and Dell motherboards

[samatman]

Audio production, I would claim, is the only niche the Macintosh has continually dominated since the first Steve Jobs era.

Even desktop publishing took a turn towards Windows in the mid-late 90s, whether it stayed 'dominant' is a fuzzy question but it was clearly losing market share.

But you won't find a professional music studio without a Mac, this has been true since the late 80s. This is not to say it can't be done with other equipment, just that as a matter of practice it isn't.

[bentcorner]

I've heard that having your analog audio lines in the same box as a bunch of other high frequency power circuits is usually a recipe for line noise, which is why external DACs can typically provide a better experience.

I have a Sound Blaster something-or-other in my PC but it's not connected to anything these days. I use a tiny Apple headphone dongle that was ~$10, has 0 noise and sounds great.