MBP with IPod HiFi and Optical Cable Problem??

Question

Hey guys, I just picked up a Hifi and was hoping to use it with my macbook pro. When I hook up a normal 3.5mm jack into the hifi's input it works, but when I use an optical cable it does not. Using the volume keys on my mbp bring up the normal Volume icon on-screen but there is a small circle with a line through it just below. Also, in the system preferences, under Sound and Output it says "The selected device has no output controls"
Any ideas? Can it work with optical cables? I can always use a traditional 3.5mm jack but would prefer the optical
Macbook Pro   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

Answer 1

It works in my case, I am now playing a song on my Itunes from my computer's optical out (G5 Tower) to iPod HiFi via a digital optical cable
Connect external speakers, headphones, or optical digital audio equipment. The headphone / line output jack accommodates optical digital audio output, analog audio output with a 24-bit, 44.1-192 kHz D/A converter, digital audio output up to 24-bit stereo and 44.1-192 kHz sampling rate and supporting encoded digital audio output (AC3 and DTS). For analog headphone / line output a standard audio cable with 3.5mm metal plug should be used. For digital audio, a standard toslink cable with a toslink mini-plug adapter can be used.
Open System Reference, sound, then output, in the box of choose a device for sound output , do you see the digital out, optical digital-out port?
Make sure out the output volume, the mute box is unchecked.
Regarding, the volume key on the computer is disable when your are using the optical output