[4metta]

Hello all...

I recently acquired a black Macbook for college and absolutely adore it for the most part. Superior software, great speed and a tiny portable package. HOWEVER, compared to my nano/tomahawk/e500 setup it sounds pretty horrible.

**
I plug my e500s into the headphone jack. What are my options to make it sound sweeter? It has a digital out...would my Tomahawk work with that with a mini to mini or would I need a different type of amp? I hope not because after buying the Tomahawk and now Macbook I can't go spending any more money. I am just spoiled with the sound I'm getting out of my main rig and this Macbook sounds lousy compared to it. I just would love to have access to my entire music library on the macbook when I have it with me and not have to carry the nano around.
Thanks in advance for the advice.

Edit: I want to clarify that I mean that in comparison to my Tomahawk/Nano rig, the macbook pleases me less. It's not like it sounds like trash!

 

[vcoheda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4metta /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello all... I recently acquired a black Macbook for college and absolutely adore it for the most part. Superior software, great speed and a tiny portable package. HOWEVER, compared to my nano/tomahawk/e500 setup it sounds pretty horrible. I plug my e500s into the headphone jack. What are my options to make it sound sweeter? It has a digital out...would my Tomahawk work with that with a mini to mini or would I need a different type of amp? I hope not because after buying the Tomahawk and now Macbook I can't go spending any more money. I am just spoiled with the sound I'm getting out of my main rig and this Macbook sounds lousy compared to it. I just would love to have access to my entire music library on the macbook when I have it with me and not have to carry the nano around. Thanks in advance for the advice.

I don't get it. If you have a Nano (as portable as they come). Why do you have to play music directly through your mac. Maybe I am missing something.

 

[4metta]

When I have my laptop with me I don't want to also carry my nano and amp along. Especially when I'm flying somewhere. I can just have my laptop out and that's it. Or when I'm doing some schoolwork on it and want to listen to some tunes while I type.

 

[grawk]

an esoteric dac would be a great way to improve the output from your macbook.

 

[cooperpwc]

I understand completely. I much prefer to listen to music on Foobar on my laptop even to listening on my Rockboxed iPod. Nicer interface. One window for music, another for whatever else I'm doing...
You already have a nice amp. All you nou need is a DAC.

 

[Iceroid]

interesting... my macbook with tomahawk sounds quite nearly identical to my 5g ipod with tomahawk... in fact the macbook sounds ever so slightly better... to me...

 

[vcoheda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4metta /img/forum/go_quote.gif When I have my laptop with me I don't want to also carry my nano and amp along. Especially when I'm flying somewhere. I can just have my laptop out and that's it. Or when I'm doing some schoolwork on it and want to listen to some tunes while I type.

Total BitHead.

 

[22906]

I think the line out on the macbook can be either digital or analog depending on what kind of connector you plug in. You should be able to connect your amp to the macbook with a mini-mini cable. Later on you can get a mini-optical cable and use an external dac for upgraded sound.

 

[4metta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iceroid /img/forum/go_quote.gif interesting... my macbook with tomahawk sounds quite nearly identical to my 5g ipod with tomahawk... in fact the macbook sounds ever so slightly better... to me...

This is what I would like to do! It's just that I have no idea how to. How do I connect it? Mini to mini from the headphone jack? Or do I go out of the digital out?

I am listening to my e500 straight out of my headphone jack, no amp.

 

[4metta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by m3_arun /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think the line out on the macbook can be either digital or analog depending on what kind of connector you plug in. You should be able to connect your amp to the macbook with a mini-mini cable. Later on you can get a mini-optical cable and use an external dac for upgraded sound.

There are separate jacks for each. One headphone, one digital.

 

[Calroth]

A cheap mini-mini cable costs $cheap. Why ask about it, just plug one in and see if it helps...

 

[Jeff E]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4metta /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello all... I recently acquired a black Macbook for college and absolutely adore it for the most part. Superior software, great speed and a tiny portable package. HOWEVER, compared to my nano/tomahawk/e500 setup it sounds pretty horrible. I plug my e500s into the headphone jack. What are my options to make it sound sweeter? It has a digital out...would my Tomahawk work with that with a mini to mini or would I need a different type of amp? I hope not because after buying the Tomahawk and now Macbook I can't go spending any more money. I am just spoiled with the sound I'm getting out of my main rig and this Macbook sounds lousy compared to it. I just would love to have access to my entire music library on the macbook when I have it with me and not have to carry the nano around. Thanks in advance for the advice.

Do not dispair about the money you have spent. You have put your macbook at an unfair disadvantage to your Nano. For a fair comparison to your nano>toma>e500 you should try
macbook>toma>e500.

Details:
You are using the nano>toma>e500 combo with the nano's line out, I assume.
Plug a mini-mini cable (cardas is popular & inexpensive) into the mb headphone jack and the toma's input. Max the macbook's volume setting and control volume with the toma. This will provide the toma with an analog line input, comparable what it gets from the Nano.

FWIW, my impression of the mb with the toma has been positive, particularly with less sensitive headphones (DT880). With the more efficient Senn HD25-1 and HD595, the addition of the toma matters less.

In my opinion, you have a very nice combination with the toma and the macbook. Even though a separate DAC should improve SQ in principle, I actually prefer the mb>toma>DT880 to the mb>usb> bithead>DT880 with 224 AAC rips.

For the sake of your wallet DONT READ THIS.

I have found that a toslink cable & Headroom microDAC to significantly improve the SQ of my macbook & toma. Very impressive SQ that will thrash your Nano rig but not particularly portable... and the microDAC eats 9V batteries.

 

[terance]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4metta /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello all... I recently acquired a black Macbook for college and absolutely adore it for the most part. Superior software, great speed and a tiny portable package. HOWEVER, compared to my nano/tomahawk/e500 setup it sounds pretty horrible. I plug my e500s into the headphone jack. What are my options to make it sound sweeter? It has a digital out...would my Tomahawk work with that with a mini to mini or would I need a different type of amp? I hope not because after buying the Tomahawk and now Macbook I can't go spending any more money. I am just spoiled with the sound I'm getting out of my main rig and this Macbook sounds lousy compared to it. I just would love to have access to my entire music library on the macbook when I have it with me and not have to carry the nano around. Thanks in advance for the advice.

an alien dac would be a great choice to run into your tomahawk

i run an alien DAC into my total bithead and i think it sounds much better (well worth the money i paid) than the headphone out.

sometime in the future i'll be upgrading to the toma, and selling the alien dac.

running the phones straight from a bithead is also an option

gratz on the new macbook, welcome to the club

 

[4metta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calroth /img/forum/go_quote.gif A cheap mini-mini cable costs $cheap. Why ask about it, just plug one in and see if it helps...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff E /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do not dispair about the money you have spent. You have put your macbook at an unfair disadvantage to your Nano. For a fair comparison to your nano>toma>e500 you should try macbook>toma>e500. Details: You are using the nano>toma>e500 combo with the nano's line out, I assume. Plug a mini-mini cable (cardas is popular & inexpensive) into the mb headphone jack and the toma's input. Max the macbook's volume setting and control volume with the toma. This will provide the toma with an analog line input, comparable what it gets from the Nano. FWIW, my impression of the mb with the toma has been positive, particularly with less sensitive headphones (DT880). With the more efficient Senn HD25-1 and HD595, the addition of the toma matters less. In my opinion, you have a very nice combination with the toma and the macbook. Even though a separate DAC should improve SQ in principle, I actually prefer the mb>toma>DT880 to the mb>usb> bithead>DT880 with 224 AAC rips. For the sake of your wallet DONT READ THIS. I have found that a toslink cable & Headroom microDAC to significantly improve the SQ of my macbook & toma. Very impressive SQ that will thrash your Nano rig but not particularly portable... and the microDAC eats 9V batteries.

THANKS FOR THE ADVICE GUYS!!


I found a very cheap Radio Shack mini to mini around the house and plugged the Tomahawk to the Macbook. It worked but since the cable was cheap it went to mono after a while.

Anyways. I think I will try that option first before I go buying some more stuff. I'll find a good inexpensive mini to mini like the Cardas. I'll leave the more elaborate upgrades for when I catch up on my bills. But I definitely want to try that digital out's capabilties!

 

[4metta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by terance /img/forum/go_quote.gif an alien dac would be a great choice to run into your tomahawk i run an alien DAC into my total bithead and i think it sounds much better (well worth the money i paid) than the headphone out. sometime in the future i'll be upgrading to the toma, and selling the alien dac. running the phones straight from a bithead is also an option gratz on the new macbook, welcome to the club

Thanks for the advice!!

And I'm VERY happy to be part of the fruit cult.