Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mac mini M1 - only 48KHz audio?

V

vddobrev

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 28, 2016
962
833
Haskovo, Bulgaria
Just got a new M1 Mac mini. In Audio MIDI Setup, I only see 48.0KHz. It is connected to my NAD receiver via HDMI cable.
With my old 2014 mini, connected to the same receiver with the same cable, I had 44.1, 48.0, 96.0, and 192.0.
Why no other rates are available? Is that all that the M1 mini supports, 48.0KHz only?
 
BrianBaughn said:
You're playing an audio file that's NOT 48kHz and it's showing 48kHz?
Click to expand...
Yes. In fact, there is no other choice in the Audio MIDI Setup, only 48kHz. So it is resampling everything to 48kHz, regardless if the audio file is 44.1, 96.0, or 192.0.

Moreover, when comparing to my 2014 mini, and Mac Pro 2013, the sound output from the M1 mini is degraded - it sounds worse, highs are harsh and lows are muddy.

I am very disappointed by the HDMI audio output from the M1. I also tried USB-C to HDMI, with same results.
 
You might be stuck with having to switch to a new audio device between the Mini and your NAD…but have you checked the NAD for possible settings changes?

Does anyone at NAD know what's going on?
 
BrianBaughn said:
You might be stuck with having to switch to a new audio device between the Mini and your NAD…but have you checked the NAD for possible settings changes?

Does anyone at NAD know what's going on?
Click to expand...
There aren't any changes needed in NAD receiver. I just unplug the mini and plug my Mac Pro (or 2014 mini) to the same HDMI input on the receiver - and both Mac Pro and 2014 mini have 192kHz output.

Looks like the M1 mini sound output is sub-par, and I am really disappointed by this.
 
You are right, there is a setup menu, but it is for setting up the mapping of inputs to physical connections. It has 9 logical inputs numbered 1 to 9. For each you set either HDMI or optical or analog is the source. You can also pick a DSP processing, like to apply Dolby Pro logic for 2 channel audio.
But there is nothing to limit it to 48kHz...
 
I have more insights on the audio quality (or lack there of) of the M1 Mac mini.

The audio quality of the M1 Mac mini is far inferior to all my other devices, not only via HDMI, but also via Bluetooth. I compared via Bluetooth playing to my AirPods against my iPhone X, Mac Pro 2013, Mac mini 2014, and 2021 M1 iPad Pro 11" and 12.9". The M1 mini is terribly bad, while all my other devices are good and almost indistinguishable from one another, with the iPhone X being the worst.

To explain by words, the sound coming from the mini is harsh highs, undefined lows, and muddy mids.

What in the world has Apple done to save costs with this M1 Mac mini to sacrifice the audio quality!!!
 
How can two devices based on the same M1 chip output different quality audio? It looks like Apple cheaped out on the M1 Mac mini in whatever part or the system/chip is responsible for the audio output.
Not cool! Extremely not cool! Especially when a 2014 Mac mini is better than the M1 in terms of audio output.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cape Dave
But regardless, I am very disappointed with the M1 Mac mini - all the online reviews praise its abilities for video editing and what not, while none reviews its sound output capabilities. I had to find it the hard way by buying one... and testing it for myself.

Hope this helps someone like me!
 
This doesn't even involve a D/A converter in the mini, just a simple pass through of digital data. Sounds like a very odd implementation of HDMI 2.0 in the mini. Have you contacted Apple?
 
marstan said:
This doesn't even involve a D/A converter in the mini, just a simple pass through of digital data. Sounds like a very odd implementation of HDMI 2.0 in the mini. Have you contacted Apple?
Click to expand...
I have not contacted Apple yet. But I am not sure it is a simple pass through of digital data... The apple lossless file formats, ALAC and HALAC are protected by DRM, so some process, hardware or software, has to convert to PCM, which is the digital representation of the analogue audio. Somehow this process is failing to deliver and it is serving a worse audio stream, be it via HDMI to receiver or via Bluetooth to AirPods. Someone correct me if wrong, but this is my understanding.

I will contact Apple support, as I am within my telephone support period, but I don't hold much hope.
 
Last edited:
So you haven't tried to send straight non-DRM PCM files? You should do that so you have a clean baseline test of files known to work.
 
I do hope you report back what Apple says. I bet it has to do with your DRM.

I do not know why Apple's lossless file formats would need any special processing for PCM. Decompression - yes, DRM checks - yes but conversion to PCM? Certainly DSD files need converting to PCM but .m4a .aif files I wouldn't think so. Now converting from one sample rate to another can cause errors that affect sound quality but that is usually mitigated with dithering.
 
Last edited:
I am not an expert how and what processing is done from Apple Music files, but my receiver is receiving a PCM signal.
The Apple Lossless music files are not .m4a or .aif, they are with extension .movpkg - if someone is knowledgeable about this please let me know.
 
vddobrev said:
I am not an expert how and what processing is done from Apple Music files, but my receiver is receiving a PCM signal.
The Apple Lossless music files are not .m4a or .aif, they are with extension .movpkg - if someone is knowledgeable about this please let me know.
Click to expand...
Where did you get those movpkg files?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back