Mac Studio owners, can anyone connect the Mac Studio to an HDMI receiver and report back what audio rates are available in the MIDI Setup? Is it limited to 48KHz or does it go higher?
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Mac Studio connected to receiver via HDMI
- Thread starter vddobrev
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Connect to HDMI from your Mac - Apple Support (HK)
Mac computers can use an HDMI cable or adapter to connect to a TV, display, or other HDMI device.
support.apple.com
I got a MBP14" and a Marantz AV7705, but can't connect them to test for now, will post back when I do so.
Right, this article states "8-channel/24-bit audio at 192kHz, Dolby Surround 5.1, and traditional stereo" but it is not so. My good old MP6,1 and 2015 13"MBP support it, but not my M1 Mac mini, which was a total disappointment.Apple says 8ch 192kHz 24bit, but this article is not Mac Studio specific.Connect to HDMI from your Mac - Apple Support (HK)
Mac computers can use an HDMI cable or adapter to connect to a TV, display, or other HDMI device.support.apple.com
I got a MBP14" and a Marantz AV7705, but can't connect them to test for now, will post back when I do so.
That is why I wanted to find out specifically if Mac Studio supports 8-channel/24-bit audio at 192kHz.
Yes let's wait for a Studio owner to post. But I am not hopeful, it uses the same M1 foundation on the silicon side, then the common HDMI 2.0 spec tells me it is likely designed and wired similarly to the 14" 16" MBP.
For reference, I got a mini 2012, HDMI connecting to the same pre-amp. I can make it do 8ch 96kHz 24bit, and this is 10 years old Apple tech. In fact I permanently have this clocked as a ROON end point for surround music playback. In this example ROON plays a 5.1 DSD which then downsamples to 88.2kHz to all 6 channels. I can't make my 14" MBP do the same.
@Chancha I hear you, and I am in the same boat. My older Macs support up to 192KHz, while the M1 does not, it replaced a 2014 Mac mini and the M1 sounds worse. I have thread about it in the Mac mini forum if you are interested.
Edit: And nobody from the youtube reviewers even care to review the supported audio rates, all they care about is video encoding.
Edit: And nobody from the youtube reviewers even care to review the supported audio rates, all they care about is video encoding.
I use the iFi Zen DAC v2 and it provides a wide range of outputs (speaker, headphones, etc) depending on the source.
I listen to MQA files and will get the green light to show 384kHz decoding thru Tidal.
From iFi:
ZEN DAC V2 supports PCM and DXD to 32-bit/384kHz, DSD256 and MQA. DSD remains ‘bit-perfect’ thanks to the True Native Burr-Brown chip design.
I listen to MQA files and will get the green light to show 384kHz decoding thru Tidal.
From iFi:
ZEN DAC V2 supports PCM and DXD to 32-bit/384kHz, DSD256 and MQA. DSD remains ‘bit-perfect’ thanks to the True Native Burr-Brown chip design.
Thanks for sharing, nice setup!
But my question still stand - Mac Studio to an HDMI receiver: what audio rates are available in the MIDI Setup.
Common Mac Studio owners, take a minute and plug it in your Receiver via HDMI, open MIDI setup and report the available rates.
MQA is a scam, not bit perfect, and lossy, no matter what they say or that the little green light comes on. It's lossy and then poorly upsampled through their proprietary scam filter. Straight FLAC is infinitely better and actually loss-less. It's an attempt to get DRM into our music once again from the record companies.
Second, Qobuz is far better than TIDAL, streams true lossless FLAC while sounding better.
I don't have a receiver or I would plug it in. However, if I had to guess I would say no more than 24/96 as has been the normal Apple standard. Second, No matter what sample rate you send, unless you have set Audio MIDI to that sample rate ahead of time, the computer will resample it.
MQA makes *some* sense in streaming platforms for bandwidth reasons, especially for mobile networks. And then on a CD makes even less sense but I can see the point of shoving more data in a 700MB disc with lossy compression.
What I don't understand is why it is advertised as some sort of golden Hi-Res codec when bandwidth nor capacity are constrained. It feels too much like the hardware makers were so desperately in search of the next marketing buzzword attaching to their products scamming people to upgrade unnecessarily.
source: I work professionally in recording and music publishing
But, FLAC already does that and MQA isn't compressed enough to beat FLAC. I tell ya, it's a total scam and an effort to get DRM into our music again. in theory, a record company could put out only MQA music and force you to pay more money for an MQA only device which costs more because the device or software maker had to pay money to MQA to get their ****** filter. The best thing that could happen to MQA and TIDAL is they both die a quick death.
If you want to read all about it, and get deep into the tech, go to www.audiophilestyle.com and read the deep dive threads that exposes it all.
That's why I said it made "some" sense, but by and large makes little sense. There are clearly better alternatives to achieve the same if not better result as long as they are willing to. Like 20 years ago, valid skepticism were made concerning FLAC or OGG decoding on devices due to processing power that is a luxury on a mobile side. That has been invalidated nowadays such that the only realistic arguement in lossy compression is in commodity delivery for the masses; eg. the audio stream YouTube video that 99.9% of the time does not need to be in that good quality. But for music playing? Even Apple Music for how user-unfriendly it is, at least its high-res offering has the decency to stay lossless.
Here is the Link. It makes no sense because it's a solution looking for a problem thats long solved. Qobuz is also mobile and streams FLAC just fine.
I published music on Tidal to test MQA - MQA Deep Dive
A video version of this post is available here: Introduction MQA is a proprietary music compression solution that uses the FLAC container. It requires a license fee for manufacturers to implement it, and due to the lack of transparency from MQA, there has been relatively little conclusive informa...
audiophilestyle.com
Thanks for replying! Apple standard used to be 24/192 until recently, all of my older macs have it, even via optical. Those are 2013 Mac Pro, 2014 Mac mini, 2015 MacBook Pro. And yes, I am aware that unless the matching rate is pre-selected in the MIDI it will resample.
The problem is the M1 Mac mini supports ONLY 48KHz, no other sampling rate, and it sounds far worse than any of my other Macs at any rate. I have discussed it in a separate thread.
You can use a different output to get higher rate out of it. I use a linux based server, but if I plug a USB DAC directly into the M1 Mini, and my M1 Ultra Studio, I get any sample rate the device supports, short of DSD because Mac OS can only do DoP. A raspberry Pi4 makes a cheap network audio endpoint as well. I use multiple around my house.
Thanks, that has been suggested by many already in a different thread. Why put an intermediate DAC that will connect to my other DAC, the receiver. Also, I am not strictly Stereo.
Thank you so much! This is exactly what I wanted to see, but I don't like it! No other rate, only 48kHz.
Edit: It does not matter if it is displayport to HDMI adapter, it is still an HDMI connection.
It may be possible to use HQPlayer to send data over a network to a Pi4, and then out via HDMI, and do it to more than two channels. I'm not positive though as I am strictly 2 channel and have never messed with multichannel, but I use HQPlayer and know it can work with both M1 Macs and multichannel outputs.
Just an option if the direct connection doesnt work.
I have a Monoprice Monolith HTP-1 Processor:
From my base model Mac Studio I cannot get Multi-Channel audio whatsoever over HDMI. Have tried several different cables with no success. Also tried USB-C to HDMI adapters and still nothing. The option to select any different formats in audio options or MIDI Audio are greyed out and cannot be changed.
My old 2012 Mac Mini (i7) can get multi-channel audio when connected to the same HTP-1 processor.
Anyone else happen to have the HTP-1?
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16-Channel Home Theater Processor with Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Auro-3D, Roon Ready, and Dirac Live Bass Control Compatibility - Monoprice.com
The Monolith™ HTP‑1 is an "AVR" or "Pre‑Processor" designed for use in home theaters. It supports Dolby Atmos®, DTS:X®, Auro‑3D®, and Dirac Live
www.monoprice.com
From my base model Mac Studio I cannot get Multi-Channel audio whatsoever over HDMI. Have tried several different cables with no success. Also tried USB-C to HDMI adapters and still nothing. The option to select any different formats in audio options or MIDI Audio are greyed out and cannot be changed.
My old 2012 Mac Mini (i7) can get multi-channel audio when connected to the same HTP-1 processor.
Anyone else happen to have the HTP-1?