Running REW with no HDMI on a MacBook Air

[Carmine Red]

Been trying to not have to ask too many questions and learn as much as I can but this one is driving me nuts.

When trying to calibrate the sound card, and I guess for doing any output from my preamp, what should I use from my MacBook Air? There is no HDMI on it, just the USB C.

I tried the soundcard calibration output as wireless thru my streamer and I got the test tone thru my speakers but it doesn't give me much in the way of adjustment to try and match the output and input during calibration. Do I need to go USB-C to RCA? Is that better?

 

[sam_adams]

When trying to calibrate the sound card, and I guess for doing any output from my preamp, what should I use from my MacBook Air? There is no HDMI on it, just the USB C.

When using USB mic input and an HDMI output, there is no need to do a sound card calibration. You should, of course, have a calibration file for the microphone that you plan to use—if one is offered by the manufacturer.

If you are measuring through an AVR, then you can use one of the adapters below to connect the MacBook to the AVR. You will need a good quality HDMI cable to make the connection from the adapter to the AVR, also. All of the below have been tested on various models of Macs and they work very well. The Apple adapter is HDMI 1.4 compatible and may work better on an older AVR.

Apple A2119 USB-C Digital Multiport AV adapter:

At Amazon.

Lenovo HDMI 2.0b 4K 60 Hz 4X90K86567:

At Amazon.

Firmware updater for the above (requires PC to update).

Lenovo HDMI 2.0b 4K 60 Hz 4X90R61022:

At Amazon.

StarTech 4K 30 Hz:

At Amazon.

Star Tech 4K 60 Hz:

At Amazon.

 

[ddude003]

If you are using a USB Mic like a UMK1 don't bother with a loop back...

From https://www.roomeqwizard.com/betahelp/help_en-GB/html/calsoundcard.html#calmeasure

The initial steps required to make room measurements are:

1 . Choose the audio input and output
2. Calibrate the interface (not applicable when using a USB microphone)
3. Check levels
4. Calibrate the SPL reading (not when using a recognised USB microphone that has REW-compatible sensitivity cal data, as of September 2022 the UMIK-1, UMIK-2, UMIK-X, EARS, CARIO-A2B, UMM-6, Omnimic and Beta Three mics are recognised)

Please see note on step 2...

You can also use the Generator function in REW to create test tone sweeps and save them to .wav files and then transfer them to your kits player... Got an AVR or Streamer that will read a USB Jump Stick?

 

[Carmine Red]

If you are using a USB Mic like a UMK1 don't bother with a loop back...


The initial steps required to make room measurements are:

1 . Choose the audio input and output
2. Calibrate the interface (not applicable when using a USB microphone)
3. Check levels
4. Calibrate the SPL reading (not when using a recognised USB microphone that has REW-compatible sensitivity cal data, as of September 2022 the UMIK-1, UMIK-2, UMIK-X, EARS, CARIO-A2B, UMM-6, Omnimic and Beta Three mics are recognised)

Please see note on step 2...

You can also use the Generator function in REW to create test tone sweeps and save them to .wav files and then transfer them to your kits player... Got an AVR or Streamer that will read a USB Jump Stick?

Thank you for this! I'll do some more reading on it.

My iFi Zen Stream does have a USB for a stick, so I could do that too!

 

[ddude003]

No worries @Carmine Red... See https://www.roomeqwizard.com/betahelp/help_en-GB/html/siggen.html#top for info about using the Generator... You will want to create a 20Hz to 22kHz or 24kHz sweep with start and stop tones for timing... And save it as a .wav file... Copy to a USB jump stick and plug it into your streamer... Or if you have a player like Roon or Audirvana that will feed your streamer, play the .wav file through that... This way you are using your entire signal chain...