08-11-2007, 05:07 PM

Hello,

I am currently thinking of getting my first mac. I am totally lost on what to get yet (Macbook pro, mac pro or iMac). I will be using it for a family PC that will also hold music, familiy videos and photos, and play through a high quality surround audio system.

My question is:

I am trying to find what sort of audio chip MAC computers use, and what sort of audio cards are available to improve that, if needed. I have searched the web to see what MAC computers have in them in terms of audio hardware but all I get is info about the ports (which is the only info available on Apple's site too)

08-11-2007, 06:43 PM

This is a good question. I'm in the same boat.

I'm a music producer who is also looking to switch to mac. And i have no idea what kind of options there are as far as soundcards for the mac. I have been
unsuccessful w/ my research on this so far.

08-11-2007, 06:54 PM

In short, there aren't any options for 'sound cards'.

The only model that would allow for any sort of additional internal card is the Mac Pro, which would be much more computer than one would need for some music or family photos/videos.

For music production, you will probably use more external mixers and equipment so again, the internal would almost be a moot issue. There are some third party cards that might work with a Mac Pro, but simply aren't really needed.

08-11-2007, 07:02 PM

The audio in the iMac is fine. You can hook it up for 5.1 with the Optical Digital out. Otherwise like DB stated, no audio upgrades possible except with the Mac Pro. For the OP, the iMac would be best for a family computer for all the uses you mentioned.

08-11-2007, 07:05 PM

I just answered my own question when googling it up ha ha.

thanks for the help. Now i know i need an external sound card anyways.

Thanks again

08-12-2007, 08:08 PM

Ok so there are external sound cards. But what is inside already? What is the sound chip that different macs come with? Who makes it? What are the specs?

08-23-2007, 10:11 AM

You seem to be talking about using a Mac as the audio source for output to a high fidelity amplifier. No computer, including Mac, has the kind of inbuilt pre-ampflication for high fidelity replay - ok for speakers either side of your computer, as in games etc; but the sound card is there to receive incoming Analog signals ready for digitalization by some software, not to then re-convert from Digital format (and so, sound quality) to an equivalent quality Analog output - on ANY home computer. Burn the music to a CD, or make up a Music DVD that can take 50 hours of music (using software like Toast) and play that on your home surround to preserve the best possible fidelity.
The other point is, that if you will be using ANY computer for video, make sure of your hard disk capacity. One full video takes up 4.33 GB at a time, so you either need a largish hard drive, depending on how many video files you expect to have on hard disk; or hook the computer up to a high capacity (200-300 GB) external storage hard disk.