Please help my dealer to help me

Posted by: Christopher_M on 06 July 2011

A couple of weeks ago I took my MacBook (with optical out and headphones out) to my Naim dealer with the intention of comparing mac and nDac against a CDX2.2.

 

Having ripped a couple of CDs, they couldn't get any sound from the Mac. They said there was light in the optical cable (toslink?) so that the Mac appeared to be working properly.

 

What should they have done to get music to play?

 

Sorry if this has been asked many times before, I thought it was all supposed to be so easy in the virtual future!

 

 

Regards,

Chris

Posted on: 06 July 2011 by totemphile

As far as I know it's just plug and play, at least on my MBP. This might sound silly but you did check whether sound was disabled or not on the MB, right? Others may know more...

Posted on: 06 July 2011 by Christopher_M

Thanks tp. My technological incompetence led me to the dealer who I assumed would be able to do it all for me. I will ask them what settings, they had on the Mac. Um, what settings should I have had?

 

Chris

Posted on: 06 July 2011 by totemphile

Hi Chris,

 

I was refering to the simple on/off button for sound. I have one in the top row of my MBP's keyboard, slightly to the right. Next to it are two more buttons, one to decrease and another to increase the volume. Not sure what MB you have but I would have thought that even the normal MB has such keys on its keyboard. There may also be a setting within the software, I don't know.

 

Not sure if this even comes into play though as you are going digitally out. Maybe the volume control on the keyboard is just for analogue sound. I did have some earphones once that didn't work on the MBP jack. Maybe the MB is picky regarding optical cables? Might want to give Apple a call.

 

 

Good luck

tp

Posted on: 06 July 2011 by kfcc

Hi Chris

 

Please enter the System Preferences, find the "Sound", then select the output. With the optical cable in the earphone jacket of your MB, there will be "Optical digital-out port" there.

 

Good luck

 

Thomas

Posted on: 06 July 2011 by DT79
I also find that it's easy to push the optical jack plug too far in to the socket on the mbp. Sometimes it takes a few seconds of fiddling to get it working. Probably just my mbp where I've been too rough with it too often in the past, but worth a look once you've confirmed all settings are correct.
Posted on: 08 July 2011 by Christopher_M

tp, Thomas and DT79, thanks for your comments and advice. I will be (quietly) mentioning it the next time I visit the dealer....

 

Chris

Posted on: 08 July 2011 by Guido Fawkes

To make the Mac play through Toslink - you need to go in to System Preferences. Then choose Sound. Select the Output tab and make sure the Digital Out is selected as Optical digital-out port. You will no longer be able to use the Mac's volume controls - these will go to max - the digital output stream will then go to the DAC and you can use the pre-amp to set the desired level as you would for the CDX2.2. If it sounds a patch on the the CDX2 then I'll be stunned and amazed. However, if you replace the Toslink with a MF V-Link or M2Tech Hi-Face then things will be very different and the CDX2 will have a battle on its hands. 

Posted on: 08 July 2011 by Guido Fawkes

Sorry just noticed - Thomas already said that. 

Posted on: 08 July 2011 by DT79
Originally Posted by Guido Fawkes:

To make the Mac play through Toslink - you need to go in to System Preferences. Then choose Sound. Select the Output tab and make sure the Digital Out is selected as Optical digital-out port. You will no longer be able to use the Mac's volume controls - these will go to max - the digital output stream will then go to the DAC and you can use the pre-amp to set the desired level as you would for the CDX2.2. If it sounds a patch on the the CDX2 then I'll be stunned and amazed. However, if you replace the Toslink with a MF V-Link or M2Tech Hi-Face then things will be very different and the CDX2 will have a battle on its hands. 

 

But note that you'll only see the option and be able to select it when the optical cable is connected!