Why use kexts instead of DSDT edits for audio? ALC889

[rockstarjoe]

Quick question... what advantage is there to using AppleHDA kext for ALC889 audio, instead of editing your DSDT to get the audio working? I do not have a Sandy Bridge hackintosh (yet), still on an EP45-UD3R... but my audio works perfectly via my edited DSDT. I'm trying to get prepared for building a new SB machine, but I see most people here prefer to use multibeast to get their audio working (and have to run it after every OSX update). Wouldn't an edited DSDT be easier? Or is there something I'm missing? Thanks.

 

[Robbish]

Hi rockstarjoe,

i think your way editing the DSDT for audio would be better however IMO that is an Advanced solution that most of us do not know how to do whereas loading a Kext or 2 from MultiBeast is quite painless.

I have my own DSDT which i edited myself but audio is the only thing that i have to reinstall after some updates. I still don't know how to edit my DSDT for audio and have not found a guide on how to do that.

I use VoodooHDA kext and i can only get analogue audio Line Out to work. I can't get digital audio SPDIF to work and no one has been able to give me a solution for digital audio either.

To help out us less advanced than yourself, please could you write a guide on how to edit your DSDT for Audio. That would be a great help to myself and the forum

thanks dude

 

[rockstarjoe]

Thanks for the reply. I actually do not know much about editing my DSDT either, but when I was building my current machine a few years back someone on another forum was kind enough to help me with it. What I am really wondering, though, is if the edits in my DSDT would be helpful to the larger community (i.e., if someone more knowledgable than me can dissect my DSDT and extract the audio portion so that it can be used in the new Sandy Bridge DSDTs). If anyone is up for the challenge or can explain how someone would go about editing their DSDT for audio support I'd love to learn more! I've attached my current DSDT in case anyone is up for the challenge.

 

[rockstarjoe]

I went back through the sands of time and found the instructions that I originally followed. Anyone care to give this a shot on their Sandy Bridge system? The instructions are in post #388 here: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=140941&st=380&p=1229762&#.

Then if you follow the instructions by poster "Machinist" on this thread to make some edits you will be have kext-free audio! http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=182384&hl=&fromsearch=1

This has worked for me on Leopard, SL, all the way up to Lion and I've never had to do anything with AppleHDA rollback or Multibeast after updating.

When I finally get around to building my next machine I will be very interested to try this out myself, but until then if anyone else is feeling bold let me know what you find!

 

[Hilbe]

I think MacMac handles most of the DSDTs on here right? Maybe we could get him to include the audio

 

[toleda]

Quick question... what advantage is there to using AppleHDA kext for ALC889 audio, instead of editing your DSDT to get the audio working? I do not have a Sandy Bridge hackintosh (yet), still on an EP45-UD3R... but my audio works perfectly via my edited DSDT. I'm trying to get prepared for building a new SB machine, but I see most people here prefer to use multibeast to get their audio working (and have to run it after every OSX update). Wouldn't an edited DSDT be easier? Or is there something I'm missing? Thanks.

The short answer is your motherboard has the ALC885 audio codec. The 885 (aka, ALC889a, for marketing purposes) is natively supported in OS X. Some Mac Pro models have the 885 which is why it is still supported.

Enabling audio in OSX requires dsdt and kext edits. These edits are specific to the non native audio codec on the motherboard. The result is working OSX audio with non native audio codecs. Lion has added checks on device_ids, subsystem_ids, capabilities etc. different from SL. For ALC885 audio in Lion, VCH888 has the best solution.

 

[Hilbe]

Quick question... what advantage is there to using AppleHDA kext for ALC889 audio, instead of editing your DSDT to get the audio working? I do not have a Sandy Bridge hackintosh (yet), still on an EP45-UD3R... but my audio works perfectly via my edited DSDT. I'm trying to get prepared for building a new SB machine, but I see most people here prefer to use multibeast to get their audio working (and have to run it after every OSX update). Wouldn't an edited DSDT be easier? Or is there something I'm missing? Thanks.

The short answer is your motherboard has the ALC885 audio codec. The 885 (aka, ALC889a, for marketing purposes) is natively supported in OS X. Some Mac Pro models have the 885 which is why it is still supported.

Enabling audio in OSX requires dsdt and kext edits. These edits are specific to the non native audio codec on the motherboard. The result is working OSX audio with non native audio codecs. Lion has added checks on device_ids, subsystem_ids, capabilities etc. different from SL. For ALC885 audio in Lion, VCH888 has the best solution.

Is there a sound card I can buy that is natively supported? What do the newer Mac Pros use chipset wise? Could we find some card with that same chipset?

 

[rockstarjoe]

Quick question... what advantage is there to using AppleHDA kext for ALC889 audio, instead of editing your DSDT to get the audio working? I do not have a Sandy Bridge hackintosh (yet), still on an EP45-UD3R... but my audio works perfectly via my edited DSDT. I'm trying to get prepared for building a new SB machine, but I see most people here prefer to use multibeast to get their audio working (and have to run it after every OSX update). Wouldn't an edited DSDT be easier? Or is there something I'm missing? Thanks.

The short answer is your motherboard has the ALC885 audio codec. The 885 (aka, ALC889a, for marketing purposes) is natively supported in OS X. Some Mac Pro models have the 885 which is why it is still supported.

Enabling audio in OSX requires dsdt and kext edits. These edits are specific to the non native audio codec on the motherboard. The result is working OSX audio with non native audio codecs. Lion has added checks on device_ids, subsystem_ids, capabilities etc. different from SL. For ALC885 audio in Lion, VCH888 has the best solution.

Thanks for the excellent explanation! I didn't realize there was a difference between my audio chip and the new ones (never noticed that "a" at the end). Also, I wanted to say thanks for your work no enabling audio on the newer models, I am sure I'm going to need it once I update my motherboard.