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Sound output quality on Mac Mini M1

I have my music collection on Apple Lossless format. I just bought a new Mac Mini M1 running on Big Sur, and I am now using Music as the player. My old Mac Mini (2012) has Sierra, and I am using iTunes there. On my new Mac Mini, I am not getting the same quality of sound, even though I am using the same amplifier and speakers. Is this a known problem? Does anybody how to improve the quality of the sound on a new Mac Mini M1? I made sure the EQ is setup the same way, and I also checked the Audio MIDI setup.


Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on May 17, 2021 6:53 AM

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Posted on Jun 13, 2021 6:00 PM

Digital music files (AIFF, Apple Lossless, WAV ...etc) - all require Digital-to-Analog Converter.


If you use 3.5mm (analog) as source for your amplifier - then, you are in the mercy of each manufacture/model's build-in DAC.

By looking back, I think it has been a conversational topic regarding iPod Video Wolfson vs. iPod Classic Cirrus DACs.

Most of the reviewers prefer the older iPod's Wolfson DAC than the flashier iPod Classic/even iPhones.


For some people, most of the build-in DAC (such as smartphones, portable music player) can vary widely.


If your amplifier has its own DAC (means it has digital input as source, sometimes optical/digital or USB) that you can use Mac as "transport" the lossless music files to the amplifier (bypass Mac's owb DAC) - that will likely minimize the "noticeable difference" between different Macs.


The other option - like RUSD tech, using external DAC --> then ampflier -- that will give you more consistent music quality if you ever change to different computer.

4 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jun 13, 2021 6:00 PM in response to fefernandez

Digital music files (AIFF, Apple Lossless, WAV ...etc) - all require Digital-to-Analog Converter.


If you use 3.5mm (analog) as source for your amplifier - then, you are in the mercy of each manufacture/model's build-in DAC.

By looking back, I think it has been a conversational topic regarding iPod Video Wolfson vs. iPod Classic Cirrus DACs.

Most of the reviewers prefer the older iPod's Wolfson DAC than the flashier iPod Classic/even iPhones.


For some people, most of the build-in DAC (such as smartphones, portable music player) can vary widely.


If your amplifier has its own DAC (means it has digital input as source, sometimes optical/digital or USB) that you can use Mac as "transport" the lossless music files to the amplifier (bypass Mac's owb DAC) - that will likely minimize the "noticeable difference" between different Macs.


The other option - like RUSD tech, using external DAC --> then ampflier -- that will give you more consistent music quality if you ever change to different computer.

Jun 13, 2021 3:11 PM in response to fefernandez

I bought a dac but when using my m1 iMac the midi output has to be changed depending on the format of the song that's streamed on apple music because all the songs are different formats and the iMac doesn't do it automatically.very frustrating.i thought the dac would do this.(its an ifi zen dac v2) very little information online about this issue


Sound output quality on Mac Mini M1

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