Macbook headphone output vs external DAC

[Jimbo]

Hi James

Yes, I agree to a certain extent with your post on what Apple does in terms of improving their products. In fact the SQ from a new MacBook as it stands today is actually pretty high and in fact as I implied in my post most people would find it pretty hard to hear a difference comparing a Mac to an external reasonable DAC, whether with headphones of through an amp and speakers. But IMO as it stands mounting a DAC on a computer logic boards creates issues in terms of noise and stability, there are just too many variables to control, so if the punter is after hi-end SQ I would still opt for the external DAC solution, but the VFM solution is pure MacBook or PC and will satisfy most.

I have a tried several methods with my own 2016 MacBook Pro, and I know it is not as good as the new machines.

1. Macbook Analogue output direct to amplifier - result is actually pretty good.

2. Optical out to External DAC(Beresford Caiman SEG) to Amp - this gives a great resolution and is in fact right up there with the same tracks played on CD on a Meridian player or CDP as transport to DAC

3. USB out to DAC to Amp - there is a difference to the one above, but cannot quite put my finger on it, tone and depth seem slightly different, but the resulting sound is still very good. This could be due to the external DAC I suppose.

The other aspect that makes a difference apart from the digital file quality/resolution is what software is used on the Computer to play the music, I can hear a definite difference between Volumio and Audivarna, for general listening I use Volumio, having said that it is good, but if I actually want high SQ I use Audirvana which generally gives a better presentation IMO. I only use iTunes for casual listening, and even from files on my NAS drive I find it not as good as with Volumio.

I am currently using Audirvana with my Macbook Pro and have been impressed with the sound quality direct into headphones. Used Volumio for a while with RPi 3 BOSS DAC but Audirvana sounded better to me.

My Macbook is an older model so I would be interested to hear one with the T2 chip and latest DACs as these route audio separately to Internal speakers and headphone output. Optimisation of circuitry is getting better on the Mac and i feel it will only be a matter of time before most average DACs are bettered by the Macbook Pro.

The only set up that has really moved the game on for me was an Innuos Zen with Chord Qutest but that was a different ball game.

[Shovel_Knight]

I have a 2018 Mac mini which has the T2 chip and exactly the same audio circuitry as the recent MacBook Pros.

It's headphone output is surprisingly good indeed. The only problem I have with it is that it doesn't drive large headphones well. But I can totally imagine myself living with the built-in DAC and just adding a headphone amplifier.

[Jimbo]

I have a 2018 Mac mini which has the T2 and exactly the same audio circuitry as the recent MacBook Pros.

It's headphone output is surprisingly good indeed. The only problem I have with it is that it doesn't drive large headphones well. But I can totally imagine myself living with the built-in DAC and just adding a headphone amplifier.

Think the output is 2V which is reasonable for efficient headphones but some of the more power hungry will I am sure sound better with a headphone amp.