Topping E30 II Lite. What, no L-R balance control?

[therling]

So I decided to try an external DAC to add to my stereo equipment collection. My first impression of the Topping device is that it's louder, which should help with signal to noise ratio. Is it better? I'm not sure. I'll do some A-B comparisons to the Mac's internal DAC when I'm feeling a little less lazy. I'll also try some measurements using my scope at a later time.

However, when I pulled up the Mac's Sound preference pane, no balance control! So I either have to run back and forth between my stereo (which is actually two stereos and two subwoofers) and nudge the balance controls hoping to get it right. Even my ancient Griffin iMic, bought when I had a Mac Mini 20 years ago, has a balance control, so I know it's possible . So why the engineers at Topping thought it unnecessary is puzzling. Is it a feature found on their more expensive products? If so, then I suppose it was a marketing decision to get you to pay more for additional features.

I suppose I could shell out $45 for the Soundsource add-on app which has a balance control feature. Seems to me it's a feature that any audio gear should have unless you only listen to mono recordings or are deaf in one ear.

 

[therling]

Oh, wait. I realized that I have RogueAmoeba's Airfoil, which has a balance control...still, it'd be nicer to not to have had to purchase an additional app just to get what is a pretty crucial control for hearing music as it should be.

 

[AnalogSteph]

It's a basic DAC that's fundamentally preamp-grade and offers basic volume control - that doesn't make it a full-featured preamp.

What problem is it that having a balance control solves for you? If it's something to do with room acoustics, there are much better tools for addressing those once you are equipped for taking measurements. Although SoundSource seems to be one way to go about it (but not the only one):

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/rtwac5/looking_for_a_systemwide_audio_equalizer_for

The Blackhole + AU Lab approach seems promising, given that there seem to be at least one or two parametric EQ plugins.

 

[therling]

Yet the even more basic Griffin iMic allows the Mac to control balance. It obviously isn't expensive to implement. It's just a matter of the engineers caring. Not having a balance control is almost as silly as not having a volume control. In fact, a balance control is a volume control, albeit one that controls the relative volume of the two speakers

I used to work in the recording industry and I taught music recording at a major university, and helped build a recording studio and some lesser audio production spaces. So my ears tend to be a bit sensitive to subtle differences. I have a Umik mic for measurements, and I've constructed and installed some sound absorbing panels to help cut down on some of the more problematic standing waves, using REW room measurements.

The problem is that anytime you change your position relative to the two speakers, the mix of frequencies reaching the ears from the two speakers changes, most audibly in the higher frequencies (wavelengths shorter than the size of your head) around 1K and above, which the ear hears as differences in loudness. Below 1K the brain resolves directionally through phase differences, which are not as precisely interpreted.

This most affects the instruments in the middle, which depend on the listener hearing equal volume from the two speakers. The most ridiculous example of imbalance problems is the older Beatles recordings which put the instruments on one side and the vocals on the other, but that was back before stereo mixes in rock and roll were considered important, and it was also partly a result of the way the mixing console they were using was constructed.

Short of locking my head to my couch, à la Alex in Clockwork Orange, it's helpful to have a balance control to hear the mix as it was meant to be heard, and the left-right stereo spread is part of the mix the artists intended.

I have solved the problem in that I'd sometime in the past bought the Airfoil app, which has a balance control. The point is that I shouldn't have to buy an app to add that feature which would not be difficult to provide if the developers cared about it.

 

[Doodski]

Yet the even more basic Griffin iMic allows the Mac to control balance. It obviously isn't expensive to implement. It's just a matter of the engineers caring. Not having a balance control is almost as silly as not having a volume control. In fact, a balance control is a volume control, albeit one that controls the relative volume of the two speakers

I used to work in the recording industry and I taught music recording at a major university, and helped build a recording studio and some lesser audio production spaces. So my ears tend to be a bit sensitive to subtle differences. I have a Umik mic for measurements, and I've constructed and installed some sound absorbing panels to help cut down on some of the more problematic standing waves, using REW room measurements.

The problem is that anytime you change your position relative to the two speakers, the mix of frequencies reaching the ears from the two speakers changes, most audibly in the higher frequencies (wavelengths shorter than the size of your head) around 1K and above, which the ear hears as differences in loudness. Below 1K the brain resolves directionally through phase differences, which are not as precisely interpreted.

This most affects the instruments in the middle, which depend on the listener hearing equal volume from the two speakers. The most ridiculous example of imbalance problems is the older Beatles recordings which put the instruments on one side and the vocals on the other, but that was back before stereo mixes in rock and roll were considered important, and it was also partly a result of the way the mixing console they were using was constructed.

Short of locking my head to my couch, à la Alex in Clockwork Orange, it's helpful to have a balance control to hear the mix as it was meant to be heard, and the left-right stereo spread is part of the mix the artists intended.

I have solved the problem in that I'd sometime in the past bought the Airfoil app, which has a balance control. The point is that I shouldn't have to buy an app to add that feature which would not be difficult to provide if the developers cared about it.

Decades ago we got all the controls, balance, bass and treble, EQ, loudness etc... But due to successive models being released without them and the general public being brainwashed to think they are a negative they have disappeared...

 

[therling]

What's frustrating is that it's not that simple a matter to change the L-R balance on my system because it's a tri-amp system with an active three-way crossover that is in turn feeding separate amps for midrange and high end, and two subwoofers. I imagine allowing the OSX sound preferences pane to control balance is one line of code on the firmware.

My two amps are both early 60s HH Scott integrated amps that have bass and treble controls for each channel. Those were the days.

 

[therling]

The squeaky wheel...

.

Unfortunately, this firmware update doesn't seem to work for my MacBook Pro, but it's highly possible that the operating system OSX 12.7.6 Monterey is just too old to work with the firmware change.

My MacBook Pro is from 2015 and works fine as a music player and will also run REW. However, OSX 12.7.6 is the most recent update it can work with. I've got no incentive to buy a newer machine, especially when my $35 Airfoil license has allowed me to use that apps L/R balance.

I'm surprised that Apple's Music app (and iTunes before it) has never had a provision for adding AU plugins on its output. But I suppose most users have no need it. On the other hand, do I really want to get myself sucked into twiddling a four band multiband compressor?

 

[AnalogSteph]

Unfortunately, this firmware update doesn't seem to work for my MacBook Pro, but it's highly possible that the operating system OSX 12.7.6 Monterey is just too old to work with the firmware change.

They might have sent you an ARM-only binary, which wouldn't work on your Intel-equipped Macbook. You can apparently use the file command to check which architectures are supported:

How can I distinguish ARM binaries from x86 binaries on macOS?

Is there something I can type on the command-line to determine if an executable is an ARM/M1 or an x86 binary?

apple.stackexchange.com

If it is as I suspect, you may want to ask for a universal binary, which would not be unreasonable as the last Intel Macs are only about 5 years old at this point, and Monterey less than 4 years with last updates half a year ago. That's definitely not old in the grand scheme of things.
If x86_64 is supported but it still doesn't work, well then you may actually be SOL.