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Looking for a soundcard similar to the one in an iMac (early 2011)


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Hi all,

 

i've been using an actual iMac (early 2011) for a while now next to my hackintosh. However, i only today decided to plug in my iPhone headset (with mic and volumecontrol) into the iMac. Much to my surprise it registered both the mic and the volumecontrol even though the headset was plugged into the headphones jack on the back of the iMac. Also the soundquality is miles beyond the quality of my Asus P5Q-Pro's ALC1200.

 

Now i got home, decided to try it on my ALC1200's front output but nothing. So i started looking at Apple's website for hardware specs on the iMac's audio card but couldn't find anything. I googled it and basically all i can find is people looking for things to replace their stock audiocard with, both in iMacs and Mac Pro's.

 

Can anyone tell me what "card" there is in these iMacs or Mac Pro's? I'm looking to replace my ALC1200 and it'd be great to have a soundcard that works out of the box without having to patch kexts every time i update my install.

 

My mobo is a Asus P5Q-Pro (Premium i believe) if that matters.

 

Thanks in advance =)

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i've been using an actual iMac (early 2011) for a while now next to my hackintosh. However, i only today decided to plug in my iPhone headset (with mic and volumecontrol) into the iMac. Much to my surprise it registered both the mic and the volumecontrol even though the headset was plugged into the headphones jack on the back of the iMac. Also the soundquality is miles beyond the quality of my Asus P5Q-Pro's ALC1200.

Apple uses a custom Cirrus Logic 4206 in all Macs currently. There a few, if any, retail sound products that use even a similar codec.

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Apple uses a custom Cirrus Logic 4206 in all Macs currently. There a few, if any, retail sound products that use even a similar codec.

 

All Macs? Even in the Mac Pro's (not Macbook Pros)? I've found a teardown on an iMac on iFixit that gave me the 4206 as a codec too. Weird thing is that even Cirrus Logic doesn't list it on their site. I'm currently trying to figure out what Mac Pro's use but so far i've been unsuccessful in finding anything audio related at all.

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All Macs? Even in the Mac Pro's (not Macbook Pros)? I've found a teardown on an iMac on iFixit that gave me the 4206 as a codec too. Weird thing is that even Cirrus Logic doesn't list it on their site. I'm currently trying to figure out what Mac Pro's use but so far i've been unsuccessful in finding anything audio related at all.

MacPro5,1 uses the ALC885.

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MacPro5,1 uses the ALC885.

 

Are there any addon cards you're aware of that use that specific chipset? I've taken a brief look before work but all i can find is that is generally used as the onboard audio codec on a lot of motherboards or laptop(like) platforms.

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