Multichannel Over USB via Audiophilleo on 2009 MacBook Pro

[Chipless]

Figured I would ask this in the general forum in the hopes of getting it in front of as many people as possible. I apologize if this tactic is inappropriate. This question relates to multiple areas though.

 

I will cut straight the heart of the question, but if you need more info, I am happy to provide it.

 

So, does anyone know if it's possible to output more than 2 channels of audio via USB through an Audiophilleo from a 2009 MacBook Pro? The Audiophilleo is connected to a 11 channel Marantz preamp. I am currently unable to get this to work, so I am trying to figure out where the bottleneck is.

[jhwalker]

Figured I would ask this in the general forum in the hopes of getting it in front of as many people as possible. I apologize if this tactic is inappropriate. This question relates to multiple areas though.

 

I will cut straight the heart of the question, but if you need more info, I am happy to provide it.

 

So, does anyone know if it's possible to output more than 2 channels of audio via USB through an Audiophilleo from a 2009 MacBook Pro? The Audiophilleo is connected to a 11 channel Marantz preamp. I am currently unable to get this to work, so I am trying to figure out where the bottleneck is.

 

At the risk of exposing additional ignorance isn't the Audiophilleo a USB > S/PDIF converter? And isn't S/PDIF a stereo-only connection?

 

I know you can pass "faux" multichannel formats like Dolby Digital 5.1 over S/PDIF, but those are actually stereo signals with additional coding that allows the processor at the other end to decode additional channel information from the stereo signal.

 

IOW, I think whatever DAC is at the other end, S/PDIF is your bottleneck. Certainly open to being schooled on this.

[Chipless]

Thank you for exposing my ignorance! I think you are correct in saying that the only "multi-channel" content that an S/PDIF connection is capable of carrying is really 2-channel content with special coding. Since I need 4 dedicated channels to be mapped how I choose, I don't think my current setup will work. If anyone can confirm this though, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

At the risk of exposing additional ignorance isn't the Audiophilleo a USB > S/PDIF converter? And isn't S/PDIF a stereo-only connection?

 

I know you can pass "faux" multichannel formats like Dolby Digital 5.1 over S/PDIF, but those are actually stereo signals with additional coding that allows the processor at the other end to decode additional channel information from the stereo signal.

 

IOW, I think whatever DAC is at the other end, S/PDIF is your bottleneck. Certainly open to being schooled on this.

[esldude]

SPDIF is capable of multichannel as long as the channels are in a compressed format. They cannot do lossless beyond stereo. The compressed version of multichannel was also known as AC3 compression. All channels were compressed, but beyond that they were 5.1 truly separate channels.

 

The Audiophilleo is said to support that.

 

Audiophilleo technical support

 

I have an Audiophilleo, but don't do multichannel or I could help you figure it out. Your Marantz will need to be looking for the AC3(DTS or Dolby Digital) format for that to work. Not sure what if any settings you will need to look into on the Mac end for playback.