Mac G5 output limited to 16/48?

[Part-Time Audiophile]

How do I get the Mac G5 to be able to output beyond redbook? The Audio MIDI settings for my Mac seem limited to 16/44.1 or 16/48, regardless of the output type I select.

 

Is there a driver or something I'm missing, or does this Mac really only "go" that high?

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Socrates7 - What digital I/O are you using (built-in optical output, Lynx card, USB etc...)? The limitation is not the G5.

 

[Part-Time Audiophile]

Hi Chris -- I'm using the optical. I switched over to the USB (an external USB DAC) and getting the same limitations?

 

Oh, and a side note: my Macbook Pro let's me set output up to 24/96 (on Snow Leopard now).

 

[Part-Time Audiophile]

Some more details:

 

I'm using the USB 2.0 interfaces on the Mac as well as the toslink/optical out.

 

In Audio MIDI, the options for output are "built in" or "external USB". Selecting either doesn't change the format options, which are still up to 16/48.

 

Again, any help along these lines would be appreciated.

 

My concern is that I'm going to need a special driver and/or chipset or something (like, say, a PCI card) to make hi-def work, and that no matter what I connect to it (like, say, a Weiss DAC2), I'm still going to be limited to redbook output which would be vastly annoying ....

 

[davidR]

The specs for the Toslink output on the Mac G5 say: 16/24-bit word length - 32, 44.1, 48khz sample rate. Sorry to say yeah the G5 Mac really only goes that high for that specific output. However, the good news is if you did use something like the Weiss DAC2 via its firewire connection you wouldn't be limited to those sample rates anymore. You would have up to 24-bit / 192Khz, plenty of hi-res support. Computers are very versatile fortunately.

 

[Part-Time Audiophile]

Swapped some email with PS Audio, and it seems I have a suboptimal pairing!

 

My PS Audio DAC III does in fact accept 96 or 192 in, but not over USB. That's redbook only. Must be an old chipset or something. Up to 192 is available via spdif, either via coax or optical.

 

Interestingly, my edition of my Mac G5 (M9032LL/A) only outputs redbook via the optical out.

 

Which means that this DAC and this Mac do not play well together. LOL. Sheesh.

 

Time to upgrade!

 

[Audio_ELF]

Most devices are limited to 16/44.1 (or 48) via USB and a few go upto 24/96. No USB device goes to 24/192 unless it uses its own drivers.

 

A cheep(ish) fix to your issue of non-support of high resolution would be to add a FireWire device such as M-Aduio ProFire 610 to support 24/192) or the M-Audio Transit via USB to support upto 24/96.

 

Eloise