[obsidyen]

Hi everyone, I bought a MacBook Pro 2016 a few days ago. The headphone jack sounds awesome. Apparently it has a Cirrus Logic dac inside. I exclusive use easy to drive headphones now so I don't know how it would sound with HD650 for instance. I decided to sell my Chord Mojo because the precise, clear sound of MBP 2016 is better to my tastes than the warmer sound of Mojo. Ultrasone Edition M sounds clearer and less congested compared to using it with Mojo. Speakers are also way better than any other Mac or PC I've heard.
 
Any other owners here?

 

[Qwazi]

Just waiting for mine to be delivered. I don't have much faith in the Macbook pro audio-jack from past experiences, but your post makes me hopeful. Hopefully it can drive my Shure SE 846 IEMs, and if not I guess I'll go back to using the Creative Soundblaster E1 (which isn't good, but better than the audio-jack of the Macbook pro Retina (2012))

 

[AudioBear]

I've had my MacBook Pro Touch for a few weeks and have been alternately using the headphone out with my PM-3s and HD800Ss.  Not only does the new MacBook have no problem driving both these phones, it sounds darn good.  Since yesterday I have been doing a comparison to the Schiit Fulla 2 and the Mojo.  I need more time to come to conclusions but I can say right upfront that I would be perfectly happy listening straight out of the laptop.  It has without a doubt to my subjective mind, the best headphone out of any laptop I have heard.
 
Right now I'd say the Mac is more appealing to me than the Fulla-2 and the Mojo is more appealing than the Mac.  It's a matter of preference, not quality.  I don't find the Mojo particularly warm but it is warmer than the Mac.  I find the Mac detailed and treble forward which works for my aging ears.  The Fulla 2 comes across as more neutral but laid back.  Take with a grain of salt since this is proving to be a much harder comparison than I would have thought.  Using the PM-3s it's tough to make a call, the HD800S are fortunately more revealing (or as some would say, analytical).  I was just enjoying a track while I wrote this and I had forgotten which system I was using and had to look.  It was the Fulla-2 and on a fast-paced upbeat track it was not laid back.  Oh dear me! Not the point of this post but Fulla-2 holds it's own in this mix.
 
Bottom line: I enjoy the music of all three modes of listening to the Senns.

 

[drbobbybones]

Thats incredible.  My Mid 2012 MBP Retina sounds pretty lousy without an external DAC.  I might have to look into upgrading!

 

[AudioBear]

I would recommend that you hear one before buying.  Give it a good audition in an Apple Store.  Your senses may be more sensitive or your preferences different than mine.  But like I said, the new MacBook Pro is the first one I could live with if I had to.

 

[Satir]

n/a

 

[AudioBear]

I bought the Touch Bar Mac because I needed a new laptop.  I was not attracted by the Touch bar and do far I agree with you, it's no big deal.  In fact it's an annoyance.  Siri is right next to the Finger touch sensor so about half the time I touch the finger touch I activate Seri.  Solution to that?  Remove Seri from the touch bar.  I have reconfigured the touch bar to make it not interfere but I seldom use it--it's a good Emoji picker and has some ok shortcuts.  Battery life on mine has been excellent.  Dongles and lack of ports have turned out to be less of a hassle than I thought but I haven''t traveled with it yet.  Sitting at the kitchen counter its no big problem since I bought all possible connectors (most on sale) except ethernet (use a USB-USB converter for that).  All told, it's fast and has a nice screen compared to my dying and much abused MacBook Air so I am satisfied.
 
The big surprise was the decent audio out.  Mine could be just a good one.  It's useable as an audio source although I always carry a DAP (Fiio V gen 1) and Mojo.  I could see leaving them home on short trips.
 
Edit: afterthought.  I have wondered how durable USB-C connectors will be on a laptop that's used to move around and travel.  Seems to me they are tightly locked into the machine which means they could broken off.  Time will tell I suppose.

 

[obsidyen]

  My ten cents. Complaints growing about battery issues on some 2016 MBP's. What I like about my 2015 MBP is don't need proprietary dongles to connect stuff I own and battery with zero problems. Touch Bar feature was over hyped. Improved lighted keyboard and increased trackpad real estate is excellent. Hope Mac offers future model without Touch Bar. Like Windows 7/10 OS as more open for user tweaks, but feel more secure in closed Mac environment. Sierra is a good OS. Some older Mac OS not so good.

Well, there's a sans-touch bar MacBook Pro 2016. In fact, I bought that as I thought touch bar was a silly feature for a regular user like me. It might be helpful to designers, musicians etc., I don't know.
 
I'm satisfied with 5/16 volume with my 32 ohm Earsonics ES3 IEMs. I'll test Fostex TH-610 when I get them. I ordered them but DHL is taking forever to deliver...

 

[Satir]

 

 

 

[AudioBear]

It would very nice if the world went totally wireless or at least settled on 3 connections, USB-C, HDMI, and 3mm balanced or single-ended.  I feel like we're on a treadmill of constantly changing connectors....
 
I suppose there could be worse problems to have.

 

[Satir]

n/a

 

[hjteq]

My mind has been blown by the sound out of this laptop's headphone jack. Someone explain this to me. I am enjoying the sound out of my Grado sr325i's so much that I am parting ways with a lot of gear, the game has been moved on for me. Bass, noise floor, details and separation are all here for me. I recommend a listen

 

[AudioBear]

Over time I found that I have stopped using Fulla or Mojo when I use my laptop at home.    It's just easier to plug in my PM-3s and not worry about the extra equipment.  The sound is very acceptable and I'm not sure I can tell the difference,  Apple must have worked on better audio out.  Kind of funny when they are removing audio jacks and going wireless on iPhones (and on the next iPads?--who knows?).
 
I have not gotten accustomed to the new keys style or the touch strip,  I don't like either very much.  Maybe with time it will teach me how it wants to be used. I am learning to keep my hands and fingerss up and away from the strip and keyboard until needed.    If Apple brings out a new MacBook Pro next year with the new Kaby Lake processors but conventional keyboard and touch strip I will change to that.  I'm also thinking about just switching to a laptop whose keyboard I like better and running Linux.  I've gotten to where I like the USB-C ports.  The video is great.  The machine is fast. It's not a bad laptop at all.   My biggest beef is that there is no way to permanently disable the caps lock and it seems to be easy to hit.  If I go. into system prefs>keyboard>modifier keys and select "no action" for caps lock it arbitrarily reverts to caps lock within a few hours and for sure every time it's shut down.  There is apparently no way to make the setting permanent.
 
But I really think they nailed the audio on the new Mac.  I'd be interested in hearing some other opinions.

 

[obsidyen]

I have Mojo, trying Fostex TH-610 from Mojo and MacBook Pro 2016. Can't really hear any difference. The Fostex is fairly easy to drive but it's a headphone with great sound quality. Mojo is more powerful obviously so it'll probably make a difference with something like Sennheiser HD700 but with the Fostex, MacBook Pro 2016 drives it with ease and authority. The sound is crystal clear, fun, dynamic. I might sell my Mojo since I plan to use TH-610 for a long time. Mojo 2 will probably be released by the time I might consider buying a new headphone. 

 

[hjteq]

I has been a pleasure to listen to music out of the Late 2016 MacBool Pro. I am surprised by what it is resolving, the details in the music that it is providing me has me looking for threads like this to find an explanation.