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.
That's very interesting to learn. I'm heading for an Apple store today to see if they can suggest a SIMPLE solution for 2 channel stereo from USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 on MacBook Pro to Toslink on active loudspeakers.
The only solution I can see at the moment is USB-C to HDMI via a Multiport adaptor and then to one of these cheap audio HDMI extractors. Inelegant and expensive!
If equipment is truly professional then these requirements really should not be an issue. I would really love to meet the people who make these decisions without thinking through alternatives for people like me.
Sorry but that's quite misleading information. DTS and Dolby are lossy but there is no lossless 5.1 or 7.1 in distribution (DVD, Blu-ray, iTunes, etc.) so it's not a problem of optical audio that just transfers 5.1 digitally as it is without additional loss from the source to the DAC. If 7.1 is required then you need a different setup anyway and optical audio is out of the game and the Mac mini can deliver via HDMI which is also what a 7.1 setup requires. When it comes to 192kHz and 24bit, these are just shiny figures to impress consumers. No one hears a difference to 48kHz at 16bit, despite the fact that there is compression on top in both 5.1 and 7.1 distribution formats so going 192kHz/24bit is a waste of bandwidth and the only purpose is to sell new gear. Beside, optical audio can transport uncompressed PCM stereo audio just fine.
I see the point why Apple removed optical audio (licensing costs) but personally I also still require it for my "simple" stereo setup and those optical outputs in previous Macs were very convenient. For HDMI you require either a separate extractor device or an HDMI capable Hi-Fi receiver (which is required for 7.1 anyway) with HDMI input and pass-through.
I have a Cambridge Audio CXUHD Blu-ray player that has one additional HDMI input and digital audio outputs. I thought this would be my solution as I have a mix of Blu-rays and media coming from a Mac (MBP via UBC-S to HDMI currently). However, there is a sync issue when going via HDMI from the CXUHD to the tv and via optical audio to the receiver (integrated DAC). The digital audio output is not synced to the HDMI output and I notice about 190ms delay between the two outputs which required another device to delay the audio stream to the receiver (Felston DD740). My setup became much less elegant than planed.
This lack of elegance for simple stereo audio is exactly what I have tried to convey. Nobody at Apple Southampton could help me yesterday and I sensed they thought it was quite an esoteric question. Why didn't I just buy a stereo pair of HomePods and learnt olive with those?
I don't know enough but will write to one company suggested here earlier about the possibility of USB-C to Toslink. Is that possible? Nobody seems to produce such a cable.
Thanks for all these ideas Bjöern. I asked in an Apple shop yesterday but they did not have a solution. I will go on using Airport Express and TOSlink until such time as they stop working. I have found I can use Chromecast with Airfoil but I haven’t established whether this is wholly reliable or equal in terms of sound quality.
You can consider either an USB to optical audio interface or an HDMI audio extractor.
There are cheaper ones but this is the most compact one I found: http://luxielectronics.com/audio.html
New Mac Mini 2018 Optical audio
