People stopped max track counts in 2017 when the iMac Pro could handle 1,000 VI tracks with a reverb plugin plus a convo reverb plug on each track. This was for the 10 core 32GB RAM 1TB basic model. I never bothered testing my 14 Core/64GB or 18 Core/128GB iMPs audio performance — no need if the base model could do a thousand.

Prior to that, the Mac Pro 6.1 (aka trashcan) could sorta' kinda' handle 300 of the same tracks and the 5.1 (cheesegrater) was choking on 150. It was a film/soundtrack composer in England who ran those tests—he stopped at 1,000 because there was no point in going higher, not because it couldn't be done.

The M4 Mini Pro keeps up with my M2 Ultra Studio as far as audio goes. Audio performance is just not an issue anymore. What you're paying for as you go up in price is AV (video) performance. A BOX II MAYA rendering station with the equivalent AV performance running Win 11 costs $38,000–$82,000 depending on extras — of course, audio performance is a given. Like my Studio, a BOX II is way, way, way overkill for audio.


BIAB 2026 Audiophile Mac
24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia/Tahoe, M1 & M5 MBAir, 2012 MBP
Digital Performer11, Logic, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScore/Notion/Overture