Very bad audio quality through Thunderbolt/HDMI

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Level 1

8 points

Very bad audio quality through Thunderbolt/HDMI

The last year or so I had been using a Windows 7 laptop, connected to my HDTV as an extra display through an auxilary cable for the audio and a VGA for the video, then I plugged in another cable to the headphone socket on the TV which ran into my 2 channel stereoand the quality of the audio and video was always excellent. I recently got a MacBook Pro 13" (mid-2012), it's the best thing ever. I'm doing good with learning all the tips and tricks for Mac, but there is one problem I can't fix. I bought a Thunderbolt to HDMI cable, and plugged it into the MacBook to the TV, and the video is outstanding, but the audio is completely opposite. It is absolutely terrible. The mid frequencies sound alright-ish, but the high treble and bassy frequencies are just really, really bad.

Through headphones or even out the in-built speakers, everything sounds better.

I've tried it on multiple TV's so it not the TV, it must be something to do with the output settings or the cable.

I don't feel like buying another cable yet, so I want to see if anything else works first.

Any ideas?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3), 8GB RAM, 2.5 GHz i5

Posted on May 28, 2013 3:01 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

sanjampet

Level 5

7,982 points

May 28, 2013 4:41 PM in response to CJBailey14

CJBaily14,

I would think it is the cable or adapter, but things you can check into are system preferences>sound,output tab and make sure your TV is selected in the side bar. Another is Applications>utilities>Audio MIDI set up, open that and click the output tab, select HDMI from the side bar on the left and try changing the rates and see if that does anything. If this does it with other TV's and you were using the sme cable/adapter, especially if the HDMI cable is old it might not have the spec for audio as all HDMI cables are not created equal.

You could also try a PRAM reset, power down, power back up holding the following keys: COMMAND+OPTION+P+R continue to hold these kys till you hear the start chime 2 times then release.

If you search the web for VESA specs you will find plenty of info. You can also check with Apple store for suff that is compatible.

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Answer 2

jacklove

Level 1

0 points

Jan 10, 2014 7:12 PM in response to sanjampet

Hi , I have the same problem , i've got a macbook pro 13" mid 2012 , i connected to LG 32" tv via thunderbolt/HDMI , the picture quality is very good but the output sound is very very bad , i used VLC player , i tried to fix in Audio MIDI but can not fix this . Can you give me another ideas ?

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