From what I've heard so far, Bug Su… er, I mean BIG Sur is a nightmare for pro audio:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mac+big+sur+audio+dropouts
But frankly, actually it's yearly business as usual though. It was similar reports with Catalina a year ago, with Mojave two years ago, etc.
Rule #1:
If you want to use professional audio software and hardware for a living, never upgrade your system at the "cutting edge". If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Wait until other intrepid pioneers have figured out all the bugs, and the engineers have either fixed them, or other brave users have found workarounds. Then upgrade if you dare.
In other words, if your "old" MacBook has worked for you well, keep on using it for anything "mission critical", and use your new Mini for experimenting until the worst bugs are fixed in, say, about half a year from now.
For what it's worth, here's a word from a random pro expert out there:
Is It Too Early To Upgrade To macOS Big Sur?
Simply put - Yes.
Even though all of Apple’s software will not only be compatible with Big Sur from day 1, including Logic Pro and Final Cut and able to run on Apple Silicon too, even Logic and FCPX users will find that a lot of the plugins that you depend on will not be macOS 11 compatible from day 1 so our advice, even for you, will be NOT to upgrade yet.
(source: https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/production-expert-1/2020/10/21/macos-big-sur-compatibility-the-ultimate-pro-audio-guide-check-it-out-today)