27" imac optical audio

Hello, i'm trying to connect my imac to my audio receiver, so that i can listen to iTunes through my surround sound system. currently i am listening to music with my playstation3, which is connected to my receiver with an optical cable. I was told i could connect my iMac to my receiver with an optical cable, but it doesn't look like the iMac has the same port as my ps3. i went to 4 different stores today, looking for the right optical cord for the job, and nobody had it. so my question is, where can i get an optical cord that can connect my iMac to my receiver, so i can listen to iTunes thru my 5.1 surround sound? and also will the quality of sound from this setup (imac/receiver) match the quality of sound from my current (ps3/receiver) setup? and if you can't already tell, i am not the smartest when it comes to computers, so please try to keep your answers in layman's terms. haha. thank you

hello again, sorry it took so long for me to post on here again. I got that cable from the link you sent me, set it up to my receiver and it works great. i can now control my surround system with itunes . Only now i have another problem. i don't want my surround system to ALWAYS be the audio output for my computer, really only for listening to music. and now when i go into my sound settings, under output i have no option to change back to my built-in speakers on my imac, so my sound is constantly coming thru my surround system, which is uncool. seems like the only way to go back to my built-in speakers is to un-plug the new cable every time, which is undesirable. any solutions?

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Connecting to iMac optical audio out/ overall audio quality?

Just curious if anyone has done this yet? The iMac says it has optical audio out through the headphone jack but without an adapter I can't see how that's possible. My speakrs accept optical audio in and I really want to connect them to my future iMac. If not, how's the optical from the headphone jack? Is it possible to get 5.1 surround from that port?

firefighterpilot1 wrote:
The iMac says it has optical audio out through the headphone jack but without an adapter
I can't see how that's possible.
There are two "standard" optical-digital-audio connectors -- the original "square" one is
still used in most larger audio/video components. The newer/smaller one, used mainly in
portable gear, is exactly the same size as a mini headphone plug. The iMac's audio jacks
support either analog or digital-optical connections -- depending on which type of plug
is inserted.
Radio Shack carries adapters/converters/cables of both types (usually at outrageously
high prices). For online vendors, try http://monoprice.com -- great prices and a good
reputation for quality/service among the HDTV-fanatics on avsforum.com.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?cid=104&cp_id=10423&cs_id=1042301&pid=2671&seq=1&format=2
Is it possible to get 5.1 surround from that port?
http://www.thismuchiknow.co.uk/?p=24
Looby

Bug: Target Display Mode + optical audio cable = black screen

Using Target Display Mode on my iMac 27" (late-2012) with my MacBook Air (mid-2013) always resulted in a black screen on the iMac.
Hardware used:
MacBook Air mid-2013 (Mac OS X 10.8.4)
iMac 27" late-2012 (Mac OS X 10.8.4)
Thunderbolt cable between MBA and iMac
optical audio cable in iMac (digital audio out through optical mini jack plug)
Now, enter Target Display Mode on the iMac keyboard (Cmd+F2).
Result: black screen on the iMac (MBA is okay, optical audio is okay)
Workaround: unplug optical audio cable before entering Target Display Mode. Plug in the optical digital audio out cable after TDM is working and all is fine.
I sent a bug report through the feedback form. Just posting here to save others the few hours I had to spend finding the cause and workaround!
-- Richard

Thank you!! Saved me a trip to the Genius Bar.
Confirmed: Bug also exists in the new 2013 iMac under Mavericks. Unplugging the optical cable before entering Target Display Mode solved the problem.

How to connect Digital Optical Audio output iMac with Receiver Input

I have connected iMac with onkyo hts-3300 home theater system receiver through optical audio TosLink Cable.( http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Optical-Audio-TosLink-Cable/dp/B001ZU3G2I/ref=sr12?ie=UTF8&qid=1292865309&sr=8-2 ). Unfortunately there is no sound coming out from the Home theater system. I have verified the Receiver optical input is working fine by connecting with my TV optical audio digital out put and the it's working great. The only difference between TV and iMac is, on my TV, it has optical audio digital output and I can use this cable (http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-A102-02M-Digital-connectors/dp/B0002WPREU/ref=s r11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1297320792&sr=1-1) to make it work. I can also verified my optical audio TosLink Cable working because I can see the red light coming out from the cable. So the only problem could be from iMac. I doubt I need to change the additional setting to configure iMac to use external optical audio setting instead of the buit in audio setting. Hoe can I able to do it? or my iMac(IMAC 21.5"/3.06/2X2GB/500GB/9400M-ITP
MB950ZP/A) doesn't support optical digital audio out put? I have follow this thread http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12769423&#12769423 and to my surprise which doesn't work out for me. I doubt that i need to change some setting, but when I got to setting>> sound I cannot change any setting. I was quite depressed aldy. Can someone answer my question as i m a newbie here. Thanks a lot

Thank you very much for your reply.
@Király : May i know how to Open Audio Midi Setup? Is this Audio Midi Setup is in the locatated in the Setting in Mac Snow Leapord OS? or how to locate this "Audio Midi Setup " in Mac enviroment. Is it possible to open this Audio Midi Setup in windows 7 enviroment also? I Just want to get the audio from my iMac in Hts-3300 onkyo home theatre. YOur help is much appreciated
@rkaufmann87 : Thank you very much for your sharing about this http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/ connection. for me what i understand is the digital audio output in airportexpress is the same as the audio out put in iMac in terms of details sepcs. So this airportexpress will only help you connect wirelessly to home theatre system, rather than waired connection. Other than that nothig much difference. So there is no point for me to spend extra bucks to attain the wireless connection. Unless the airportexpress have optical digital input, which i believe not. Correct me if I m worng, thanks

Optical audio cable for iMac?

I need to find an optical audio cable for my 20" intel iMac.
I have not been able to determine what kind of cable that it is that I need to be able to hook up my iMac to my logitech z-5500's. I know that the z-5500's have an optical input on them, but it is a standard size optical input.
Does anyone know what exactly it is that I am looking for?
Any help is appreciated.

I wish Apple would sell a nice white Toslink ->Mini-tos adapter, as all of their products seem to be using the connector. (Or better yet, include it with the computers.)
The cable mentioned above will work fine and is not viciously overpriced like the Monster stuff. Another good quality solution, especially if you already have a regular optical cable, is this adaptor: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=180-968
I use two of those (both with Dayton Audio optical cables from the same seller, though any optical cable will do as there's no real difference between any of them) with my iMac and AirPort Express, and have not had any problems.

Is there a Usb Optical audio adapter for 2012 iMac?

I didn't realize that there wasn't going to be an optical audio output until the day I unboxed the iMac. I would like to plug it into my headphones that require a optical ouput. Any help well be appericated, thanks.

Yes, I have. I have Astro A50's and the mixamp needs a optical cable. Is there a usb optical adapter that I can plug into the iMac?

Optical Audio in Vista 32-bit : Different/Wrong behaviour in iMac & MacBook

Hi,
I've installed Boot Camp a long time ago, but couldn't subscribe to these Apple forums for an unknown reason... well I've finally managed to.
About my questions, I've searched on the web but couldn't find a precise answer, or it was just not exactly my problem that I would find. So here are the problems :
*iMac (Late 2006)* : I cannot get sound from my Logitech Z5500 that are plugged via a TOSlink adapter, the optical way. It's just not working at all, while it's working flawlessly in OS X Leopard. The only workaround I have is to remove the adapter from the audio plug, so my iMac produces its sound from its own speakers... They're good, but you know, I don't wanna do that.
*MacBook (Late 2008)* : The optical audio plug is constantly red, meaning that the system forces the sound to be optical, while I don't have anything plugged it. Keep in mind that it works flawlessly, once again, in OS X Leopard. I heard about "the toothpick, the q-tip and the match" trick in the plug, but you see, I tried it, and it's seriously not the problem, because it wouldn't work in OS X. I also noted that by plugging my Z5500 speakers with their adapter in my MacBook, no sound would come out of the speakers. Strange or normal?
So basically, both of my computer have different problems related to optical audio, and I can't get them to produce any sound.
Can anyone shed some light on this? (not red please...)
Thanks in advance!
- Dave

Arg, I didn't really mean to post this in "Installation & Storage"...
Oh well, I believe we could say I didn't succeed in installing the sound devices properly :-\

"Optical audio port" on back of imac?

it sure doesn't look like an optical audio port... most optical audio ports are square and have a tiny door on them.
I know the manual said something about getting a "mini-plug adapter" to use the port incase I want to output my itunes into my audio receiver but is the port on the back of the imac something that takes a "mini-stereo plug" like headphones or is it something that takes a "mini-Toslink" plug like a few I've seen advertised on ebay?
well I guess the bottom line is that its probably a "mini-stereo plug" because my Boston computer speakers plugged right into it....

Hey there - use the mini-Toslink plug (I chose a 90 degree adapter version) and then ran it to my stereo receiver. Voila! Optical out. The only thing I'm still working on is getting some type of software switch installed (if at all possible) to swap between digital audio out and using the built in speakers (My stereo receiver isn't always on and I don't like unplugging the cable just to get the speakers to work.) To answer your original question, yes, the mini Toslink cable will work just fine.
-Mike

Optical Audio Out

We are using a brand new (received yesterday 12-19-10) iMac 21.5. We are using this for our media presentation computer at our church. I would like to connect the audio to our sound board through the optical audio connection port. Can someone suggest the proper cable for us to use to accomplish this?
Thank you!

Hi!
The cable you need would be one like this one from Amazon. You can order from there or your local Radio Shack may carry a similar cable.
If you want to get high tech and do things wireless you can if you are using iTunes. You can get the same cable and then get an Airport Express from the Apple Store and then stream the music from the computer to your receiver. The process is called AirPlay, you can find more info about it on Apples web site if you're interested.
Roger

What type of connectors needed for optical audio out?

Hi, looking at upgrading to an imac and I noticed on the spec it has optical audio out which would be great to go into my audio interface. What connector do I need? Is it TOSLINK type?
Had a look at the picture of the rear but couldn't see an optical out port, only the jacks for analogue. Where does the optical come out!?
Thanks!

If you want to connect the iMac to something that has Toslink then you would need a cable similar to this:
http://www.amazon.com/6ft-Toslink-Mini-Cable/dp/B000FMXKC8/ref=pdcp_e_1?pf_rd_p=413863501&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0002MQGRM&pf_rd_ m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rdr=1TDMZGX7YP22Q17RP1X3
I use one myself, they work fine.

Does the MBA have an optical audio out (toslink)?

Does the MBA have an optical audio out (toslink)?

The MacBook Pro and iMacs have digital audio out routed through the headphone jack. A physical converter (costing a few cents) must be used to connect a regular TOSLINK cable.
The MacBook Air apparently does not have this feature.
As to true Thunderbolt 'adaptors' I have yet to see any hit the market. I would suggest not holding your breath while waiting for useful Thunderbolt technology to appear--one day perhaps, but not now. I would love to be proven wrong about this--I could really use the Thunderbolt<->FW800 adapter

Optical audio and the iPad headphone jack

I have an optical audio cable going into my tv sound system - will an the iPad sound connect to this thru the headphone jack? I can not play sound thru my iPhone, but can thru my iMac.

It is the only one that I have seen. The only other way would be to get a converter to from analog to SPDIF optical and use either the headphone jack or another interface. Like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Analog-Digital-Optical-Converter-Adapter/dp/B0055EBH5S

What is the audio in/optical audio port for ?

I scan thru my iMac manual & found that I have not use my audio in/optical audio port.
What is that port for ?
Can I connect a mic to it & do a voice over in FCE ? If yes, then is this a better method or using a USB mic is better ?
Thnaks

MartinR wrote:
The audio-in port supports both analog audio input & optical digital input. It can be used with almost any audio source including microphones, tape decks, cd players, dvd players, mixers, etc. including mic level and line level sources. The quality of the audio will be dependent on the quality of your audio source. It is neither better nor worse than a USB based audio source per se.
Yes, you can connect a microphone to the audio-in port. The quality of the audio will be dependent on the quality of your mic. If you have a good mic the results should be as good through the audio-in port as it would be via USB provided your USB device is capable of producing good audio.
Thanks Martin for the answers !!
Really appreciate it, thanks

New Intel Mini's Optical Audio

I am thinking about upgrading my current mini to the new Intel Mini due to the fact that it has optical audio. My mini is connected to my home theater and I want to take advantage of the digital sound. Here's my question:
Q: Does this new Intel Mini really have optical audio like you would find on a DVD player? I don't recognize the actual plug. Most equipment that I use with optical audio has that little black plastic square plugs that you remove when connecting an optical audio cable. My receiver has many inputs.
Do I need a proprietary cable to connect a new Intel Mini to my receiver's optical audio port?
Maybe this seems obvious, but I have to ask before I shell out the cash. Better safe than aorry.
Thanks in advance,
Marc
15 PowerBook G4 - 1.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4)

The audio out port on the new Intel-based Mac mini is a standard type of port. In Apple products, it's used in the AirPort Express, the G5 and Intel-based iMacs, and the new MacBook Pros. The port is a combination of a standard 3.5mm "headphone" port and a digital optical audio port. You can get a regular digital optical cable with the adapter at the online Apple store here. If you already have a digital optical audio cable, you can just get a "Toslink to mini Toslink adapter" like this.
However, if I were you, you don't need to buy a whole new Mac mini to get digital optical audio out. The $99 m-audio Transit USB audio adapter will give you digital optical audio out of your current Mac mini. It will allow you to play surround sound out of your Apple DVD Player application and specifically configure non-surround sound audio out of non-surround sound applications, like iTunes. I'm using the previous model of m-audio's USB adapter with my G4 Mac mini and it works very well.
-Doug

Lion Optical Audio Problem

It's an outrage truly. Can't believe the hours I've wasted troubleshooting this problem...and it goes back at least 3 upgrades ago that my optical audio started to fail / stop working once sending DTS 5.1 via toslink. Going back to play audio in iTunes, or anywhere, would fail / no audio. Somehow the audio driver would lock and corrupt the system. No amount of audiomidi setup configuration would do a thing. Reboot was the only fix. 120 of them later....I tried a soundblaster x-fi usb bypassing the imac sound completely. The box worked perfectly! Except, for the exact same problem switching between the 2. It became apparent that the os was screwed...absolutely no doubt.
I gave up and was ready to build my own dang system...sell the beautiful but broken imac to someone.
Low-and-behold, I see this small line item in the list of 10.7.1 fixes tonight - mix of rage, insult, disbelief - how on earth did perfectly working audio get broken and downgraded?
How do we learn more about this product we've purchased that is getting broken by someone, no "sorry 'bout that?", or, "by the way, to our loyal customers going through **** trying to fix their broken audio, we know, we're working on it..in the meantime, here's $25 worth of stupid app store junk, including the sickingly popular birds game for free!"
Certainly this is likely answered in the incredibly boring license agreement I never read. "We are not responsible for hours wasted with broken software."
Done.
Frank

Yes, 10.7.1 appears to work (knock on particle board). I am now able to play a video file with DTS audio, the receiver automatically switches to DTS..Then, I can quit Movist, open iTunes and play 2 channel audio..The receiver automatically switches. Before, I would try to play regular audio and no sound. It seems I am able to switch back and forth without corrupting the system for a reboot.
To be even more clear about my experience; Snow Leopard worked fine for this 'normal' functionality of switching audio from 5.1 to 2ch. It was only during a subsequent update of Snow Leopard that audio broke. It is now, nearly weeks after Lion release, that this has been addressed (a second time - the first osx update to attempt to fix optical audio problems did NOT work).
Were you able to get 5.1 before and now cannot? What app are you using? Do you have a 5.1 receiver?
Frank

27" imac optical audio

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