Digital Audio on the MBA

[AxeManNY]

I just picked up the latest 13" MBA and am so close to letting go of my 17" MBP. BUT, I can't seem to find a solution to get digital audio out to my logitech speakers. I've tried two external USB solutions: Diamond External Xtreme Sound and Turtle Beach Audio Advantage. I had better luck with the Turtle Beach in that audio did make it to my speakers. The Diamond solution did not get the audio out to my speakers, but I did seem to work when I hooked my headphones up to the external box. The Turtle Beach is close, but I also use Plex and it does not support Dolby Digital or DTS pass-through.

Anyone have any solutions for getting digital audio out with Dolby Digital & DTS pass-through? Seems I'm so close to letting my 17" go....if only Apple would have included the same optical out that the MBP supports. Grrrrr.....

 

[Intell]

Its a shame Apple didn't include the optical audio out on the Air's. I always that that they had it.

 

[KylePowers]

This might be a silly question, but could digital audio ever be supported via a Thunderbolt adapter?

 

[Intell]

This might be a silly question, but could digital audio ever be supported via a Thunderbolt adapter?

When such an adapter exists, yes. Do such adapters exist at this time? No.

 

[SaiZn]

I was actually looking for a solution today. There is this post on the OSx86 forums. They do use hackintoshes so I'm not sure if it would still work on an actual Mac but I'm guessing it would.

 

[spyderx]

Anyone have any solutions for getting digital audio out with Dolby Digital & DTS pass-through? Seems I'm so close to letting my 17" go....if only Apple would have included the same optical out that the MBP supports. Grrrrr.....

I assume this is for movies? Does your amp have HDMI inputs? If so you might be able to use the thunderbolt to HDMI adapter since supposedly apple passes audio over HDMI. According to system profiler on my MBA HDMI is supported. Optical is not. I didn't realize this actually since all my other macs have optical on the 3.5mm out.... that that I'm going to ever use it on my MBA.

 

[drxcm]

This might be a silly question, but could digital audio ever be supported via a Thunderbolt adapter?

I'm sure it is possible, as one of the channels is PCI express.

Having said that, there are plenty of USB digital audio solutions which work just fine.

 

[AxeManNY]

I was actually looking for a solution today. There is this post on the OSx86 forums. They do use hackintoshes so I'm not sure if it would still work on an actual Mac but I'm guessing it would.

That post points to the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 USB. I'm a bit hesitant to try it as Creative does not list Mac compatibility. Suppose it makes sense to try...but I tire of the buy/try/return loop I'm stuck in.

 

[AxeManNY]

This might be a silly question, but could digital audio ever be supported via a Thunderbolt adapter?

I like the thinking here. Especially as I have a Thunderbolt display on order and it would daisy-chain nicely.

 

[AxeManNY]

Having said that, there are plenty of USB digital audio solutions which work just fine.

drxcm,

Might you be so kind as to point out a USB solution that you know works with both Dolby Digital & DTS pass-through?

 

[Mac32]

Try Turtle Beach - Micro II. That one works very well for me.

 

[AxeManNY]

Try Turtle Beach - Micro II. That one works very well for me.

Mac32, thanks so much for your reply. That is the first solution I tried and while the digital audio did work, it would not pass through Dolby Digital or DTS from Plex. You wouldn't have happened to have tried and succeeded in having that work did you?