Speaker via 3.5 headphone connection on mac mini M2

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Level 1

4 points

Speaker via 3.5 headphone connection on mac mini M2

I need to replace my 2011 iMac (21 inch) with a new system and am considering the M2 Mac Mini (non-pro). It seems I could connect a speaker set such as the Mackie CR3-X, Creative T40 or Bose Companion 2 to the 3.5 inch headphone socket of the Mac Mini. Will this work well? Is the build in DAC of the M2 Mini decent? Am I likely to get similar of better Audio performance than from my iMac?

If that is not working well, how would you go along?

Thanks.

Mac mini (M2, 2023)

Posted on Mar 8, 2023 1:14 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 8, 2023 5:18 AM in response to blue_light

They are all self powered speaker systems and should have no issue working. You may need to juggle volume settings back and forth between the speakers and the Mac to get the best performance.

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

91,324 points

Mar 8, 2023 5:18 AM in response to blue_light

Yes that will work just fine.

FWIW I have an old Creative Inspire T3030 2.1 system that sounds the same on my new Mac mini as it did on my 2012 Mac mini.

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Answer 3

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,350 points

Mar 8, 2023 6:54 AM in response to blue_light

I use Bluetooth headphones/speakers with my M2 mini pro. Sounds excellent. The audio out jack on the mini remains unused.

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Answer 4

blue_light Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 9, 2023 12:48 AM in response to blue_light

Thanks for your replies, which are quite reassuring, after having read issues in other places when people have been upgrading to M1 minis. I understand sound on the M2 is different from M1, with Apple stating they are now supporting high impedance headphones.

Anyone else got any experiences to report?

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Speaker via 3.5 headphone connection on mac mini M2

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