Yes, most Macs these days have both analogue and digital output for audio - the analogue output is the usual speakers/headphone/line out/ etc, the digital output is S/P-DIF and you need to connect this to something else that has an S/P-DIF input using a coax or optical cable. If you're just connecting to normal speakers, headphones or hi- fi with a 3.5 mm jack lead then that's just old school analogue. However if you have some high end audio gear with S/P-DIF inputs then it's possible to use the digital output from the Mac. In this latter case you may end up with something that sounds marginally better than the usual 16 bit audio from a Mac.
There are plenty of reasons why a 24 bit audio file might sound different than a 16 bit version, mainly technical, but of course there's also the placebo effect. Paul On 28 Apr 2009, at 01:30, Jason Davies wrote: > > Paul Russell wrote on 27/4/09 at 23:31 > >> If you are using the line out from your Mac, then that's analogue, > > I do appreciate the detail -- but I am sure that a few years ago > there was a switch to digital output (and input) > > And looking at the specs on the latest Macbook at the Apple > site, I read > > Combined optical digital output/analog line out (minijack) > > > http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html > > So I don't think I'm imagining it:-) At least the digital part. > Since most gigs I go to (not many) feature Macbook Pros sitting > there to do something or other to the sound, I imagined that > they were the best ones to do the job. I doubt bands are that > bothered about brand loyalty when it comes to a gig (surely?) > > But seriously, this 24 bit recording does sound a great deal > warmer than other recordings I have, from any source. So I do > wonder if they have done a better-than-average job on this. It's > the first time I've felt like digital sound was worth the switch > from vinyl. > > I'll do some more careful tests (when it's not the middle of the > night).... > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/smug?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
