Better sound out of the Mini

suntoryjim · May 20, 2007

I love my Mini, but the sound quality leaves much to be desired, so I got myself a Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro USB soundcard, plugged it in, and wow, what a difference! At less than $30 ($25 at BestBuy) and incredible sound without added bulk to spoil the Mini's signature form-factor, I highly recommend this as an essential Mini upgrade.

yogi · May 20, 2007

What speakers are you using?

suntoryjim · May 20, 2007

yogi said:
What speakers are you using?

Bose Companion 2.

bryphotoguy · May 20, 2007

Read some of the reviews for that thing...
How can it turn a two speaker laptop into surround-sound theatre.
No $30 product could do that. Two, you can hook a Bose speaker system into a mini and it will sound just as good without the dongle thingie.
Bryan

suntoryjim · May 20, 2007

bryphotoguy said:
Read some of the reviews for that thing...
How can it turn a two speaker laptop into surround-sound theatre.
No $30 product could do that. Two, you can hook a Bose speaker system into a mini and it will sound just as good without the dongle thingie.
Bryan

The virtual surround this USB card is capable of is only supported in Windows with it's provided driver and software. No such support with the Mac.

The built-in sound output on my Mini is horrible...the level is so low that it's useless if not cranked to maximum, and at that level, there is a high-pitched hiss sound at idle. With the USB sound, the level is strong with absolutely no noise.

dtravis7 · May 20, 2007

Someone asked this, What Speakers are you using?

bryphotoguy · May 20, 2007

suntoryjim said:
The virtual surround this USB card is capable of is only supported in Windows with it's provided driver and software. No such support with the Mac.

The built-in sound output on my Mini is horrible...the level is so low that it's useless if not cranked to maximum, and at that level, there is a high-pitched hiss sound at idle. With the USB sound, the level is strong with absolutely no noise.

So, it really only works on Windows machines...
I would get your Mini checked out if that's the problem. I've hooked up G3 machines to my 5.1 Sony surround sound stereo system for my TV and the clarity was pretty mind blowing. I doubt Apple's sound quality would be worse over two generations of computer models.
Bryan

suntoryjim · May 20, 2007

bryphotoguy said:
So, it really only works on Windows machines...
I would get your Mini checked out if that's the problem. I've hooked up G3 machines to my 5.1 Sony surround sound stereo system for my TV and the clarity was pretty mind blowing. I doubt Apple's sound quality would be worse over two generations of computer models.
Bryan

Both of my Intel Macs (Mini and Macbook) exhibit poor audio output (poor sound and weak level) from the headphone jacks. It must have something to do with the onboard Intel sound chip.

bryphotoguy · May 20, 2007

I had a core duo Macbook and now have a core duo iMac and haven't had a problem with either.
Bryan

mbgaski · May 21, 2007

bryphotoguy said:
I doubt Apple's sound quality would be worse over two generations of computer models.
Bryan

Well my sampling of Mac's is limited, but on just about everything else the sound quality has certainly gone down. A couple generations ago companies used dedicated sound cards. SB Live, TB Santa Cruz, etc. They now use integrated stuff that is part of the main mobo chipset that, more often than not, sounds like crap. This is just one area where technology as already more than enough to handle user's demands a good number of years ago, but now we're seeing a decline in the quality due to cost cutting (again, most of my experience is PC-related, but Apple is largely PC hardware-wise now anyways).