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[Jerry Secor]

I have a Macbook Pro running Yosemite. It is connected to a McIntosh C2500 pre/processor. The Mcintosh will process 192/24 but downscales my files to 96/24. Mac's midi only allows a max output of 96/24. How do I take advantage of 192/24 downloads I have purchased?   

[blgentry]

What cable are you using to connect the Mac computer to the preamp/processor?  If you are using optical cable, most will NOT support rates above 96kHz.  The literature on your preamp/processor says the USB input is capable of 192kHz at up to 32 bits (the 32 bit part is silly, but that's what they say).

A LOT of USB audio interfaces for Mac do not require a driver, but a few do.  According to the product page on the pre/pro I don't see anything you need to make it work with a Mac computer.  You might engage Mcintosh (pre/pro) tech support via phone or email or web and ask them as well.

For the record, the Mac will definitely drive 192kHz to a USB audio device.  Mine works here with a very inexpensive (but nice sounding) DAC.  This connection speed and capability is OUTSIDE of JRiver MC.  JRiver just uses the connections that the Mac hardware can see and use.

Good luck and let us know how you do.

Brian.

[Jerry Secor]

Thanks, Brian. I use a USB cable. Spoke with McIntosh tech support. They , of course, referred me to Apple and JRiver. I was unable to get any tech support from JRiver and was directed to this user forum.
I spoke with Apple tech support and after getting to 2nd level tech support and the manager of second level the only thing they could come up with was Mac will not support data rates higher than 96/24. If you look at the midi output info in OS X it confirms their thought. They have very little knowledge with regards to audio support.
I noticed that in my midi setup in includes "Soundflower 2 and 16 ch." setup. Apple tech support said this is a third party app. from Rogue Amoeba. I don't know what it is but it allows 192/24.

[mwillems]

Here is another thread with a user trying to get 192 to work with a McIntosh processor: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=92646.0

He had a very hard time of it and wound up buying multiple sound cards in an attempt to get the processor to work.  He ultimately succeeded, despite the fact that McIntosh support recommended he buy a device to "fix" the problem which did not work.  From the thread it sounds like McIntosh processors are rather fussy about their inputs.  Perhaps his solution will work for you.

[blgentry]

Thanks, Brian. I use a USB cable. Spoke with McIntosh tech support. They , of course, referred me to Apple and JRiver.

That's unacceptable in my opinion.  Your pre/pro is an exceptionally expensive piece of hardware that includes USB as an input.  Either it's made to work with modern Macs and Windows machines, or it's not.  They *clearly* have a driver for Windows.  Is Mac supported?  If so, they should be able to make it work.  Macs are mostly pretty easy on the audio side.  They conform to the USB 2 Audio standard (different than USB 2.0 data; this is an audio spec), so they mostly just auto detect almost every sound card or USB audio source.

This is clearly not a JRiver problem because Audio MIDI setup is an Apple utility that shows the sound cards on the system and the rates they support.  JRiver isn't involved.  Apple really isn't involved either unless audio support is broken.  You can hear sound, so audio support is working.  I assume it works with no distortion or anything weird happening.

I noticed that in my midi setup in includes "Soundflower 2 and 16 ch." setup. Apple tech support said this is a third party app. from Rogue Amoeba. I don't know what it is but it allows 192/24.

Sound Flower is a fairly well known piece of software that allows you to do unusual things like routing Skype calls to sound recorders, and all kinds of other audio trickery.  It's not normally needed for audio playback.  I would wonder why it was there.  In fact, if I wasn't using it, I would want to uninstall Sound Flower.  That would be one more thing off the list of things that might be wrong.

Finally, you asked about playing your 24/192 content that you downloaded.  JRiver can do this for you very easily by resampling it, on the fly, and sending it to your pre/pro as 24/96 audio.  All you have to do is configure the Output Format area to down sample anything above 96kHz down to 96kHz.  See a screen shot and some info here:

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audio_Setup#Output_Format

Change the values of the items under Sample Rate.  All items greater than 96kHz, change to Output 96kHz.

Good luck to you.

Brian.

[Jerry Secor]

I was actually able to get the pre/pro to accept 24/192 by changing settings in the Mac. It was 16/192. I never could get 24 bits. My son's computer will play 24/192 and we have the same operating system. 10.10.4  He has a newer Macbook pro than me. Maybe a different sound card?

[blgentry]

I'm a little confused.  You did or did not get 24 bit 192kHz to work from your mac to your DAC?  You said something about 16/192.

What did you change?  Audio MIDI setting?  Something else?

Is your problem resolved?

Brian.