[Eastcoast]

Hello all,
 
Long time lurker not much posting.  I just switched to a macbook pro from pc laptop and was surprised to see that my current laptop setup, the musiland monitor 02 doesn't provide mac drivers.  My headphones are JH audio 13's
 
  I think I'm going to switch my music setup over to the mac even though I have windows on the macbook as well.  So am looking for a dac that will interface with the mac, preferably firewire but not absolutely necessary, but it must have a built in amp.  Basically something that does exactly what the monitor 02 does but for mac.  I have about $200 to spend but would rather not go much over that.  I've done some searching on here but it's such an active place with soooo much info finding a starting point is a little overwhelming.  If someone can point me in the right direction i can research my options.  I use flac and have a number of 96/24khz files if that matters
 
   If i could find something that was a little better than the musiland it would be good.  Don't mind buying used either.  If this belongs in the computer audio section I apologize, this section seemed to have a lot more DAC talk. 

 

[Gatepc]

I don't mean to sound rude at all so don't take it that way. But do you know how to switch the audio on the mac? It could be that it is working but you have to switch it to the right audio device which you may not have done. You can do this by holding down the option key and left clicking on the speaker icon in the top right and choosing it as the output device. 
 
Now if it really is not working I believe the Fiio E9 (about $130) will do what you are looking for. Just to make sure it works with Mac OS X you can contact their support.

 

[jronan2]

 Fiio products work with Macs. I use the fiio e7/e9 exclusively with my macbook and imac. All you need to do is go into sytem preferences and select the dac/amp in the sounds selection.

 

[sphinxvc]

Have you tried USB to the Musiland device?  (To choose audio output device - Apple > System Preferences > Sound - then select device.)
 
If all else fails, stretch your budget by $35 and get the Audio-GD NFB-12.  JH-13s though, huh?  Maybe a portable amp/DAC like the iBasso D6?
 
 

 

[samh]

check out the udac-2, audinst mx-1, and the yulong u100 - all dac/amps that are between 100-200 (the yulong is a like 225 or so). i'm not sure about the audinst, but the udac-2 and the yulong u100 both worked fine with my macbook. i'm not sure if these units are firewire though, i just use the usb

 
 
 

 

[Eastcoast]

Quote:

I don't mean to sound rude at all so don't take it that way. But do you know how to switch the audio on the mac? It could be that it is working but you have to switch it to the right audio device which you may not have done. You can do this by holding down the option key and left clicking on the speaker icon in the top right and choosing it as the output device. 
 
Now if it really is not working I believe the Fiio E9 (about $130) will do what you are looking for. Just to make sure it works with Mac OS X you can contact their support.

That didn't sound rude at all.  I appreciate helping me save $200. If I plug the Monitor 2 into the usb it doesn't show up as a device but I haven't installed the software it came with either...should I do that?
 
  I've seen some people talking about updated versions of the drivers but I'm not able to find them online...the disc that I have is several versions behind what people talk about using now. Where can I find that.  If I can get this monitor 02 to work on the mac I would be happy with that.
 

 

[Gatepc]

I just looked your DAC up. Apparently it has an optical input is this correct? If so the mac actually has an optical output (its built into the headphone output and requires an adapter) I don't know about the drivers, I know that on the mac generally you don't need to install sound devices and that they "just work" but as mentioned if it has optical inputs then just use those.
 
This adapter cord will work fine http://www.amazon.com/6ft-Toslink-Mini-Cable/dp/B000FMXKC8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302915959&sr=8-1