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Imac Optical Out, no sound whatsoever

T

ThomtheEditor

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 20, 2009
16
0
Hi, just got in my new imac; hooked up my audio via toslink & mini-to-optical adapter. This is running thru an optical switcher into my receiver, but i'm not getting any passthru at all.

Checked at the end of cable for red light; coming thru super strong; checked audio settings in midi setup; only stereo is selectable, no multichannel.

Though maybe the cable was too long; plugged in an old PC usb sound card w/ optical out and it plays fine thru that. (i would just use that, but no mac drivers, so while the sound comes thru, no way to get 5.1 output)

Tried going straight into receiver bypassing switcher, still nothing.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
~Thom
 
yeah it changes from internal speakers to digital out whenever i put in the cable + adapter, and then recognizes the removal as well when i remove it; tried all the basic stuff to no avail.
 
djcorrosive said:
Stop spamming, no one will help you if you keep going.
Click to expand...

You need to look up the word "spam" because you clearly don't know what it means. ;)

ThomtheEditor said:
it's been up a week with no responce; it would appear that no-one is helping me now
Click to expand...

You need to tell us what software you're using and what content you're trying to play back. If you play songs through iTunes, do you get music from your receiver?
 
ThomtheEditor said:
Hi, just got in my new imac; hooked up my audio via toslink & mini-to-optical adapter. This is running thru an optical switcher into my receiver, but i'm not getting any passthru at all.

Checked at the end of cable for red light; coming thru super strong; checked audio settings in midi setup; only stereo is selectable, no multichannel.

Though maybe the cable was too long; plugged in an old PC usb sound card w/ optical out and it plays fine thru that. (i would just use that, but no mac drivers, so while the sound comes thru, no way to get 5.1 output)

Tried going straight into receiver bypassing switcher, still nothing.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
~Thom
Click to expand...

This might apply. When connecting to an HD TV you need two cables. The HDMI (DVI) does not carry the audio. You need to tap into the audio out on the Mac and connect to the audio in on the external component.

HTH
 
Cave Man said:
You need to tell us what software you're using and what content you're trying to play back. If you play songs through iTunes, do you get music from your receiver?
Click to expand...

I can't get any audio to come thru at all; not from itunes or quicktime or safari.

Ryan, yeah i have my video going downstream over vga to my tv no problem; it's the audio that won't work; i'm running an optical cable w/ minilink adaptor to fit the macs output to optical switcher to surround reciever; i know the setup & cable length are fine as i can run it off my old usb hub thru the same setup w/ audio passthru & i'm pretty sure the optical connector is working as i'm getting a very strong red beam thru the cable to the switcher.
~Thom
 
ThomtheEditor said:
I can't get any audio to come thru at all; not from itunes or quicktime or safari.
Click to expand...

OK, let's isolate your problem. Do this:

Mac > Optical Toslink > Receiver > Speakers

When you do this, you get no sound at all from your Mac (e.g., iTunes)? If so, that usually means you have not activated optical input on your receiver. For example, my Onkyos came from the factory set for analog (RCA) input for each channel (DVD, Video 1, Video 2, Video 3, CD). I set Video 1 to optical input using the Onkyo's menu.

What is your receiver's make and model number?
 
Yeah, been an audiophile for years; tried all the basic stuff:

We can rule out the speakers & receiver as the optical is coming thru a switcher that has other optical devices that all play fine; also the switcher is fine b/c i can run this same optical cord thru an old pc usb card from the mac (which should also rule out cord condition and length).

I thought maybe it was the adaptor that i have; but if i unplug the mac input to the switcher the red optical light shines thru very brightly. Using this adaptor: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002J24OO/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

Which makes me think it's the mac; any thoughts?
~T
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
anyone else encounter this problem? I've had no problem before with a previous iMac, but now my new one with 10.6 is not detecting the output source. It disables sound, but digital output is enabled when the mini-toslink is connected.

Checked all the regular possibilities, and have noticed here that others have had no luck either, and siting software with 10.6.

any sugg's appreciated. If it is in fact, 10.6 - how much feedback must Apple receive before they initiate response to the issue?
 
i've stopped trying altogether. I had an old usb sound card from my pc days that the mac recognizes via plug and play; it's not true 5.1; but my receiver doesn a pretty good job decoding it as pro-logic and the drivers on my pc-bootcamp partition work just fine. Great for gaming on my tv running a wireless xbox controller!
 
I am using a Mini toss/toss to my receiver and it has worked perfect from day one. I am using a 12' cable and have never had an issue. I simply plugged it and and it worked. I have not tried using it in bootcamp however, only in OSX.

Sorry I can't suggest a fix, just wanted to let you know it does/has worked on a 27" iMac.

Good Luck. :eek:

For the record, using this cable: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=18NT0XTM6J7YXXE0EB9E
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Cave Man; yeah the problem isn't what type of signal i'm getting; it's the fact that no signal whatsoever is coming thru; like i said i have a decent workaround for what i'm doing, thanks for the replies though!
~Thom
 
I have the exact same setup as you and the same problem. I used to use a mac mini plugged in to an optical switcher so I didn't need to change the input setting on the receiver. I have since replaced the mac mini with my iMac and there is no sound. When I play a DVD the little PLII symbol on my receiver doesn't change to the double D logo so I know there's no good signal.
I tried switching out the iMac with my Macbook pro and lo, it works fine.

It appears the optical out on the imac is indeed weak, which is strange considering the mac mini worked perfectly and the mac mini is more of a budget computer than a personal computer.

I compared the optical out light from the imac with my xbox and it was quite a bit weaker.

Unfortunately for me, I cannot go straight to my receiver since I need it for the 360 and PS3 so I am glad you found a workaround, since I'll need to do a similar thing.
 
My best suggestion then is to find a plug and play usb sound card like the X-Fi
(http://www.google.com/products/cata...log_result&ct=image&resnum=3&ved=0CCgQ8gIwAg#)

unfortunatelly it only has drivers on the PC side; so i don't know if you'll get true 5.1 out of it (on my reciever Pro-Logic sounds pretty great for most things) or if you have the money to spend; the M-audio transit which supports dts & dolby 5.1 on both macs and pc's. (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=m+audio+transit&cid=16032843597914793178&sa=title#p)

With either option you get the added bonus of being able to just switch to internal speakers on the system settings sound tab if you even need to without having to unplug everything every time you want to switch back and forth (as the optical out overrides internal speaker settings).

Good luck, let me know what you choose!
~Thom
 
That set up sounds a bit messy. I suggest googling kanex. They make optical in + mdp adapters straight to 1.4 hdmi.

For now, go into audio midi setup and make sure your digital out is set to default, on 2 channel 16 bit settings with 48.000 MHz.

Let me know how it goes

sent from my iPhone
 
iMac Optical Out, no sound whatever

Have had my new iMac for 3 months now. Used a toslink optical cable to connect to my Creative Inspire 5.1 Digital 5700 speaker system.
Have had no problems with playing sound from any applications except Skype. When using Skype and making or receiving calls there would be no ringing sound. So I went to System Preferences > Sound > Output and made sure Digital Sound was highlighted/selected. Then I went to Sound Effects and where it says Play Sound Effects Through, I selected Digital Out. Now I get the ringing sounds when using Skype. I did NOT touch any of the settings in Utilities > Audio MIDI Setup as having done the previously mentioned settings it changed them in Audio MIDI.
I know this is not the exact same problem you had, but the above might help in the Sound Effects selection to help you get your sound working.
 
oh man im so frustrated too....ive got the same problem but with my macbook....ive tried different cables (switched directly from my digital tv box)...different receivers...and get no sound whatsoever....ive tried everything i can think off....my receiver is set to receive digital input....in sound pref it says digital output....in audio midi setup the source says digital out...and ive tried all the options (not many) and nothing...i tried the genius bar but they could not help me (had nothing with a digital in)....i too gave up about a year ago and watch my movies through stereo..but its frustrating as hell because i have a great system and im wasting the 5.1 experience......im on 10.6.....ive tried every program...front row...itunes...plex....vlc.....ive searched online an about 5-6 people have the same thing and no1 knows how to help...i dont want to have to buy a soundcard because i bought a macbook knowing it has optical out...it has never worked for me...(btw yes ive tried all the basic stuff...yes the red light comes through...on both ends....its not muted... receiver is on digital..ive tried different cables/adapters...different receivers...what the hell are we doing wrong?

atm trying with a onkyo 507 with B&W 600 series and can only use "fake" surround stereo....have no use for my onkyo (bought it hoping to hook it up to my macbook.)...so atm my macbook is hooked up to my NAD stereo amp.
 
Kerbeygrip said:
I have the same issue. If Isolve it I will post it!
Click to expand...

You are responding to a question that was posted 10 years ago.

iMacs from 2017 or later don't support optical audio output - although there's a page on Apple support that is a bit confusing because it talks about number of bits and bit rates (but that is actually talking about the digital-to-analogue converter inside the Mac).
 
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