Selection of audio outputs and relative equalization.

[Simon70]

I state that I have a very precise sound monitor system that is sensitive to equalization variations. I am practically always at the PC using headphones, picking up the audio signal from the 3.5mm jack port on the case and in the headphones the bass emphasis is much better supported (even when it's a little too much), I never despised how I listened to a everything, from movies to videos to music (in music, indeed, the bass seemed to me quite pronounced).
I happened to have to watch a movie with another person and so I had to turn on the audio monitors (which otherwise are always off, they will have been turned on 2 times in all since the PC is there and the first time it was just for see if the audio came out, so without paying attention to how the audio actually was.
For a few minutes I put up with it, then the excess of bass that I felt prompted me to do a very simple test: picking up the audio from the audio output of the display that is connected via Display Port and Boom I discovered a difference I didn't expect .
So to go deeper (the film basically made a nice long pause) I picked up the signal from an AirPlay device and it resulted with the same equalization of the output carried by the Display Port: much more balanced between high, medium and above all bass, compared to to the exit called internal speakers (integrated) which alternates with the headphone output on the case.

There is someone who can tell me if it is possible that in MacOs there is a specific equalization that emphasizes the bass very much to make the speakers supplied to the iMacs sound "better" and that is therefore activated only when that specific output is selected in the preferences of system?

A second question: I tried to select in the system preferences the other two voices (analog) that appear to me, simply called Output (audio output port), but on the rear output of the motherboard they do not generate a signal on any output (I tried them all even if it doesn't make any sense). Is there a way to get their audio somewhere? (hoping it doesn't have the same equalization as the internal speakers)

For the moment I can arrange myself using the balanced equalized signal (it seems flat) of the other two possible selections described above (Display Port, AirPlay), but since I am a "curious" audio, I would like to understand something more about the audio configuration that Apple has given to MacOs that apparently, at least for the outputs dedicated to their internal speakers, is not at all flat, unless the motherboard does not apply equalization on its audio output, but it would seem very strange to me. (This last assumption on Apple or Asus could be completely wrong and maybe there is something wrong here on my PC: I'm a beginner in Hackintosh).

I attach the contents of my clover folder (all latest versions of kext, bootloader 5033)

Thanks.

 

[Simon70]

I have to make amends for having thought that Apple would bring an equalization to the signal that it sends to the internal speakers of the iMac (maybe then it really does but I can't be sure from what I detected).
I did the same comparative check on Windows 10 (so it is supposed with all the specific drivers for the sound card), obviously I could not verify the AirPlay signal, but the result was the same: flat equalization on the signal carried by the Display Port, so everything is well balanced between high, medium and low and strong emphasis on the bass on signal taken from the Line Out of the motherboard.
I scrupulously checked that all possible audio effects or all the possible presets provided by Windows and Asus were disabled.
At the moment I can only deduce that the sound card on my motherboard is configured to reproduce the signal in that way, if I hadn't had the proof of the same result here on MacOS I could have thought of drivers not perfectly calibrated, but it would seem very strange to me that both on Windows and on MacOS the same identical errors had been made (unless the audio driver for the Hackintosh is not built on the basis of the original driver for the Realtec HD Audio, it seems to me to be called the sound card mounted here).
The signal difference is in abundance and I think it is possible to verify it even with speakers that are not of a high level, but I believe that in a good part of the checks, the audio signal in Line Out of the sound card version would be more well received than the one of the Display Port, because it is able to compensate for some shortcomings in the bass of the speakers, especially where there is no sub to take care of it.
Besides knowing if there is someone who knows more about the Hackintosh audio situation, I would like to know even if there is someone who made the comparison, maybe even on the Windows side.

Thanks and greetings to all.

 

[The LT]

Do not expect any decent quality from the built-in HDA codec's analog outputs, especially on the front panel. If you insist on using HDA, use S/PDIF coaxial or S/PDIF Toslink Optical outputs whenever possible.

You could use VoodooHDA for more precise codec control but you should invest in a dedicated audio interface or an AV receiver connected to HDA via Toslink or coaxial spdif to make most of your audio monitors.

 

[Simon70]

Do not expect any decent quality from the built-in HDA codec's analog outputs, especially on the front panel. If you insist on using HDA, use S/PDIF coaxial or S/PDIF Toslink Optical outputs whenever possible.

You could use VoodooHDA for more precise codec control but you should invest in a dedicated audio interface or an AV receiver connected to HDA via Toslink or coaxial spdif to make most of your audio monitors.

Thanks for the answer, I will try to learn more about voodooHDA, but from what little I could see by taking a quick look around, it seems to create some stability and compatibility problems, but maybe they are references to older versions.
I have a question about taking the signal via S/PDIF and passing it to a dedicated converter:
the signal that travels on the Display Port is a digital audio signal with sampling frequencies even much higher than the normal optical output on the motherboard (they can reach up to 24 bit mono and 1536 kHz or 768 kHz 24 bit stereo audio streams or eight channels of 24 bits and 192 kHz or 32 channels of 48 kHz and 24 bits), but probably to send them to the audio outputs of the video display the standard 48kz or at most 192kz will be used. In any case the audio signal that would be taken should be analogous, once converted and the quality should depend only on the quality of the digital/analog converter. If I'm not saying ********, in my case the difference in the audible audio signal should be given by the quality between the converter in the video display I have and what I should buy, so if I wanted to notice this difference I should exclude the various fairly cheap converters that are easily found, because they would be very similar to the one installed in the video display I use?

But the problem is that the difference that I am finding between the analog output of the HDA and the anological output of my video monitor (conversion of the signal carried by the Display Port cable) is, in my opinion, too big to derive only from the difference of the DAC (on the MB and the screen), there must necessarily be a difference in equalization, which could also be carried on the S/PDIF output of the motherboard, is it not?