Tag Archives: Mac OS

High impedance headphones on MacBook Pro 2021

Posted on by
Reply

Good news for audiophiles out there. Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Pro Max MacBook Pros feature an adaptive voltage headphone amplifier, meaning it optimizes itself to the headphones you’re using. With these two models, gone is the concern whether 80 ohm or 250 ohm headphones will work.

“When you connect headphones with an impedance of less than 150 ohms, the headphone jack provides up to 1.25 volts RMS. For headphones with an impedance of 150 to 1k ohms, the headphone jack delivers 3 volts RMS. This may remove the need for an external headphone amplifier.”

So, if you love Beyerdynamic’s DT 990 Pro 250 ohm Open-back Studio Headphones, you can rest assured that your new MacBook Pro will power them with aplomb.

 

Mute system audio when increasing/decreasing volume

Posted on by
2

Here’s a cool tip from The Distant Librarian on how to silence the audio feedback you get when using the keyboard to increase or decrease the volume in Mac OS X.

Hold down the shift key while depressing the volume keys will silence the auditory feedback while raising and lowering the volume, but still show the visual cue.

Other cool tricks:

Hold down option while clicking one of the sound keys to access the Sound system preferences.

Get more granular volume control by holding down shift-option while clicking one of the sound keys to increase/decrease volume in 1/4 the normal increments. Normal, the Mac provides 16 volume levels. Holding down shift-option gives you 64 increments.