>>"core audio" is the audio subsystem of OSX. <<
i am well aware of what core audio is
>>most audio apps for OSX arent optimized for it yet<<
then these are application issues, not core-audio issues. I have experience with Peak 3, all flavors of spark, sound studio (shareware), amadeus (shareware), digital performer 4, and various other os x audio apps. the only one i had serious issues with that were software related was Peak, and they released a patch that supposedly fixed issues
Performer has a buffer issue with 4.1, but that's not a "core audio is immature" problem. It's a performer problem
>>the technology itself is still somewhat immature and can cause dropouts and diginoise. you are the FIRST/ONLY person I know/met who has no problems with it.<<
I ditched os 9 back in january and have been strictly 10.2 ever since (i don't even own a machine that is capable of booting into os 9 anymore). I've run various hardware interfaces anywhere from 16/44.1 to 24/96 with success. Anything that did not work was not a core audio issue, but a driver issue that was the fault of the 3rd party, NOT apple.
I also know plenty of studio types who use 10.2 exclusively too, using logic, spark, performer, etc with various dual and multichannel interfaces. they don't have issues either. There are people on these very boards who use 10.2 for audio and have no problems as well...
core audio seems pretty solid to me. my question for you is what interface and software are *you* using? maybe we can figure out what's going on here...