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New MacBook Pro drops optical audio out through headphone jack

M

MidnightSVT

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 14, 2012
125
36
According to an article posted on AppleInsider, the new MacBook Pro's do not support audio line out (digital/analog) through the headphone jack.

http://forums.appleinsider.com/disc...rops-optical-audio-out-through-headphone-jack

Does this mean that you cannot use any 3.5mm external speakers? I am thinking of the small Logitech series that have separate power and 3.5 mm input into the headphone jack.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/speakers-z130?crid=47

Or these

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/multimedia-speakers-z213?crid=47

Thanks!!
 
Speakers work fine but it no longer has digital optical out apparently. So you can't output 5.1 to an amp for example.
 
Perfect. Thanks for the clarification.

I don't hook my computer up to high end receivers or speakers through 3.5mm, but I do hook into low end external speakers through 3.5mm quite often. I was worried that the equipment that I have would be useless with the new model.

Thanks everyone!
 
i suspect it won't matter much – any time you're doing serious audio monitoring on these machines you're always running through an external soundcard anyway

computers may have great chips in them these days, but literally no computers i've ever seen have useable sound cards in them for some reason

or at least i've never seen a studio computer without an external
 
What about the USB C to HDMI to home theater receiver? Is there any Dolby Digital or DTS support. I've never used the computer for this purpose but I'm wondering if this is a possibility at all.
 
SJTrance said:
What about the USB C to HDMI to home theater receiver? Is there any Dolby Digital or DTS support. I've never used the computer for this purpose but I'm wondering if this is a possibility at all.
Click to expand...
Can't see why it would be dropped. Both the integrated GPUs and the discrete GPUs support HDMI audio.
 
jackoatmon said:
i suspect it won't matter much – any time you're doing serious audio monitoring on these machines you're always running through an external soundcard anyway

computers may have great chips in them these days, but literally no computers i've ever seen have useable sound cards in them for some reason

or at least i've never seen a studio computer without an external
Click to expand...

Thats exactly why the optical out makes sense, as it bypasses internal DAC to outside gear.
 
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Skika said:
Thats exactly why the optical out makes sense, as it bypasses internal DAC to outside gear.
Click to expand...

Optical/TOSLINK is a legitimately old protocol.

It used to be a good high-speed digital interface, when the only other option was analog over copper. The adapter to plug it into 3.5mm jacks with the optical at the bottom was always finicky and fragile. It was a decent way to get good audio out onto a laptop when there wasn't another decent high-speed option, but I'm amazed it lasted as long as it did.

But now anyone vaguely serious about audio is running 24/192 or better over USB 2/3/C, and it works great, bypassing the computer's DAC/Amp, and just giving a nice, tasty clean line of audio to whatever you want. HDMI audio is also out there, but I haven't seen a ton of it in real-world use.

In any case, the four people on the entire planet who were actually using optical audio out are screwed, everyone else with a new MBP will buy a $5 A->C adapter or a $12 cable, and you're in business.
 
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Deanster said:
... everyone else with a new MBP will buy a $5 A->C adapter or a $12 cable, and you're in business.
Click to expand...

And for dumping the optical out, you have to use a USB-C outlet for something that you didn't need to before. Those two - or four - USB-C ports are gonna go fast. * External storage? Check * External monitor? Check (yes I know there is airplay, if monitor attached to compatible hardware) * Second monitor? Whoa, now we're almost ... * optical out: all ports spoken for. This is If you have the 4-port model. I went through this with thunderbolt, 1 (or 2-) ports and that's all you need! Provided you have dongles and/or dock. Of course - and here's the key - Apple upper management probably never attach that much stuff. Wait for the "why would you need ..." statement from them.
 
dark_skies said:
And for dumping the optical out, you have to use a USB-C outlet for something that you didn't need to before. Those two - or four - USB-C ports are gonna go fast. * External storage? Check * External monitor? Check (yes I know there is airplay, if monitor attached to compatible hardware) * Second monitor? Whoa, now we're almost ... * optical out: all ports spoken for. This is If you have the 4-port model. I went through this with thunderbolt, 1 (or 2-) ports and that's all you need! Provided you have dongles and/or dock. Of course - and here's the key - Apple upper management probably never attach that much stuff. Wait for the "why would you need ..." statement from them.
Click to expand...

You don't have to do anything.
 
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