but your mac isn't what's producing the sound in this case. The question isn't does your mac have optical, at which, the answer is no, by the way. The question is, does your USB interface have optical out?
I do agree that would give you a better sound. Either that, or SPDIF, sometimes pronounced spiddif. I still however tend to think this is a bigger issue than your speaker setup. It sounds more like there is something going on within the USB connection from your mac to the USB interface. I don't think your speakers are the problem here, honestly, based on what you're telling us. Chris. ----- Original Message ----- From: Bill Holton To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 8:02 AM Subject: Re: Need a bit of USB sound education I was told my mac mini didn't have an optical out. Is it the same jack that you would normally take audio out of? Sent from my iPhone On Jan 19, 2016, at 11:43 PM, 'Chris Blouch' via MacVisionaries <macvisionaries@googlegroups.com> wrote: If you are trying to get 5.1 out of your Mac, does your amp have an optical input? If so, it might be easier to skip all the USB stuff and just run optical from the mini to your surround-sound amp. CB On 1/18/16 9:57 PM, Bill Holton wrote: Hi. My wife says they are green, orange—red?—and black. The USB cable goes into the box, those three cables go to my 5.1 system subwoofer, the subwoofer has the amp, I am guessing, and there are five audio cable jacks in it that lead to the left, right, satellite, and center channels. The speakers also have a large cable with a volume know, a headphone jack, and dial for bass/treble, and another that does increased separation. Does that help? The USB audio keeps dropping out, then coming back. I thought maybe it was an OS issue, but I am running VM, and after a config change it started asking me where I want the device connected, Mac or Windows, so I am guessing it is actually disconnecting and reconnecting. Tried three different USB cables;, didn’t help. From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com [mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Christopher-Mark Gilland Sent: Monday, January 18, 2016 6:50 PM To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Need a bit of USB sound education OK, do you know what color those cables are? That would tell me a fair amount. Are they blue green and black? If so, I might have a possible solution. If two of them are red and white, then I'll have to think about it, as that wouldn't exactly tell me much. red and white is generally your standard RCA, then of course yellow would be for video, so I highly doubt that is what you're working with. The green, blue, and black would be digital and probably would be like a composit cable. That's why I'm kind a wonderring. We need just a slight bit more info. Chris. ----- Original Message ----- From: Bill Holton To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com Sent: Monday, January 18, 2016 5:15 PM Subject: Need a bit of USB sound education Hi. I am currently running a USB sound adapter to a set of 5.1 speakers on my Mac Mini, connected by three color-coded cables to the subwoofer, which in turn connects to the five speakers. The device is acting up, it keeps failing and restarting. Tried different cable, same issues. I want to replace the device, but not sure what I am looking for. All the ones I see on Amazon show audio out. What do I need to look for in one that will connect via the three color coded cables? Hoping to get off fairly inexpensively, so if anyone can recommend one…much thanks. Bill -- The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. 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