Help with connecting MacBook Pro to an A/V receiver/5.1 system

[KC_Vol71]

Hi,

New guy here and hoping for some instruction/advice. Hopefully, this is in the right place:

I’m trying to connect a MacBook Pro to a 5.1 surround system. Components are a 2023 MacBook Pro 13” M2, Denon AVVX1400-H receiver that I bought in 2017 and a CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Pro dock that I bought from Apple yesterday. I tried connecting from the rear headphone jack on the dock to the optical input on the receiver using a Toslink to Mini Toslink digital optical S/PDIf audio cable. System settings seem correct in that it showed TS4 as the speaker output. However, no sound. Tried the same connecting directly to the Mac headphone jack. Same result. I also tried connecting via USC-C to HDMI cable. That worked for a few seconds and then the receiver turned itsself off.

So, a few questions:

1. Are there any system settings that I'm missing?
2. Why is the receiver turning off when using the USB-C to HDMI cable?
2. Do I need an external DAC? I know nothing about DACs but see this mentioned quite a bit when researching the subject.

Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[middlemarch]

Does the13" not have an HDMI port on the side? Must not. The USB-C to HDMI should work fine. Just set the Denon to select whatever HDMI port you plug the computer into. You can go into the Audio MIDI Setup utility and it should see the Denon and show the number of channels it's got, up to 8. I would initially go directly from a USB port on the computer to the Denon, take the dock out of the loop. Try a couple of the hdmi ports on the Denon, maybe there's an issue with the one you tried.

No idea why the headphone wouldn't work, although are you sure the one on the dock also does toslink? I don't think the headphone jacks on the new laptops do toslink anymore, my 2021 M1Pro 16" does not. You'd have to use a 3.5mm jack to dual RCA adaptor and go into one of the analog inputs to the receiver.

But HDMI is the way to go

edit: looked up the dock and it doesn't do toslink on the headphone ports. Apple specs say nothing about toslink on headphone port for your model. That was a thing many years ago, not anymore. Kind of surprising the cal digit has all those ports but no hdmi

edit some more: the receiver supports Airplay. Easiest thing is just Airplay over to the receiver. It's only stereo, you need hdmi for multi channel. But it should work just fine. In fact, the receiver can be powered off, then when you airplay to it, it will wake up and play music.

 

[staticV3]

I tried connecting from the rear headphone jack on the dock to the optical input on the receiver using a Toslink to Mini Toslink digital optical S/PDIf audio cable.

Does it say anywhere that the dock supports Toslink output? Because I can't find anything.

Does the other end of the Toslink cable even light up when plugged into the dock and playing audio?

Because if not, then Toslink output is likely just not supported.

Tried the same connecting directly to the Mac headphone jack. Same result

Macs haven't had analog/optical combo jacks for a long time now. It's expected to not work.

1. Are there any system settings that I'm missing?

You seem to be missing a Toslink output device (hardware).

2. Why is the receiver turning off when using the USB-C to HDMI cable?

Could be a defective USB-C to HDMI cable.

Do I need an external DAC?

Absolutely not.

 

[KC_Vol71]

Does it say anywhere that the dock supports Toslink output? Because I can't find anything.

Does the other end of the Toslink cable even light up when plugged into the dock and playing audio?

Because if not, then Toslink output is likely just not supported.


Macs haven't had analog/optical combo jacks for a long time now. It's expected to not work.


You seem to be missing a Toslink output device (hardware).


Could be a defective USB-C to HDMI cable.


Absolutely not.

Thank you staticV3. This is a very helpful post.

To your comments:

• No. The Toslink cable does not light up when plugged into either the dock or the Mac directly. Thanks for pointing this out - didn't know it was supposed to light up. I guess that's why I get nothing when it's plugged in.
• I am unfamiliar with Toslink output devices. How do they connect in this system? Is there a recommendation for a specific make/model?

Thanks again for the help!

 

[staticV3]

I am unfamiliar with Toslink output devices. How do they connect in this system?

Usually it's Computer->USB->Toslink adapter->Toslink->AVR.

Is there a recommendation for a specific make/model?

Not really.

Converting USB to SPDIF is pretty straightforward, and so even inexpensive adapters usually do a flawless job.

Here are some:

USB A to SPDIF Adapters

Cubilux

www.cubilux.com

USB C to SPDIF Adapters

Cubilux

www.cubilux.com

Hifime USB to Optical converter

The UT23 connects to your computer via USB and sends out an optical SPDIF signal. There is no DAC involved, just the USB to optical feature.

hifimediy.com

 

[KC_Vol71]

Usually it's Computer->USB->Toslink adapter->Toslink->AVR.


Not really.

Converting USB to SPDIF is pretty straightforward, and so even inexpensive adapters usually do a flawless job.

Here are some:

USB A to SPDIF Adapters

Cubilux

www.cubilux.com

USB C to SPDIF Adapters

Cubilux

www.cubilux.com

Hifime USB to Optical converter

The UT23 connects to your computer via USB and sends out an optical SPDIF signal. There is no DAC involved, just the USB to optical feature.

hifimediy.com

Thanks staticV3..

I went ahead and ordered a USB-C to SPDIF adapter. Already have the optical cable. If I understand this correctly, I'm going to plug the USB-C into the MacBook and then the optical cable into the receiver.

However, I just noticed in the third link from your post (Cubilix USB-C SPDIF Receiver), it says "This adapter is UNIDIRECTIONAL, it can NOT be used for playing optical signals from a computer." Does this mean that this won't work going from computer to receiver via USB-C to SPDIF adapter/optical cable? I guess, do I need to return what I just bought above?

 

[staticV3]

However, I just noticed in the third link from your post (Cubilix USB-C SPDIF Receiver), it says "This adapter is UNIDIRECTIONAL, it can NOT be used for playing optical signals from a computer." Does this mean that this won't work going from computer to receiver via USB-C to SPDIF adapter/optical cable? I guess, do I need to return what I just bought above?

Each Cubilux Converter version (USB-A and USB-C) comes in a transmitter and a receiver version:


To connect to your Denon AVR, naturally you need the SPDIF OUT version.

 

[DWPress]

Or - save some money and trade your TS4 in for a TS3. I have one I use with my M2 Mini, works great and it has a optical out SPDiF connection out the back.