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New iMac Supports High-Impedance Headphones

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The new 24-inch iMac with the M3 chip supports high-impedance headphones, according to an Apple support document updated today.

iMac-power-speaker-heaphones-copy.jpg

The built-in 3.5mm headphone jack on the left side of the new iMac features impedance detection and adaptive voltage output, and the computer now has an improved digital-to-analog converter with support for sample rates of up to 96 kHz, allowing for users to listen to high-fidelity, full-resolution audio with supported headphones.

Apple's list of all Macs that support high-impedance headphones:
  • iMac introduced in 2023
  • MacBook Air introduced in 2022 or later
  • MacBook Pro introduced in 2021 or later
  • Mac mini introduced in 2023
  • Mac Studio introduced in 2022 or later
  • Mac Pro introduced in 2023
The new iMac launched today after being introduced at Apple's event last week. Key new features include the M3 chip, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3. The all-in-one desktop computer has the same design as the 2021 model with the M1 chip.

Article Link: New iMac Supports High-Impedance Headphones
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/11/07/new-imac-supports-high-impedance-headphones/
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Great. Users are able to enjoy lossless & spatial over wired connections... unlike "the future" which still lacks the bandwidth to deliver the same. When does "the future" actually arrive again?

Those:
  • who want maximum quality have a way to enjoy it.
  • happy with the "convenience" (the future) method can enjoy their compressed audio their preferred way too.
I call that Win:Win!

And personally, I'd welcome a headphone jack back on the next incarnation of my favorite iPad, given an Apple-quality DAC is already inside to play to it and I'm no fan of dongles at all. Those who:
  • ARE fans of dongles,
  • already own USB-C wired headphone,
  • are fans of "the future" option and/or
  • want to maximize the quality of the audio from lossless/spatial...
...could fully have audio their way. Everybody could get what they want with one little resurrection that Apple themselves are still interested in adding to brand new hardware offerings in late 2023.
 
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MacRumors said:
the computer now has a built-in digital-to-analog converter with support for sample rates of up to 96 kHz, allowing for users to listen to high-fidelity, full-resolution audio with supported headphones.
Click to expand...
I hate to be "that guy," but why not 192 kHz? I find it strange that Apple offers 24-bit, 192 KHz music, but can't actually play said music on its devices without a third party adaptor.
 
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GMShadow said:
Don't worry, the people who hate a little color will suck it right out of any iMac that isn't silver just like they suck the fun from life in general. ;)
Click to expand...
I hate the colors they used. The back looks gorgeous, but the front with pastel colors + white bezels is an abomination. The colors would stand out more if they were contrasted against a dark background (black bezels). I just can’t understand why they don’t want to give us the option to have black bezels.
 
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guzhogi said:
I hate to be "that guy," but why not 192 kHz? I find it strange that Apple offers 24-bit, 192 KHz music, but can't actually play said music on its devices without a third party adaptor.
Click to expand...
I'm right there with ya. They make it really hard to use a Mac to listen to their hi-res catalog at full resolution. Even with an external USB Dac, the system won't switch sampling rates automatically to play the highest available for a track. You have to resort to using a 3rd party app (LosslessSwitcher) to get that functionality (which exists on iOS/iPadOS devices).
 
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HobeSoundDarryl said:
Great. Users are able to enjoy lossless & spatial over wired connections... unlike "the future" which still lacks the bandwidth to deliver the same. When does "the future" actually arrive again?

Those:
  • who want maximum quality have a way to enjoy it.
  • happy with the "convenience" (the future) method can enjoy their compressed audio their preferred way too.
I call that Win:Win!

And personally, I'd welcome a headphone jack back on the next incarnation of my favorite iPad, given an Apple-quality DAC is already inside to play to it and I'm no fan of dongles at all. Those who:
  • ARE fans of dongles,
  • already own USB-C wired headphone,
  • are fans of "the future" and/or
  • want to maximize the quality of the audio from lossless/spatial...
...could fully have audio their way. Everybody could get what they want with one little resurrection that Apple themselves are still interested in adding to brand new offerings.
Click to expand...
High bit rate wireless at your head will fry your brain. Which is why tech like LDAC and AptX Lossless still use compression until they can get the power output to a safe level.
 
guzhogi said:
I hate to be "that guy," but why not 192 kHz? I find it strange that Apple offers 24-bit, 192 KHz music, but can't actually play said music on its devices without a third party adaptor.
Click to expand...

Apple offers 192kHz music because it wastes twice the storage on your devices compared to 96kHz, thus forcing you to upgrade your phone or subscribe to pointless cloud services. It has nothing to do with sounding better. 96kHz is perfectly suited to encoding 48kHz, well beyond what any human can hear.
 
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guzhogi said:
I hate to be "that guy," but why not 192 kHz? I find it strange that Apple offers 24-bit, 192 KHz music, but can't actually play said music on its devices without a third party adaptor.
Click to expand...
Because if you can resolve 192 kHz with your headphones or speakers, you would be able to afford an external DAC that does it better and cleaner.

You get 3V max which means it can drive high impedence and mid to high sensitive headphones like the Sennheiser 600 series and Beyerdynamics.
 
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randyhudson said:
Apple offers 192kHz music because it wastes twice the storage on your devices compared to 96kHz, thus forcing you to upgrade your phone or subscribe to pointless cloud services. It has nothing to do with sounding better. 96kHz is perfectly suited to encoding 48kHz, well beyond what any human can hear.
Click to expand...
This sounds like a conspiracy theory and last I checked Apple doesn't include iTinFoil with the machines so now there's an extra cost coming.
 
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Surprising and welcome. Not to me, I don't care, but I am used to them removing things like this rather than adding them. Like when they removed the optical out capability on these ports.
 
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