Help please with Mac and MyDac

[Narwal]

Hi,

 

First off let say hello to all the members here and apologize in advace for any

typos in my posts. I am visually challenged so I rely on touch typing as it is difficut

for me to read the screen even though it is billboard size on my Mac, )=;

 

This is my first post here. I have a pretty good background in digital audio

and hope that I can help by answering questions from other members. At this

point in time I am having an issue with the Micromega MyDac and my iMac.

 

I used to play my digital library via a PC notebook with JRiver and MyDac on USVB.

It was okey but unstable, dropping the connection now ant then.

 

Now I have moved to Mac and am having trouble maintaining the MyDac Output.

rebooting and swithich the the dac on and off works about 2 times out of ten. The rest of the

timne it doesnt even appear in the Sound Output list i Sytem preferences.

 

SO!

 

1-What can I do to get it working with the USB out on the nmac?

2-Would it be better or even possible to use the o[tical digital audio out

via Toalink? My understading is that on a Mac the USB is limited to 44.1/16 while

 

the optical out would be up to 196/24.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciatred.

 

Thk you.

[baddog]

Hello, welcome aboard! While I am not familiar with your DAC, I can tell you that the USB output is not limited to 16/44.1 and can easily handle 24/196 files.

 

Depending on which model Mac you have, you could also achieve 24/196 using the Toslink output, for example these Macs are supported by Apple:

• MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) and later
  
• MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) and later
  
• Mac Pro (Late 2013)
  
• iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2014)
  
• iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) and later
  
• Mac mini (Late 2014)
  

 

Other models may only be able to handle 24/96.

 

It would be helpful to know which model/year iMac you have, as well as what you are using to playback music, and where you have your music stored.

 

Have you checked to ensure your DAC appears in Audio Midi Setup, located in the Utilities folder?

 

 

[Gonzbull]

Hi,

Firstly your Macs USB out is not limited. Limits are in your DAC and playback software mostly.

I would go into audio/Midi setup in the Utilities folder and make sure all is sweet.

Try another USB cable and use a different port on your Mac.

Best of luck

[Narwal]

This is my Mac:

Hardware Overview:

 

Model Name: iMac

Model Identifier: iMac14,1

Processor Name: Intel Core i5

Processor Speed: 2.7 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 4

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 4 MB

Memory: 8 GB

Boot ROM Version: IM141.0118.B11

 

 

 

Hello, welcome aboard! While I am not familiar with your DAC, I can tell you that the USB output is not limited to 16/44.1 and can easily handle 24/196 files.

 

This is where I am confused. It may be that the Mac will output 24/196 but the USB in on the DAC is

Here are the MyDac Specs:

 

USB

The asynchronous USB input accepts signal which are plain multiples of 44,1kHZ and 48kHz sampling rates and this up to 192kHz. This input is compatible with Audio class 1.0 and 2.0 without using any specific driver on Mac.

 

OPTO

SPDIF Toslink Optical input working up to 24 bits/192 kHz. The quality of the optical fibre used with this input is very important if you want to get the best of your MyDAC and especially if you will use high sample rates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It would be helpful to know which model/year iMac you have, as well as what you are using to playback music, and where you have your music stored.

 

I use JRiver as well as Swinsain. I even tested to see if I got any audio from YouTube and even

(shudder) WHiTunes. All no go.Music is all on an attached drive which holds all my music and video.

Drive is fine - I can play videos from it via a networked blue ray DVD, and eyetoons will PLay aufio file from

it through the Mac Speakers (default ooutpuy)\]]

 

Hpe this gives you more to go on.

 

PS-DAC works fine passing audio from coax (DVD) and toslink (tv audio out).

 

Yhank you very much for your help.

 

Nick

 

Have you checked to ensure your DAC appears in Audio Midi Setup, located in the Utilities folder?

 

Yes, it's not there and does not app;ear as a choice in System Preferences/Sound either, but it did a few times

but mostly not.

 

Does the DAC need to be plugged in to work? (just kidding). (-;

 

 

 

[Man in a van]

Just a simple question, is the switch on the back of the DAC set for usb2 or 1?

 

There was a firmware update available some time ago but I can't find a link for it.

 

atb

 

Ronnie

[Narwal]

Hi,

I have tried both settings and it has worked on both, but that was before. It worferd\

using 1.0 with the Win machine on the Mac it worked on both 1.0 and 2.0.

 

Thanks

 

 

Just a simple question, is the switch on the back of the DAC set for usb2 or 1?

 

There was a firmware update available some time ago but I can't find a link for it.

 

atb

 

Ronnie

[Man in a van]

Narwal,

 

Have a read through this thread, post 16 and 17, also there is some stuff about selecting the best usb port.

 

Good Luck.

 

Ronnie

 

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/micromega-mydac-13737/index2.html

 

 

Just to add that I have a Mydac but have only briefly used it with Windows OS and never on a Mac.

 

It works fine with raspberry pi and other small form computers, Odroid U3, Cubox i4, Hummingboard.

 

It's a nice dac, once one dims the leds lol.

 

Edit (again) just found out/remembered the firmware update was Windows only. I must have done it,doh!