Hi All,

Looks like I will be getting a laptop soon and i will be passing my current PC to my parents, anyways back to the question at hand. Ive been looking at both a Macbook and a Dell Laptop, now I know for the same money you can get a higher spec'd Dell however as they both use different Operating environments and Im guessing The apple can get away with less power as the OS isnt a power hungry F$%K like Vista
Also I like the portability of the Macbook, the look and of course the OS (will wait till Leopard comes out before making a purchase)

Anyways Im wondering, My current setup is an Audigy 4 using the Digital Module and optical going to my amp. For anybody using a macbook/macbook pro how do you deliver the audio to your amp? I think there is a 3.5mm digital out jack which I suppose I could run a 3.5mm mono to RCA into my Amp? Is there a possiblity of optical or is that my only option?

My second Question is what type of audio hardware/codec does the macbook use? not that it really matters with a digital passthrough but for the times where I dont have my Amp & Speakers close by and require my headphones.

Thanks

I can't speak for the Pro, but my Macbook has just a 3.5mm jack and the card is an Integrated "Intel High Definition Audio" chipset

While OS X doesn't offer much control, under Linux, the mixer shows 5 channels, each can be controlled separately. This also let me verify there are five speakers in the laptop too, but they're all in the back of the laptop, and frankly they're really weak compared to my old HP.

I'll check the exact model of the chip in a few minutes.

EDIT: Here's my lspci output

I take the optical S/PDIF signal from the MacBook Pro's optical out (the combined 3.5 analog/optical out), route it through my Electrocompaniet DAC before the analog signal reach my amplifier.

You can just kick out the Audigy 4 and feed the amplifier with optical signal straight from the MacBook (Pro).

No idea about this one.
Cause I don't remember every seeing any notes about which audio chip-set the MacBook (Pro's) are equipped with.

Someone else might know this though...

I dont think the macbook (non pro) comes with a traditional optical out which
though it does show that it has 3.5mm optical digital jacks. I just need someone to confirm how to confirm connection to my receiver

Hi rudefyet,

Do you use headphones? what can you tell me of the quality? is there any interference from the bus? any electro noises coming through the headphone jack?

Thanks

I've got the cheapest MacBook and can confirm the audio-out is a combined optical-minijack. I use it to feed it to my DAC (with an optic cable) and listen to music (duh).

The MacBook and MacBook Pro have with the exact same 3.5mm combined optical/analog output.
I don't know what you mean with "traditional optical out". But it certainly have a standard S/PDIF optical output, which you can use to feed any DAC with optical S/PDIF input...

Just plug one end of the optical cable into the MacBook (Pro) output, then the other end into your amplifiers optical input. It can't be that hard!

Sorry my mistake, Didnt know there was a 3.5mm option as Im using the standard square shaped plug.

The "square" plug is TOSLINK, you need an adaptor

The fronted end is Intel HD Audio and the secondary CODEC is a Sigmatel HD Audio chipset. However it's not entirely clear which one it is as there are several different chips.

Unfortunately every Intel Mac I've ever seen has issues with pops and ticks out of the audio device due to the secondary codec going out and back in to a power saving state before and after you play an audio file. The effect is quite subtle and you won't hear it unless you in a otherwise completely quiet room, it's also more noticeable on headphones.

To be clear this only affects the analogue output, the optical digital output doesn't suffer from the same problem.

Thats good to hear, only really worried about the digital output.
I will be ordering my macbook once Leopard comes out and comes with the mac as standard, so now it is just a waiting game