New MacBook sound quality? (late 2008 unobody)
Nov 28, 2008 at 1:32 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 9

boclcown

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Has anyone gotten a chance to examine their new macbook's sound quality? How does it compare to the iPod and other output devices? Should I expect a decrease in quality when I swtich from my desktop to my mac?
 
Nov 30, 2008 at 1:10 AM Post #3 of 9
Sounds the same as the last two plastic MacBooks I had.

It sounds good but not even close to my 80GB 5.5G iPod.

Not as good as my HP dv6500t either.

Works great as a transport using the optical out though.
 
Nov 30, 2008 at 1:59 AM Post #4 of 9
If you're thinking about speakers, they are great. Very loud, crisp and clean. A lot better than most PC and the previous Macbook. It sounded even better than my friends 1 year old MB Pro. Headphone quality is good as usual. The best thing is that it keeps a separate sound/volume setting for speakers and for the headphone when plugged.
 
Nov 30, 2008 at 8:05 AM Post #5 of 9
Speakers are good considering they are laptop speakers. The headphone output on mine produces an annoying hiss with Zune in-ear and Shure SE530 headphones. The output is very loud, and the previously mentioned headphones cannot use more than 1 tick on the volume level when plugged in directly. To abate the hiss, I use the Shure attenuator which also gives me much more control over the volume. With that, the headphone out is great. For reference, I tried the K701 and W5000 without an amp and the hiss isn't noticable.
 
Dec 2, 2008 at 1:56 AM Post #6 of 9
I have a late 2008 2.8 MacBook Pro, which seems to sound good for the most part without headphones, but I hear a kind of hum often when using the headphone port, which is a real drag. Plugging it into my Headroom Bithead eliminates this issue, as expected.
 
Dec 5, 2008 at 6:01 AM Post #7 of 9
I think the headphone output sounds better than my old core 2 duo black macbook. With Triple fi 10 pros the new macbook pro sounds the same too me as my total bithead. This was not the case with the older macbook which sounded inferior compared to the bithead.
The bithead isint exactly the best dac around but take it for what its worth.
Andrew
 
Dec 6, 2008 at 2:33 AM Post #8 of 9
I got an Aluminum MacBook in November. It makes a good additional source for me - now using an amp and Darths with it.
Plugged a couple of IEMS into it today without amp. The UE Triple Fi were a clear winner over Images in this instance. I was not being critical - just fooling around.
 
Dec 7, 2008 at 7:22 AM Post #9 of 9
Wow, this noise really is annoying me, from the built-in headphone output. It suggests that I should keep my BitHead for travel.
 

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