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Author Topic: Mac mini to Denon AVR-X3200W via HDMI help with settings  (Read 1172 times)

TP1964

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Mac mini to Denon AVR-X3200W via HDMI help with settings
« on: December 29, 2022, 10:27:21 am »

Long time JRiver user in a windows environment here.

Switched to a Mac mini - I have it connected to the AVR via HDMI. Audio/Midi app only shows 2 channels when connected to the AVR. I've tried pretty much every permutation of settings that I can think of and essentially always get a message that it can't play xxxKhz on x channels no matter where I lock the bit rate. The best I've been able to get is 2 channels at 48Khz while sending using Dolby Digital encoding - which has been hit/miss. I've found a few discussions on Interact of folks with Mac minis playing multichannel, so I'm presuming it's my lack of knowledge in regards to the Mac. I can't seem to get the right combo and was hoping one of the kind users here might be able to at least point me in the right direction - even if the answer is some kind of external device.

Any help is appreciated!
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bob

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Re: Mac mini to Denon AVR-X3200W via HDMI help with settings
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2023, 10:13:28 am »

Long time JRiver user in a windows environment here.

Switched to a Mac mini - I have it connected to the AVR via HDMI. Audio/Midi app only shows 2 channels when connected to the AVR. I've tried pretty much every permutation of settings that I can think of and essentially always get a message that it can't play xxxKhz on x channels no matter where I lock the bit rate. The best I've been able to get is 2 channels at 48Khz while sending using Dolby Digital encoding - which has been hit/miss. I've found a few discussions on Interact of folks with Mac minis playing multichannel, so I'm presuming it's my lack of knowledge in regards to the Mac. I can't seem to get the right combo and was hoping one of the kind users here might be able to at least point me in the right direction - even if the answer is some kind of external device.

Any help is appreciated!
Is that a M1 Mac mini or Intel?
The M1 HDMI has some limitations, for one it can ONLY do the 48k sample rate.
What Audio device are you selecting in MC?
 
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TP1964

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Re: Mac mini to Denon AVR-X3200W via HDMI help with settings
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2023, 03:46:13 pm »

Is that a M1 Mac mini or Intel?
The M1 HDMI has some limitations, for one it can ONLY do the 48k sample rate.
What Audio device are you selecting in MC?

Hi Bob - thanks so much for the response. Yes, it's an M1 Mac mini (brand new) - I changed all of the formats to 48k and that at least gets me playing. Any reason why the M1 hdmis can't do multichannel? When I play a 6 channel SACD iso - it shows the source as 2 channel in JRiver. Another setting I'm missing perhaps?
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bob

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Re: Mac mini to Denon AVR-X3200W via HDMI help with settings
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2023, 06:07:56 pm »

Hi Bob - thanks so much for the response. Yes, it's an M1 Mac mini (brand new) - I changed all of the formats to 48k and that at least gets me playing. Any reason why the M1 hdmis can't do multichannel? When I play a 6 channel SACD iso - it shows the source as 2 channel in JRiver. Another setting I'm missing perhaps?
I don't know that I've tried multichannel through the HDMI interface on the M1. It does work on the Intel Macs.
I'll try it if I get time in the next day or so.
You should try using the actual device in MC's audio device settings (instead of core audio).
Also in MC's DSP studio Output Format where you've chosen to send everything as 48k, your "Channels" should be set to "Source Number Of Channels"
If that doesn't work and the output device supports Dolby you could select Dolby in Output format.

I'd suggest setting the resampler to SoX under audio settings and using the following for track transitions:

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TP1964

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Re: Mac mini to Denon AVR-X3200W via HDMI help with settings
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2023, 09:14:58 am »

Thanks for the detailed info - I'm going to give this a try tonight. I'll report back to hopefully help others. Thanks!
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LilyAarseth

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Re: Mac mini to Denon AVR-X3200W via HDMI help with settings
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2023, 03:18:32 pm »

My new samsung tv that i have connected to my m1 mac mini accepts up to 6 channels of audio so multichannel from an m1/m2 machine is possible, but sample rate remains locked to 48
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Awesome Donkey

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Re: Mac mini to Denon AVR-X3200W via HDMI help with settings
« Reply #6 on: January 05, 2023, 03:58:00 pm »

Aren't the HDMI outputs from the M1 and M2 Macs limited to 48 kHz only? I'm certain the M1s are because I've seen Bob mention this several times (and if memory serves Bob also said it was likely a chipset limitation of the M1), but I'm not sure if Apple changed/fixed this for the M2. I wouldn't be surprised if the HDMI outputs are still limited to 48 kHz for the M2 Macs though.
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bob

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Re: Mac mini to Denon AVR-X3200W via HDMI help with settings
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2023, 06:43:50 pm »

Aren't the HDMI outputs from the M1 and M2 Macs limited to 48 kHz only? I'm certain the M1s are because I've seen Bob mention this several times (and if memory serves Bob also said it was likely a chipset limitation of the M1), but I'm not sure if Apple changed/fixed this for the M2. I wouldn't be surprised if the HDMI outputs are still limited to 48 kHz for the M2 Macs though.
Yes the M1 rate is locked to 48k.
I hadn't tried the multichannel output yet so it's good to have a report that it works.
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TP1964

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Re: Mac mini to Denon AVR-X3200W via HDMI help with settings
« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2023, 08:53:23 am »

I can confirm - as long as you lock it to 48Khz, you can send at least 8 channels via HDMI - at least to the model Denon AVR that I have.
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