MacBook Pro M1 headphone jack or audio interface?

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

I want to get back to using an old analog mixer because my K-Mix is to finicky when it comes to input levels. I thought I could hook everything up to a Mackie 802, and use my Digitone as the audio interface when needed.

But I don’t want to fire up the Digitone if I’m only playing music on the Mac while I’m working, for example. So I thought, maybe I’ll just run a cable from the headphone out, to the RCA in on the Mackie, and only switch to the Digitone’s USB audio when I’m actually sampling or recording.

Added bonus: I can use the excellent Elektron reverb and delay as send FX for anything else, if I get the routing right.

Any opinions on doing it this way? Sound quality wise? Practicality-wise?

#2

Why not try it yourself, and observe the results rather than rely on others’ opinions?

3 Likes
#3

The mixer is in a box inside another box at the cold end of the apartment. That’s why :grinning:

4 Likes
#4

audio interface works better based on my experience

#5

Yeah I had issues getting KMix as audio interface as well and use MOTU audio interface that works for me on Mac

#6

Relevant

3 Likes
#7

It very very rarely use an interface, if I don’t want to record something with it, or work on the final details of a song. Mostly because, if I work in the DAW, I am not at home and I just take my M1 and headphones with me.
For just listening to music while you do something else, I wouldn’t care to do something. If I want to hear Audio from my M1 over my monitor-boxes without me setting up the interface, the Audio goes USB-C/Thunderbolt into my powered USB Hub, from there via HDMI into my display, and from there over the 3.5mm jack into the monitor boxes. Sounds more than enough for gaming and having music running while working/coding.

#8

The good thing about a box inside a box is the unboxing and reboxing will warm you up a little.

Get the Mackie, audio in from your mac should be acceptable as well as reversing the flow from the mixer’s out to your mac for recording.

From a convenience perspective, I like to run my home listening audio through a box with a real knob for volume control. I’m currently using a MOTU M4 to drive PreSonus Eris 3.5s and my maybe-unnecessary Magni preamp for the Planar headphones. Two smooth knobs to control the two outputs is much nicer than keyboard buttons.

2 Likes
#9

This is another part of it. The k-mix’s routing is amazing, but fiddly. I like to be able to grab a knob, and also to see where they are set at a glance.

But consensus seems to be that the 3.5mm out will be just fine.

1 Like
#10

Interesting reading here. It looks like the M1 MacBook Pro DAC is surprisingly good.