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Macillus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 5, 2006
13
0
I love good sound but know little about setting up a good system. I've just purchased a set of Dynaudio mc-15 speakers and the Sub 250 mc. I'll be listening to songs on i-Tunes on my desktop Intel Mac Pro. Is the built in audio--Intel High Definition Audio--an adequate match for these speakers or should I consider having a quality sound card installed? Thanks.
 
I've AB'd sound quality through both my PSB speakers and Beyerdynamic/Denon headphones for intel hd audio vs my dedicated HRT Music Streamer II dac. The differenecs are very hard to find, telling me that the intel hd audio is very good. The one thing you might notice, is that you'll get a higher noise floor out of any computer's audio port, because the electronics interfere with the signal. You'll also get a more efficient system if you line out to an external dac that has a high output of its own. I don't notice much differences with the Music Streamer attached for me, but one thing it has going for it is it's dead silent and very efficient.
 
Thank you for responding.

The differenecs are very hard to find, telling me that the intel hd audio is very good.
That's very good to hear.

The one thing you might notice, is that you'll get a higher noise floor out of any computer's audio port, because the electronics interfere with the signal.

Yes, I've read about that on some forums--the background hiss. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's not too noticeable.

You'll also get a more efficient system if you line out to an external dac that has a high output of its own.
Pardon my ignorance, but what is a "dac?" If the noise floor is annoying I'll need to go that route.
 
This is getting interesting. . .

Can anyone tell me how I can address this issue?

As I described at the beginning of this thread, I purchased Dynaudio mc15 speakers and the matching Sub 250 mc subwoofer. When the satellite speakers are plugged into my Mac [desktop Pro Mac] without the sub woofer, I'm getting great sound quality and absolutely no background sound--dead silent. But, when I set the system up with the sub woofer as per instructions, I'm getting terrible background noise--it simply swamps any quiet music. I've checked the connections. Any thoughts?
 
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