3.5mm headphone jack to Optical audio (TOSLink) cable

It could be a dud...

Hope so as its impossible to buy the apple part if its the socket on the Macbook that's a problem.

That's why I bought a standard toslink to toslink cable and then an adapter... as the adapter... (Toslink to mini toslink) only cost a few pounds on eBay...

My adapter fits nice and tight in to airport express... And works just fine.

I bought my adapter from berisford as I was buying a a new DAC from them and they do supply high quality cables and adapters.

Maybe you should just buy an adapter for a few pound and see if it fits ok, before you buy a new cable...

Hi vdoengineer, I have a 2008 Macbook pro that works fine with the toslink to mini toslink cable you mention above (Jan 27, 2013),

"The TOSlink to Mini TOSlink cable is the solution for getting digital audio out of any MacBook laptop."

and exactly like the picture schmelkov (April 17 2012) posted.

I just got a Macbook Air and no audio comes through my surround sound system like it did with the old Macbook. Is the new headphone jack incompatible with the cable? Or am I missing some kind of setting on the computer? All my various headphones work fine with the new Macbook Air.

Thanks for any help!

Hi simony

I had the same problem recently with my daughters MacBook Air.

I found some threads on the web that stated.... The headphone socket is just an analog audio socket, it does not have the optical digital output that was on earlier models etc.

If this is true.... Then you still have some options...

1) if your surround sound has analog inputs, you should be able to buy a new analogue cable with headphone socket on one end and 2 audio rca connectors on the other.

I bought a Apple TV box.... The latest version has audio output toslink connection as well as HDMI.

Assuming your surround sound has a HDMI then plug it into Apple TV and you can stream movies and music.

If your connecting to an amp via a DAC, use the toslink for music.

You can also do the music bit with airport express but not the movies.

Hope that helps

Just checked the latest specs on both the Airs and the regular MBPs. Both only have output jacks. In the Airs, it is analog-only. The MBPs do have combo jacks, which would take the TOSlink cable for digital output.

Givem that the Air is already done and purchased, I guess the definite solution will have to be acquiring some external dongle with digital capabilities, that can connect to the Air's Thunderbolt or USB3 ports, as Tony mentions.