Improve audio out from MBP

I'm using my MBP more and more as a source for my home stereo. I connect the two via AirTunes using an Airport Express.
Since I'm using a nice receiver and quality speakers I've become more conscious of the quality of the digital audio coming from my MBP.
Setting aside the quality of the files which I understand and can address, what can I do to improve the output of my audio?
Is the soundcard being used to stream data to Airport Express? Is the Express decoding the files? Is the Express a weak link or is degrading the Audio Quality? Sorry about the Airport questions.
How about could sound be improved with an external sound card? Should I stream to stereo speakers using a different number of bits or Hz?
Any advice would be appreciated.

The first thing I would do in your situation, just by way of defining the issues, would be to make a TOSlink connection from the headphone port on the MBP directly to the digital audio-in port on the receiver, and compare the sound quality with what you've been getting by streaming the audio wirelessly. That will tell you how much of the MBP's built-in audio-quality capability you sacrifice by relying on wireless streaming. It may be a lot or a little; I have no idea, but in your shoes I'd certainly want to know. Yes, wireless streaming is certainly convenient, but if it's costing you a significant amount of listening enjoyment, you may want to consider wired alternatives, or even storing your music on a different device from your computer.

Similar Messages

MBP audio out from headphone jack is extremely low in volume

i just sent my macbook pro 13in (mid 2009 model) to the apple store (out of warranty). my problem was that the audio out from the headphone jack was very very low and staticky. the problem arose about 2-3wks ago. i've owned the laptop since june 2009. i've never dropped or damaged it (no water damage, etc)
my local apple store told me they had to replace logic board which seems extreme for what my problem is. i've read numerous forum posts saying that their computers came back with flickering "kernel panic"
has anyone else had a similar audio problem with their computer, and if so was it resolved in this manner?
thanks!

I think you may be mistaken. the static coming from macbooks audio output port is as old a story as the macbook itself. IMO, epic fail on apple's part. I am debating complaining in a few months when I decide I deserve a better sound quality from a ridiculously overpriced laptop.

I need to have audio out from HDMI and headphone jack simultaneously

I need to have audio out from HDMI and headphone jack simultaneously.
I seem to be able to select one or the other, but not both ? !
Thanks

No. You can only use one sound output:
Why can't I select HDMI audio on my Mac mini?
If you connect an HDMI display or television to a Mac mini (Mid 2010 or later), you might not be able to select the HDMI audio device (in System Preferences > Sound > Output). This can happen if you also have headphones plugged in to the computer. Unplug the headphones to be able to select HDMI audio.
Mac computers: Frequently asked questions about using HDMI

Is there an adaptor that can split the audio out from mic input?

I'd like to use the iPhone on a mixer borad for conferencing. I'm looking for an adaptor that will allow me to separate audio (out) from mic (in) on the iPhone. Any ideas?

Will this work for you?
http://www.amazon.com/Headset-Buddy-01-PC35-PH35-Smartphone-Blackberry/dp/B002SK 66OY/ref=pd_cp_e_0/178-2348075-7189648

Audio Out from iMac

Hi there....on my iMac, suddenly I'm only getting audio out from the headphone jack at the back (which goes into my JBL Creature II's) on the RIGHT hand side. it does seem that suddenly the output jack socket has become defective....anyone else had this kind of thing?

Try it with something else, such as iPod earbuds, to make sure the problem is not on the speaker side.
Also, check System Preferences Sound pane Output tab to make sure the Balance setting did not get set all the way to the right side somehow.
If it's still broken, try resetting the PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
Speaker volume parameters are stored in PRAM.

Improving audio quality from a subscriber point of view

Hi,
I am building an application that requires audio chat. When the chat is happening between an Android user and a PC user, the PC user can hear clearly when the Android user speaks. However, when it is the other way around, the Android user hear distorted sound,with noises. Is there any way to improve audio received from a subscriber point of view?
Please advice, thanks!
Regards

Hi Raff,
The Android device is a Samsung Galaxy S i9000 and it is running AIR 2.6, attached below is a snippet of the code related to the audio i am using
<mx:Button x="121" y="700" height="34" width="117" label="Audio" toggle="true" id="audioButt"
click="(audioButt.selected) ? audioPub.publish(): audioPub.stop()" includeIn="LoggedIn"/>
<mx:Button x="242" y="700" height="34" width="117" label="Quality" toggle="true" id="audioButt1" includeIn="LoggedIn"
click="(audioButt.selected) ? audioPub.microphoneManager.encodeQuality = 3 : audioPub.microphoneManager.encodeQuality = 4"/>
<rtc:AudioPublisher id="audioPub" codec="{SoundCodec.SPEEX}" useEchoSuppression="true" silenceLevel="0" />
<rtc:AudioSubscriber/>
I think the problem is related to the script I am writing,I created a button called Quality to reduce the encodeQuality of my PC microphone, will it helps to improve the audio recieved from my Android device?Please advice, thanks!
Regards

How To Get Sound To Play Out From MBP Onto HDTV?

I hooked up my MBP to my HDTV last night using the DVI - HDMI cable and had no issues with picture.
This is the model of HDTV I have: http://www.hitachidigitalmedia.com/product_techspec.do?pt=17&pg=69&proid=593
I then connected plugged in a phono L+R to 3.5mm Jack Audio Cable from the headphone port on my Mac to the PC Audio Input on the TV. Nada sound.
Then tried connecting to the Audio Input points on the TV. Still nothing.
The only Audio sockets my HDTV has are:
Audio Input •
PC Audio Input •
Audio Line Out •
Headphone Socket •
Component Audio
so don't think I can use TOSLINK either.
Can anyone help? Spent last night with picture off the HDTV but sound off a set of external Creative speakers hooked up to the MBP.
Thank You,
Arivind Abraham

I think that the audio cable from the MBP to the audio inputs on the TV would have worked if you had gone to System Preferences -> Sound -> Output and assigned the output there. YMMV

What kind of audio interface do I need for audio out from MainStage 3?

I have a Yamaha MO8 that I use for playing in the worship band at my church. In the past, I've just directly routed audio from the MO8 through a direct box and into the sound system.
I'm looking to switch my setup and use the Yamaha MO8 as a midi controller in MainStage 3. I have this part working — the problem is getting the audio from my MacBook Pro.
The audio output sounds fine through the MacBook Pro speakers or through headphones plugged into the audio out / headphone jack; however, if I plug the direct box into the MacBook Pro's audio out / headphone jack, the signal the sound system gets is very pretty weak and very distorted.
I'm assuming I need an audio interface between my MacBook Pro and the direct box / sound system. Since it's a 2010 MacBook Pro, I'm assuming my only output option is USB (unless the digital audio out can be used). If that's correct, would something like the Scarlet 2i2 work for me?
Thanks…

Yes, you'll need some sort of audio interface to get a good signal back to your mixer.
The Scarlet 2i2 would work for you but you may find a few limitations. I use a MOTU Audio Express and it has the advantage of being a mixer as well, so I can mix in a backup signal from the onboard audio outs of my controller (Kurzweil PC3x) in case MainStage goes down (it happens on rare occasion). Firewire is my preference so the MOTU checks that box. I also like that I can connect my MIDI cables to the MOTU and have one cable going into the computer.
If you need this sort of compact redundancy, I would shoot a little higher than the Scarlet. If you don't feel the need for a backup line and USB works for you, then the Scarlet unit would be an excellent value.

Audio out from HDMI to TV cuts out

I'm looking for help to troubleshoot the following problem:
I have a brand new iMac, 27", i7 (my first Mac ever). Using the Moshi Mini DisplayPort HDMI adapter, I output video and audio to my LG 55LH90 1080p LED TV. Everything is fine except that approximately every 15 seconds, the audio will cut out for 2 seconds completely.
The problem occurs regardless of whether the audio is from iTunes, YouTube, VLC, Quicktime, etc.
Does anyone have any ideas about what could be causing this problem or how to fix it?
Thanks

I have solved my problem.
After spending an inordinate amount of time trying to troubleshoot this (trying different cables, adapters, settings on my TV and iMac, different devices, scouring the internet for help, etc.), and with both LG and Apple customer service pointing the fingers at each other, turns out Apple was right (and LG was incompetent).
The fix was simple. When I was about to give up, I played around with my TV settings one more time. I disabled the "Clear Voice II" setting on my LG TV and it made the problem go away. Audio is 100% fine over HDMI now. Hurray!

Audio out from HDMI port?

I have connected my TV and Booklet via a standard HDMI cable. This same HDMI cable works fine with my DVD player. When I use it with my booklet, only video seems to be sent to the TV via the HDMI cable. Is the HDMI out port supporting only video, or audio as well? I understand the booklet supports HDMI 1.2, which should support an audio profile, as far as I know.
Let me know if you have been able to get audio to work over HDMI.
thanks,
John

I found your discussion attempting to find the answer to the same question.
I won 5 of these things at auction and wanted HDMI to be a selling point
I researched far and wide and now I think I have the answer now.
I had to reload the OS and all the drivers for all 5 units
I read some of the replies to this topic and with some people saying that they had audio and I didn't, I felt that either I was crazy or someone is not truthful. so i had a thought ,
after about the 3rd unit I tried to just try to hook it up to a TV bare without Nokia updated software
What do you know, it worked.
So I have come to the conclusion based upon using both units after testing them with and without the update, is with the stock driver provided, you will get the audio from the HDMI port; if you update the software from the updater(which I noticed it says the driver is MANDATORY)
You will not.
There is a plus and minus on both occassions
With the graphics driver update you can scale your video once hook to an HDTV to full 1080p HD; but you wont get any audio (at least for now)
Without the update you will get the audio out , however you will only get the same native resolution as the netbook 720p
So contemplate which feature is more important you and make your choice.
Higher picture quality(full HD) with the driver yet I need 2 cable (HDMI AND 2.5 to RCA)
OR lower resolution720p but audio as well
I hope this helps but i see my next challenge for both you and is to see if we can roll back the driver if we want audio over HDMI.

2009 Mac Pro no audio out from Line Out and/or Digital Out.

Hey guys, I recently bought a new tv which has an optical input and thought I'd buy an optical cable to connect it to my Mac Pro's (4.1 model 2009 I believe) digital out port which I have never used before .
The issue I'm facing since is that I can't get out from my mac pro to my tv. I also bought a cable to direct sound from my mac pro's line out, to my tv's red/white stero audio ports.That didn't work either.
When I select Digital out as the default audio output in Sound preferences the OS says that there are not default audio controls for that device and the sound icon in the menu bar is greyed out while when I switch to line out output I can control volume but no audio is coming from my TV.
I've been searching on forums and didn't find any relevant answer so if someone knows what may cause this that'd be really helpful.
*ALSO: I've got windows 8 instaleld on my mac pro as well. The digital out doesn't work there as well although the line out does send sound to the TV.
** I also have soundflower installed and perian although I don't think any of them would mess things up like that.
Do you think this is a problem with my Mac or is this a common Mavericks issue (sorry forgot to mention I'm on 10.9.2)
Many Thanks,
Thanos.

When I select Digital out as the default audio output in Sound preferences the OS says that there are not default audio controls for that device and the sound icon in the menu bar is greyed out
That's normal. Is the correct audio input selected on the TV?

How to record audio out from a portable player

Hi, I have a MacBook Air. I want to capture the audio out (3.5mm jack) from an old SONY minidisk recorder into the Air. I tried to plug speakers into the SONY and letting the internal mic capture the speaker sounds, but the quality wasn't crisp. Can anyone recommend a direct way (presumably thru USB) that ensures better quality? Thanks.
BTW, the contents I am capturing are voice journals on mini-disc my grand father had recorded since the mid-90's before he pass recently.

Take a look at the Griffen iMic. I have used it to capture audio from a portable cassette player. I used iTunes to store the tracks.

Audio out from internal speaker, how?

I purchased iPhone 3G 8GB, before that I have been using iPod touch. With iPod touch audio from games etc came out from internal speaker if I did not plug earphones. But for some reason that does not work with iPhone 3G.
Only very few apps uses internal speaker with iPhone 3G, like iPod app. But rest of apps does not play audio before I plug earphones. Is there away to fix this or is there something wrong with my new iPhone 3G? I purchased two days a go.

all sound should come out of speaker if headset isn't plugged in. check in sound settings that "silent" vibrate isn't on.
also some apps have there own volume settings so even if you turn the apps sound down the phones other sound stays the same, such as the ringer..

Macbook Pro need to port audio out from Firewire or Thunderbolt

I need an additional audio out port (in addition to the headphone jack).
This needs to be analog (going to my sound system / RCA) and it appears I need adaptors that will use the Thunderbolt connector, but something that uses Firewire would be ok too.
My Macbook Pro is 2011 era running 10.6.8

Something like this Digital Audio To Analog Audio Converter ... from Amazon will do the trick.
Search for audio digital to analog converter for other options.

Audio-out to MBP?

I need to digitize some cassettes and records since they are (especially the cassettes) are getting pretty worn out, and i'm down to my last working record player.
I'm just looking for some sort of cable where I can plug the 2 audio-out wires (red and white) into one end, and the other end can connect into my MBP. I'd record the audio in Audacity.
I tried doing my own search but i'm not sure what exactly will get the job done. I see things connect through USB, through the line-in jack (I don't even know where that is).
So if someone could just simply tell me what wire (or wires) to get, that would be very helpful. Thanks.

Mark,
With just the MBP and no other types of devices, this could be slightly difficult. There are RCA to single 1/8" adapters out there, but this could sacrifice some quality, and I'm not sure how picky you are about your sound. For me, I want my sound quality to be top notch, because I'm a musician and I can't stand bad quality.
I suggest this, http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ARTUSBPhonoPlus?sku=180642X
Take a look at the photos. You've got your RCA ins in the back. This little guy plugs in via USB, so you can record directly to your Audacity prog with no sound sacrifice through adapters.
Hope this helps some...
Good luck

Improve audio out from MBP

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for