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How to Ground a Mac Mini (for music production)

Hi there, I've seen a few posts about it and I ran a few tests, turns out that Mac mini 8,1 (2018) only comes with a two prong cable and if you work with audio (which is my case) you will be very likely to run into ground issues. I Ran a few tests and this are my conclusions:

If you connect your mac mini to a "grounded" computer monitor(Through HDMI), you will most likely fix the problem.

if your computer monitor isn't grounded there is a Fix I found useful and easy!


First I connected a 1/4 mini jack cable to the Mac mini(headphones out) and I touched the tip of the other end to the ground connection in the outlet. Result: no static. (I'd like to mention that as I was doing this I was touching the Mac mini and feeling the obvious static feeling and then it disappeared).

Then I connected the same cable to the headphones out of the monitor, while the other end was still touching the ground pin of the outlet. Result: no static.(This monitor is connected via HDMI to the Mac Mini)

My conclusion is pretty simple, HDMI carries ground and is able to ground your Mac mini. So I would really recommend buying a monitor with a 3 pin connection.

Because I already have a "non grounded monitor" connecting this headphone cable was for me the easiest and cheapest solution.

I hope this helps to anyone like me upgrading from a macbook pro to a mac mini!

Cheers

Posted on Apr 2, 2021 3:31 AM

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Posted on Apr 2, 2021 4:40 PM

Thanks for sharing that advice and for doing the research.

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How to Ground a Mac Mini (for music production)

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