Getting high quality audio from 2017 iMac

[carbontune]

@theluggage - thanks for the great info.

 

[carbontune]

I've been quite busy this week trying to get better sound from my iMac. I purchased a few times and hooked them all up and the audio is now much improved.

I ended up getting these components:

• DAC - SMSL M6 (connected via a USB A-B cable to the iMac)
• Interconnects from iMac to studio monitors - The Chord Company C-line 1m twin RCA cables
• Studio monitors - KRK Rokit RP5 G3

There was quite a bit of experimenting with speaker positioning and I got through three sets of interconnect cables before I settled on the Chord C-line cables. The sound is quite pleasant and clear.

Here's how the setup looks on my desk.

 

[Fried Chicken]

LOL Go Apple. My 2012 iMc has Digital Optical Out.

I think my 2010 Macbook had digital optical out.

 

[josduc]

I've been quite busy this week trying to get better sound from my iMac. I purchased a few times and hooked them all up and the audio is now much improved.

I ended up getting these components:

• DAC - SMSL M6 (connected via a USB A-B cable to the iMac)
• Interconnects from iMac to studio monitors - The Chord Company C-line 1m twin RCA cables
• Studio monitors - KRK Rokit RP5 G3

There was quite a bit of experimenting with speaker positioning and I got through three sets of interconnect cables before I settled on the Chord C-line cables. The sound is quite pleasant and clear.

Here's how the setup looks on my desk.

Very nice setup. How do you control the volume? Tip for better audio; get some foam monitor pads. Helps eliminating resonance to your desk, and you can use it to angle the tweeter towards your ear. In an ideal setup the tweeter is at ear height.

 

[carbontune]

Very nice setup. How do you control the volume? Tip for better audio; get some foam monitor pads. Helps eliminating resonance to your desk, and you can use it to angle the tweeter towards your ear. In an ideal setup the tweeter is at ear height.

So the volume control part was a bit of fun! The SMSL M6 has an undocumented feature whereby the pre-amp can be bypassed or made inline to the RCA outputs. Originally this feature was switched off so I got the full 2V from the RCA jacks to the speakers. I was then using the volume control on YouTube and iTunes to control the volume. I read that the app's volume control should be max to avoid the computer altering the output. So, once I found out about the undocumented feature, I used the pre-amp on the DAC and kept the volume controls on all my audio apps on the iMac at max. The speakers themselves have a gain control which is set to minimum at the moment.

The speakers were part of a bundle so I have the isolation foam pads which I may try soon. The speakers actually thin isolation pads on the bottom surface which seem to be doing an okay job for now. The pads are two-part pads so I can play with the tilt to improve things.

 

[Peter_M]

You should really check out the Eve SC205 monitors, they sound fantastic. Very music sound, as well as precise. Great for both casual listening and mixing.

 

[tiger2]

I've configured "MIDI SetUp Utility" so systems sounds are delivered through internal speakers. All other sound goes usb-Dragonfly out (this DAC sounds terrific), to my traditional & vintage Hi-Fi deck & speakers (aux-in).

Can you explain to me how you did this? I don't see an option to do this in the Audio MIDI Setup menus.

I have a late 2015 5K iMac with an AudioEngine D1 connected through the headphone jack via toslink. The D1 is connected to a pair of JBL 305s,

Thank you!

 

[danielwsmithee]

I woke up halfway through the night to look into this! There's the Audioquest Dragonfly Black or Red that seems to be highly rated as a USB DAC/headphone amp. With an outboard DAC I'd need a set of speakers. I've also found the Kef Egg active speakers that seem to be quite highly rated.

I'm also going to look at traditional bookshelf-style active speakers. I'd want a very significant improvement in sound quality over the iMac built-in speakers.

There are a lot of speakers now days with the DAC built in. Take a look at Audioengine for example. They integrate a high quality USB DAC with a set of active speakers. I used to own the A2, the A2+ added the DAC, now they offer a large range.

 

[J.Gallardo]

Can you explain to me how you did this? I don't see an option to do this in the Audio MIDI Setup menus.

I have a late 2015 5K iMac with an AudioEngine D1 connected through the headphone jack via toslink. The D1 is connected to a pair of JBL 305s,

Thank you!

Your mac would give you the option IF you had TWO sound-out ways. As I’ve added a second sound way-out (through USB), MidiSetupUtility offers me this posibility.
(I think you can connect your AudioEngine DAC using USB from your mac).

 

[tiger2]

Your mac would give you the option IF you had TWO sound-out ways. As I’ve added a second sound way-out (through USB), MidiSetupUtility offers me this posibility.
(I think you can connect your AudioEngine DAC using USB from your mac).

Okay. I replaced the toslink connection from my iMac to the D1 DAC and connected the D1 to the iMac using USB. Now I see two output sources in the MIDI setup. However, it does not let me separate the output from iTunes from the system sounds. No matter what I try the Master volume and left and right volumes are greyed out for the D1. Only the Built-in Output allows me to change the volume and if I select the D1 for the output in System preferences > Sound, the system sounds still play through the external JBL speakers, not the internal ones.

A screen shot of the MIDI window:


Could this be because the D1 has its own volume control/knob?

Thanks for any help. I'd love to get this sorted out. It shocks the hell out of me every time I'm listening to music at a loud volume and then a system sound comes blaring out of the speakers.

 

[J.Gallardo]

Okay. I replaced the toslink connection from my iMac to the D1 DAC and connected the D1 to the iMac using USB. Now I see two output sources in the MIDI setup. However, it does not let me separate the output from iTunes from the system sounds. No matter what I try the Master volume and left and right volumes are greyed out for the D1. Only the Built-in Output allows me to change the volume and if I select the D1 for the output in System preferences > Sound, the system sounds still play through the external JBL speakers, not the internal ones.

A screen shot of the MIDI window:

View attachment 815782 View attachment 815783
Could this be because the D1 has its own volume control/knob?

Thanks for any help. I'd love to get this sorted out. It shocks the hell out of me every time I'm listening to music at a loud volume and then a system sound comes blaring out of the speakers.

Mmm...
It seems (from your screen captures) you have Finder sounds assigned to "internal output". It should work! But just don't forget "internal output" is mac's speakers OR 3.5" audio jack. I must understand you have external speakers plugged to analogue audio-out; no matter what you do, if you plug something into mac's audio jack, internal speakers are disabled (new macbooks with T2 can separate internal speakers from jack audio-out).
The other thing about external DAC volume control seems to be related to specific device; my DragonFly only lets me change its general volume from MidiSetup... I suppose it has to do with the fact that my DAC hasn't any physical way to change volume on it.
Of course, sometimes a mac restart makes things work properly. Your screenshots look normal and same as my mac shows, with the difference related to external device. If I'm listening to music or watching a video, I hear from DAC and speakers connected to it. If a notification "pings", I hear from internal speakers. My mac audio jack is unused and free.