Narwal

Hi, Thanks for the information. You are correct of course. What I was trying to get across is that the optical output is set back further than the analog jack points so that plugging headphones won't damage the emitter, hence requiring the adapter. I'm curious about the USB loads you mentioned. Al I have plugged into USB is an external HD. Also an iPhone to sync and charge, but it would be easy enough to unplug them when I want to listen to music. But the HD holds all my media files so I really can't unplug that. Would you suggest I test this by playing some files off my main drive and unplugging the external drive? If this does fix the problem then what would the permanent solution be so that I could use my external drive as well? Thanks

Hi Stefano, That is very interesting to know. I have not been able to find ANY information like this anywhere. Can you tell me where you found it please? I just want to know what the connection limits are for both Toslink and USB on my iMac. Thanks

Thank you very much to all who replied. In the end I decided to go with an optical cable to connect my Mac to my DAC. The very sad/hilarious thing is that approximately 100% of the Apple tech support people have NO IDEA that the analog headphone out jack is ALSO an optical output! I found this from several online sources. Apple's website contains NOTHING about it. Quite unbelievable. So for those of you who don't know, here's the deal: The headphone output jack accepts a standard 3.5 mm plug, but it also functions as an optical output. In order to use it you need to buy a special plug ($8.99) which is basically like a 3.5 mm plug but it is longer. When you plug in headphones they connect to the analog points, but when you plug in the adapter it is longer so that it contacts the optical output. The "longer" adapter is needed so that it contacts the optical output, which is not harmed when you plug in a standard headphone plug. Solved! thanks

Hi I use a Mac running JRiver Media Centre and a Micromega MyDac. The problem is that I can connect the Mac to the Dac with a USB cable but it seems to be limited to 12 feet, which is too short to leave plugged in. I have purchased several cables from 16 to 20 feet in length, and also tried a 6' extension to the 12' cable, but it just doesn't work. The connection is erratic and even it it does work the audio has tons of static like sounds all the time. It is fine with the 12' cable. Any idea why this is? Is there a maximum length the cable can be? I would be willing to purchase a high end cable if I could be sure it would fix the problem. Thanks Narwal.

This is a repost of my initial question and some of the replies, none of which have solved my connectivity problem. I realized later that this is the correct forum. thanks Hi, First off let say hello to all the members here and apologize in advace for any typos in my posts. I am visually challenged so I rely on touch typing as it is difficut for me to read the screen even though it is billboard size on my Mac, )=; This is my first post here. I have a pretty good background in digital audio and hope that I can help by answering questions from other members. At this point in time I am having an issue with the Micromega MyDac and my iMac. I used to play my digital library via a PC notebook with JRiver and MyDac on USVB. It was okey but unstable, dropping the connection now ant then. Now I have moved to Mac and am having trouble maintaining the MyDac Output. rebooting and swithich the the dac on and off works about 2 times out of ten. The rest of the timne it doesnt even appear in the Sound Output list i Sytem preferences. SO! 1-What can I do to get it working with the USB out on the nmac? 2-Would it be better or even possible to use the o[tical digital audio out via Toalink? My understading is that on a Mac the USB is limited to 44.1/16 while the optical out would be up to 196/24. Any help would be greatly appreciatred. Thk you. This is my Mac: Hardware Overview: Model Name: iMac Model Identifier: iMac14,1 Processor Name: Intel Core i5 Processor Speed: 2.7 GHz Number of Processors: 1 Total Number of Cores: 4 L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB L3 Cache: 4 MB Memory: 8 GB Boot ROM Version: IM141.0118.B11

Hi, I have tried both settings and it has worked on both, but that was before. It worferd\ using 1.0 with the Win machine on the Mac it worked on both 1.0 and 2.0. Thanks

This is my Mac: Hardware Overview: Model Name: iMac Model Identifier: iMac14,1 Processor Name: Intel Core i5 Processor Speed: 2.7 GHz Number of Processors: 1 Total Number of Cores: 4 L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB L3 Cache: 4 MB Memory: 8 GB Boot ROM Version: IM141.0118.B11

Hi, First off let say hello to all the members here and apologize in advace for any typos in my posts. I am visually challenged so I rely on touch typing as it is difficut for me to read the screen even though it is billboard size on my Mac, )=; This is my first post here. I have a pretty good background in digital audio and hope that I can help by answering questions from other members. At this point in time I am having an issue with the Micromega MyDac and my iMac. I used to play my digital library via a PC notebook with JRiver and MyDac on USVB. It was okey but unstable, dropping the connection now ant then. Now I have moved to Mac and am having trouble maintaining the MyDac Output. rebooting and swithich the the dac on and off works about 2 times out of ten. The rest of the timne it doesnt even appear in the Sound Output list i Sytem preferences. SO! 1-What can I do to get it working with the USB out on the nmac? 2-Would it be better or even possible to use the o[tical digital audio out via Toalink? My understading is that on a Mac the USB is limited to 44.1/16 while the optical out would be up to 196/24. Any help would be greatly appreciatred. Thk you.