Can anyone confirm if the audio output in the new mac Mini has an optical connection? If it doesn't how would I use the other ports to connect to active speakers which have optical in? They also have analogue RCA sockets but I was hoping to use optical if possible.
MacBook Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.1), Windows 10, iPad 2
No, the new Mac Mini does not have an optical audio out.
If you want o use the optical ports you will need get a USB->TOSLINK adapter, or a Thunderbolt 3 dock that includes one.
No, the new Mac Mini does not have an optical audio out.
If you want o use the optical ports you will need get a USB->TOSLINK adapter, or a Thunderbolt 3 dock that includes one.
I have used USB --> digital sound I/O when I had my faithful DAT way back.
In your case, I think using USB -- digital/optical sound interface might be the way to deal with "what if no digital sound interface" these days with Mac. I think newer iMacs have abandoned digital/headphone jack, replaced by only headphone jack.
Personally, I prefer USB - Sound adapter, because I has few bad experience from family members broke the tips of the headphone and got stuck inside the iMac.
However, there might be very little latency during digital transfer via USB adapter but rarely noticeable.
Good luck
That Douk Audio U2S is very affordable and the FireStone Audio RedKey is available here in Europe for €49 Euros. Both have a good form factor. No USB-C yet though.
It's purely digital data transfer so they don't sound at all. Only audiophiles try to believe differently. ;-)
An even bigger and more expensive option open to some might be to use a standard AV Receiver which has Airplay support. You can then stream to the AV Receiver over the network and it can output via standard optical connection to these monitor speakers.
Airplay uses Apple Lossless as its codec.
This approach is effectively the same as using the discontinued Airport Express.
Just found a good overview: http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/HW/USB_SPDIF.htm
There is this one device but it comes with a voodoo price tag: https://lnx.m2tech.biz/products/pens/hiface-two/
I fully agree Walter. I am searching for a solution since months that fits for my MBP. So far, the 3rd party industry has not released anything elegant, simple and small for USB.
This ugly thing is really what Macworld proposes to address the problem: https://www.macworld.com/article/3205890/software-music/how-to-replace-the-missi ng-optical-digital-audio-output-on-newer-macs.html
It's incredible. I bought a really sleek USB-C to HDMI adapter from Dell but nothing like this is available for digital audio: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-adapter-usb-c-to-hdmi/apd/470-abmz/pc-acces sories
It's something I would really like to tackle their philosophy on, especially as Apple still have a page detailing the use of high bitrate files via the combination analogue/digital connector.
One would have thought that the elegance of a simple, good cable like toslink would appeal to Apple engineers. To not offer a clear alternative leaves them open to criticism of only pandering to casual users who will be happy with Bluetooth.
I would even be happy to use an HDMI 'splitter' to take the audio to toslink but it's hard to find one of these that's not cheaply made.
My eventual solution will be to simply build a music server myself.
FWIW, TOSLINK has very limited bandwidth compared to HDMI.
TOSLINK can only deliver 5.1 audio in lossy formats (DTS and
Dolby) where as HDMI has the capability to deliver 7.1 192kHz,
24 bit PCM.
Whether that figured into the decision?
DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD are lossless compression audio formats available on both standard blu-ray and UHD blu-ray. I’m fact, there are more standards blu-rays with lossless DTS than there are without.
Bjoern Adamski wrote:
...When it comes to 192kHz and 24bit, these are just shiny figures to impress consumers...
Tell that to the audiophiles that will vehemently disagree with you. 🙂
Besides I was just pointing out capabilities and TOSLINK cannot
deliver 7.1 in any format.
Wow! At what a cost! I love the company that won’t tell you what’s in their product. The Berkeley Alpha looks ideal, apart from the price. The AEX connecting to Toslink starts to look like very good value and I doubt it sounds worse than some of these costly solutions. Well done for finding this. It does show that there are answers out there.
Oops! I meant to give you the 'Correct Answer' award but it seems that although I clicked on your response it marked Bjoern's as correct! Strange.
Bjoern's solutions are perfectly fine but I think an AV receiver might be more elegant as you suggest. Any suggestions? It seems that Marantz and Denon were quick off the mark to support Airplay 2 but others like Onkyo are following with firmware updates.
Thanks again for your help and to everyone else making suggestions here.
Hi Walter,
Maybe the optical output is hidden in the 3.5mm jack connector, as was in the previous model. Will see.
Regards, Kees Jan
The audio out is now specified as a headphone output and
no longer a line out.
New Mac Mini 2018 Optical audio
