Mac Mini Late-2012 5.1 Surround Sound Issue

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Mac Mini Late-2012 5.1 Surround Sound Issue

Hey guys, I'm running into some issues setting up 5.1 Surround sound on my mac mini. Heres my setup:

- Mac Mini -> HDMI -> Projector

- Mac Mini -> Digital Output (Toslink) -> Surround sound (Logitech Z906)

No matter what settings i try i cannot get 5.1 surround sound working. I've downloaded test tracks from dolby and all. Logitech is set to 5.1 and all. I've attempted to change the setup in audio MIDI to 48khz + 2ch-24Bit Integer , with no success. The 5.1 option inside of configure output is greyed out. Is there something i'm doing wrong? I've tried the 5.1 test tracks from Dolby through VLC.

Please help me, i've been working at this for nearly 2 days now. I've checked other answers with no sucess.

Thanks in advance.

MAC MINI SERVER (LATE 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.2), i7 - 16gb Ram - SSD + HDD

Posted on Apr 20, 2014 6:15 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 21, 2014 4:02 PM in response to Previse

Unfortunately, there is no configuration option for the S/PDIF interface. The following are the supported output formats:

2.0 (Stereo L/R)

5.1 (Dolby Digital - DVD bitstream or AC3 encoded containers only via QuickTime or VLC)

5.1 (DTS - DVD bitstream only)

To configure for proper 5.1 use, you need to set DVD Player to use Digital Out (Optical), not the Digital Out (HDMI). To configure VLC you need to set it to use Digital Out also, though you may have to fiddle with it to figure out which digital output is which as VLC's advanced configuration options aren't the most user friendly out there.

Once again, for the S/PDIF interface there are no configuration options available other than Stereo. 5.1 tracks will not play properly unless the apps used to play them back are capable of sending encoded digital audio. Dolby Digital and DTS are bitstream formats (encoded), and as such require that the app can work with those tracks.

Audio MIDI Setup does have the option to manually select Encoded Digital Audio in the format menu, but you should not do so as that disables regular stereo playback. The aforementioned apps will automatically switch between Encoded Digital Audio and Stereo, usually reverting to Stereo when playback is concluded.

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Answer 2

Apr 22, 2014 12:16 AM in response to Previse

To expand upon what I mentioned, you'll want to reference the following article to determine if you are in fact receiving a bitstream digital signal into the Z906:

http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/23017/section/troubl eshoot/crid/409/lt_product_id/7929/tabs/1,3,2,4,5/cl/us,en

If you do not see the Decode light active while attempting to play back multichannel audio, then you have not set the appropriate setting in the app you are using. The simplest test would be to use DVD Player to play back a DVD's bitstream Dolby Digital or DTS track. Setting this is easy. Launch DVD Player, go into the Disc Setup menu and select Digital Out - Optical. This might also be referenced as Digital Out - S/PDIF depending on the Mac in use. You may also wish to tick the checkbox for the Disable Dolby dynamic range compression to avoid added distortion from DVDs (this forces DVD Player to use the full dynamic range of the bitstream instead of using range compression to make the louds softer and the softs louder, also known as "Night Listening").

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