Mac Mini: Audio in HDMI - RCA not an option

[peterdevries]

I know this has probably already been discussed here in some form, but the search feature was in this case not my friend. I hope you can help me..

I´m considering ditching my Apple TV and buying a Mac Mini to use as a media centre. The problem is that my TV is 15 feet away from the position of the Mac Mini, and there is no possibility of hooking up an RCA cable for audio.

I DO have an HDMI cable option to the TV, so I could use some kind of adapter to convert from the mini-displayport, or the mini-dvi to HDMI. I also saw that there are adapters that integrate the audio signal into the HDMI cable. Like these ones: http://www.kanexlive.com/

Can anyone tell me what would be the best way to go? How does this USB audio work? Is this a standard option that can be enabled in OS X to export sound through the USB port? Does anyone have experience with these things?

 

[Cave Man]

Does your TV/receiver have optical input?

 

[peterdevries]

Does your TV/receiver have optical input?

Unfortunately not. Because of the distance, and the way my house is laid out with wiring, the only option is to get the sound there through the HDMI cable..

 

[Yoursh]

If HDMI is your only option, you will have to get one of the adapters like in the link you posted.

As for the USB, here is how I understand it. With that adapter, it is actually a usb sound card+video transfer. The audio is handled by it instead of the mini's onboard soundcard. You would switch this over in the sound settings in system preferences. For audio out you would pick the usb card from the drop-down once the it is plugged in.

The model with digital audio uses the mini's optical audio out(same jack as analog audio-different connector). It only uses the usb for power.

Both feed the audio into the HDMI cable to the TV. As for quality or what version is better, I'm not sure. Haven't played with either and I'm not an audiophile. It will also depend on what type of audio formats your audio uses.(L/R only versus surrond, 5.1, DTS, etc.)