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Patience · Mar 11, 2004, 04:29 PM

As mentioned in my first post i will be buying a MAC this summer, can anyone recommend an internal or external Soundcard which can run both on Windows and Macs.

Also if i was to buy an external USB soundcard such as the M-audio Sonica card, is it a simple process to disable the soundcard installed within the Mac?

Patience.

finknottle · Mar 11, 2004, 04:52 PM

The M-Audio sound card is very easy to disable. Either plug it out or better is to get a small app from rogueamoeba called Detour that you can set-up so that certain apps e.g. iTunes, DVD Player to use the M-Audio card and system settings etc go through the installed (not so hot) sound card.
Hope this helps...... by way good luck with your new (mac) system.

tooki · Mar 11, 2004, 11:07 PM

All you have to do on the Mac is go to the Sound preference pane and select the USB audio as the input or output instead of built-in. That sets the systemwide default. Some audio applications give you the option to override that, but you probably won't need to do that. Detour is a cool program, as it lets you route the sound from specific programs to a specific output, even if that program doesn't know how to select an output on its own. Again, for most people that's insignificant, though.

tooki

Patience · 03:38 PM

Ok

I have decided to buy the M-Audio Sonica Theater USB soundcard.
But one thing i forgot to ask is will this outperform the built
in sound capabilities of say the G4/G5.

Patience.

Patience · Mar 15, 2004, 01:52 AM

G4/G5 Owners how good is the built in Audio on your machines?

Patience.

yoyoman · Mar 15, 2004, 12:33 PM

IT comes with spdif what more do you want?

Patience · Mar 15, 2004, 04:44 PM

YOYOMAN can you explain one is a complete novice when it comes to MACS and SoundCard issues.

Patience.

tooki · Mar 15, 2004, 11:34 PM

S/PDIF is "Sony/Philips Digital Interface". It's a standard for digital audio.

There are two common S/PDIF connection types: coaxial and optical.

Coaxial uses a standard RCA (cinch) jack, just like the A/V inputs on a TV or VCR, just colored orange.

Optical (known as TOSlink) uses a fiber optic cable instead.

The same data format is used on both types, and converters do exist.

In any case, the Power Mac G5 has TOSlink inputs and outputs. If your speakers or stereo system has them as well, you can use a fully-digital connection that isn't susceptible to any kind of noise or distortion. Also, the TOSlink output is the only way (without third-party help) to get surround sound out of a Mac.

Digital connections are just nice because they eliminate noise, sound level issues (in many situations).

tooki

tooki · Mar 16, 2004, 05:25 AM

Patience wrote on 03-16-2004 03:03 AM:
Hi

Thank you for your reply, are you basically trying to say that
i do not need to buy a soundcard?

Patience

Every Mac ever made has sound output of some sort or another, and most Macs since the early 90's have some sort of sound input.

Whether the Mac's built-in audio is sufficient for you is something you have to answer; I don't know which Mac you plan to get, nor what you want to do with it.

tooki

Patience · Mar 16, 2004, 06:53 AM

Tooki

I intend to buy either a POWERMAC or POWERBOOK this summer, all i need from the soundcard is to listen to music on and off line and also to record radio broadcasts onto an external tape deck or cd writer.

So will the built in sound be more than good enough and will buying an external soundcard give me better results.

Regards Patience.