Since my miniDSP SHD has been such a turd as a streamer I thought I would move my 2020 Mac M1 Mini to streamer duties (panic bought an M4 Mini and decked it out for my main computer). I had been using a 13 year old MacBook Pro but I liked the ability to tuck the Mini away.
Anyway, the MacBook pro was fine. I've done lots of measurements with it over the years using a UMik and REW. I've more recently been using a Microsoft Surface since the MBP wasn't capable of running the most recent versions of REW. Annoyingly, the Mini no longer supports optical so I switched over to USB between the computer and the SHD.
Sorry for the long build up, but here's where things get strange. I could easily tell that songs played via the Mini lacked bass. So I broke out the UMik and did some measurements with the Mini. Sure enough, looks like there's a 50hz high pass filter. I hooked up an external sound card that has optical out and I got the same result.
Just to be clear, I was running REW from the Mini. USB to the SHD or an external USB sound card with optional to the SHD both appear to have a 50hz HP high pass. The external sound card is good. The UMik is good. And the SHD (while a crummy streamer) is good.
I then broke out the Surface again and measured and things were back to normal; 50hz down to my high pass protection for the horn sub was back. The difference is clearly audible (I have a Lil Mike horn sub).
Any idea what's going on?
Anyway, the MacBook pro was fine. I've done lots of measurements with it over the years using a UMik and REW. I've more recently been using a Microsoft Surface since the MBP wasn't capable of running the most recent versions of REW. Annoyingly, the Mini no longer supports optical so I switched over to USB between the computer and the SHD.
Sorry for the long build up, but here's where things get strange. I could easily tell that songs played via the Mini lacked bass. So I broke out the UMik and did some measurements with the Mini. Sure enough, looks like there's a 50hz high pass filter. I hooked up an external sound card that has optical out and I got the same result.
Just to be clear, I was running REW from the Mini. USB to the SHD or an external USB sound card with optional to the SHD both appear to have a 50hz HP high pass. The external sound card is good. The UMik is good. And the SHD (while a crummy streamer) is good.
I then broke out the Surface again and measured and things were back to normal; 50hz down to my high pass protection for the horn sub was back. The difference is clearly audible (I have a Lil Mike horn sub).
Any idea what's going on?
Okay, I've done quite a bit more test. I even used the headphone jack on the Mini to the RCA input on the SHD and all audio outputs act the same. No advice?
Could be the mac mini sound stack just does that. IIRC, by default it resamples all audio to 48kHz. Maybe a USB dac that can report support for other sample rates can bypass some of the default processing.
Audio midiSetup controls what is output.
Usual way to get audio out is using USB, then it can be set to whatever the DAC can take.
You could also use the HDMI output.
dave
Usual way to get audio out is using USB, then it can be set to whatever the DAC can take.
You could also use the HDMI output.
dave
Yes MacMini M1. It isn't just USB though. I've now tried the headphone jack as the output and it acts the exact same way as the USB. It has got to be something in the software. I've seen lots of complaints about the problems with audio with the M1 Macs but not the problem that I've got.