No 5.1 surround on the M1 Mac Mini...

Well, IMO it isn’t for reasons already stated. You don’t have to spend any money, the best solution remains Apple TV 4K...anyways good luck!

"Opinions" don't matter when facts rule the day:

I got 5.1 surround working utilizing Creative's Sound Blaster X3 over VLC. Also, they're coming out with a driver for Big Sur/M1 users which should give TV app users full 5.1 surround as well. I also have an HDMI to optical DAC coming tomorrow as another M1 Mini user also figured out how to pipe in 5.1 surround.

So, it IS doable.

And if I may...there are people here you've interacted with who are looking for fairly simple solutions to complex problems and you seem to have a habit of dismissing any solution as some sort of fantasy or giving pricey or otherwise fairly flawed alternatives.

When somebody was looking for help with their USB bus, you recommended getting rid of his USB hub with which he took exception. Instead of suggesting or helping with a positive alternative, you became arrogant and said "simplify" and later suggested that if somebody here needed help they should "ask you nicely".

And should I mention the time you got combative with another user over Apple's penchant for mishandling media and presenting bad quality?

When I came here looking for a workaround for the Optical issue, this was the order of your responses:

1) You're hosed. Go to Apple TV. There's no other way. Sorry about that. (False)

2) Splitting HDMI is not possible. (I wasn't looking to "split HDMI".)

3) "You would have to buy a new receiver and TV for the Mac to even consider accepting your audio config." (Again, false.)

4) "Well you don't HAVE to spend money! Just use Apple TV!" (Sigh...)

One user was asking virtually the same thing I was a few months ago. Instead of actually directing him to something like I did, you told him to "buy an Apple TV", forgetting the fact that 1) that's not a solution, it's a peripheral which streams instead of plays files locally, sucking up bandwidth and 2) Apple TV's Home Sharing doesn't stream DD or AC3 unless you download the Beta TV OS 14.5, which not many users know right now. Plex is nice but going through an entire server set-up is an absolute pain as is renaming files and, then, there's that pesky "streaming" thing I mentioned before.

I'm not asking for help with the Apple TV and neither was he.

Yeah, Apple TV is nice. I have the 4K -- but it isn't the end-all, be-all of media handling. It can be just as buggy as the Mac or a PC when it wants to be and it's also frustratingly slow at times streaming local streaming media from my hard drive, even with this new Mini and a brand-new lightning-fast mesh doing 600 MBPS over a straight, in-line Ethernet connection.

It's the reason I use my Mac most of the time for watching movies and TV shows: I don't have to deal with slow load times or moments where something has to stop and buffer for a second.

There are those who can't afford a $200 dollar peripheral or who are simply looking for a cheap workaround, which you have actually referred to as "funny dongles" -- except those "funny dongles" actually WORK AND they're cheap. I now own three of them and the sound they produce is outstanding.

So, in the future, I ask that you please stop and read what people are asking, look at possible solutions they might not have thought of or know about and suggest something other than browbeat people into "simplifying" or telling them to "buy the Apple TV and be happy and stuff".

Have a nice day.

[Edited by Moderator]

1) Yes, it IS workable with the Mini. The last one utilized 5.1 from Optical.

2) I'm not asking to utilize Optical as a necessary solution here. I am asking if there's a workaround which would include the use of a DAC. From what I understand, the new Mini WILL pass 5.1 audio to a speaker set provided your speaker set has a direct connection via HDMI or Thunderbolt.

I am not going to AppleTV, so let's figure this out.

And I know that's wrong because another forum says that Apple's own $70 dollar adapter can split the HDMI audio (using the Thunderbolt connection in the back) and pass 5.1 audio to a sound system which has HDMI equipped. Another user is pointing to a DAC which also did the job.

Not quite sure why you're telling me to go out and spend more money if this is doable.

Are there any confirmed as working and delivering 5.1 sound? I found a couple for about $20 a pop and I don't mind blowing money on a cheap DAC if it ends up being a dud. I just wanna be sure.

AppleTV stopped decoding 5.1 surround from Home Sharing and I had to get a beta version of TV OS which is stunning to me. Plex is the only thing decoding my movies right now besides Home Sharing. It's quite annoying.

I really miss having surround on my Mini because

1) I really don't wanna waste bandwith just to watch a flick

2) It's much easier to scrub through a movie if it's locally available on my hard drive

None of the new Mac's that have a single TSSR audio port, support Optical Digital output from the headphone port.

True. But a DAC could theoretically work if it can convert the HDMI out to an optical in. I've also heard that USB-C works as an alternative.

I've also heard promising things about this one from Creative: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZD1B1B1/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Another option, is to get a 2012 Mac Mini, upgrade it to a 1T+ SSD, 16GB of RAM and use it as your media server.

Yes...but I kinda have the M1 already. If I'm gonna spend 300 bucks, I might as well buy a new receiver.

hcsitas wrote:

It’s not doable IMO on later minis for reasons already stated. I do understand your frustration, am sympathetic with your predicament, and wish you luck in your efforts to find workarounds.

Hey, all...if you're like me and you don't have an HDMI receiver and need a workaround to get 5.1 surround on the Mac without HDMI, this is my solution (and it IS doable):

1) Get the Creative Sound Blaster X3. It retails for about $140 on Amazon.

2) Hook the device up to your Mini (or M1 Mac) via USB A and plug the USB C side into the device.

3) If you have an optical cable, plug that in and hook the other part of it to your receiver. Make a note of which sound input your Optical went to on your speaker system and tune to that with the system's remote.

4) If you have sound card cables (green/black/orange), plug those into the proper "Line Out" ports. Plug the other ones into your receiver if you have those ports. (Mainly for those with a PC-based speaker system.)

5) Download the Mac Driver from Creative's website and install it. Make sure your security is fairly lax or it might not install correctly. I simply have "Reduced Security" on my Mac.

6) Restart your Mac.

7) Open System Preferences and open Sound. Set your audio alert to "Sound Blaster X3 Speakers" and then set your Output to the same thing. Close System Prefs.

8) Go into Applications and open the SB Command app which also should have installed on your system with the driver. (NOTE: When you go into "SBX Profile", you'll note that the page is greyed out with an error telling you that the "SBX Driver is not available." This is normal. Creative has yet to update their driver to handle M1/Big Sur and they are assuring users it will happen.) Go to "Playback". Set up your Speakers to your desired output whether it's 2.1, 5.1, or 7.1. In this, case I did 5.1. For some reason, the speaker test fails to acknowledge all your speakers in 5.1 and above -- at least, for myself. In the "Digital" tab, you can configure the Audio Quality to your liking.

9) Go into Utilities and open Audio MIDI Setup. You can use this to configure speakers if need be as well as quality of audio.

10) Get the VLC app from VLC's website if you don't already have it. Open it up. Click on the "Audio" menu in the Menu Bar. Set the Audio Device as "Sound Blaster X3 SPDIF Out (Encoded Output)".

Play a file that has an AC3 5.1 surround codec. You can find a ton of them at the DTS sound test website online (here: https://thedigitaltheater.com/dts-trailers/). If you've already got a file queued up, play it. Make sure that the correct AC3 or 5.1 track is selected in the "Audio Tracks" portion of the menu.

If you've done everything right, you should get full 5.1 surround as I did with the correct speaker channel assignments.

Take note: as of right now, Apple's "TV" app doesn't seem to be playing anything in 5.1 surround. Creative's new driver should enable users to do this in the future.

If you have an Apple TV and you have TV OS 13 and below, 5.1 streaming (or better) is still working over Home Sharing. The update to TV OS 14 broke it. In order to fix it, you need to sign up for Apple's TV OS Beta Testing and you will get access to TV OS 14.5, which will fix the 5.1 surround issue.

But just know that you CAN get 5.1 surround on the M1 WITHOUT HDMI, or buying a new receiver/TV, OR using Apple TV by using this technique. If the dongle method works, I will update you all later to let you know but, hey, this is progress! :D

Hi all...

The cheap dongle method doesn't work for 5.1 -- however, this was the only cheap dongle I bought. It WILL produce 2.1 sound but that's lacking if you're used to 5.1 surround. It is an odd thing because going straight from Mac Mini M1's HDMI to the dongle should yank the audio to the 5.1 converter. It just doesn't. Audio MIDI only sees 2 channels as well.

At this point, I may try another dongle or I may not.

Regardless, Creative's Sound Blaster X3 is your best bet and will give you 5.1 surround sound (THROUGH VLC ONLY AT THIS POINT) if you follow the instructions above.

Good luck!

I literally just told you that I did it.

And you're actually STILL telling me it's not doable.

Please take my advice and read what people write...I am begging you.