Why 23C and 43C need drivers for Mac although they are class compliant? Their respective manuals say: “Although the Xone:23C (43C) is class compliant and will work on a Mac without drivers, for best performance we recommend you download the dedicated drivers from our website”
In the same time no Mac drivers are offered at all for the PX5, stressing: “The XONEX5 is a Mac USB Class Compliant CoreAudio CoreMIDI interface; No Device Software installation is required for operation with macOS, or OS X platforms.”
Can someone explain how is this possible? In what are the PX5 and 23C/42C soundcards different regarding Mac use?
So PX5 has no bit accurate mode since there are no drivers for it, meaning it runs the risk of potential problems? I don’t think A&H would allow such thing as PX5 costs double than 43C, also it’s newer model.
These mixers were in development from 2012-2013. During that time, it was not uncommon for Mac users to not be updated to OSX 10.3 yet. The mixers did release later (2014 I believe).
“It is recommended to use the Bit Accurate driver where possible.
Use CoreAudio mode for
Apple CoreAudio applications such as iTunes, QuickTime
and for sound playback via web browsers or other generic media players etc.”
Did you check the quoted line IN the document? Maybe there’s more there to give the necessary context for those who understand better. What that red X in front of it is supposed to mean? The line above it says Bit Accurate Mode: Allen & Heath Xone:nnn(CoreAudio) and is marked with green “check”, like it’s OK, but it’s still in “Known issues”.
The known issue is that you need to manually select Bit Accurate mode in Traktor Pro. The checkmark indicates what should be selected in Traktor’s preferences.
It looks like the 23C/43C drivers are just to enable Bit Accurate mode, you can still use them in CoreAudio mode without drivers.
The PX5 only supports CoreAudio mode. Either Bit Accurate mode is obsolete, or A&H didn’t bother to make drivers for it. Either way, if you just want to know if the PX5 works with iOS, it’s irrelevant whether it supports Bit Accurate mode.
[quote=“ErikMinekus, post:13, topic:77892, username:ErikMinekus”]
The PX5 only supports CoreAudio mode. Either Bit Accurate mode is obsolete, or A&H didn’t bother to make drivers for it. Either way, if you just want to know if the PX5 works with iOS, it’s irrelevant whether it supports Bit Accurate mode.
[/quote]That’s what I’d think too, but Xone is clearly encouraging the use of Bit Accurate drivers on the 23/43C, giving the impression that these mixers won’t work as good without them (in Core Audio mode). It would be unusual to let a mixer up the range (PX5) be prone to possible problems by not assigning drivers for the (supposedly better working) Bit Accurate Mode. That’s why I wonder if there’s any mysterious difference between the soundcards used in 43C vs. PX5 that might potentially reflect on iOS use.
Except there aren’t any problems with CoreAudio mode. As I understand it Bit Accurate mode offers slightly better latency, that’s it. And as mentioned before, the 23/43C were designed in 2012/13, so maybe CoreAudio has improved since then, making Bit Accurate obsolete.
Well, higher latency IS sort of a problem, at least for A&H obviously, since they addressed it by releasing dedicated drivers. I don’t think they were lazy to do the same for their higher model.
As for Core audio being improved i.e. becoming bit accurate in the meantime…maybe, but isn’t there a way to check that for sure? This assumption is pretty vague.
well the only way to get a definitive answer is to get a A&H engineer to answer your question. our assumptions maybe seem vague to you but they do have a basis in experience (I myself have been using DJ software for 10+years). your assumptions on the other hand stand on nothing else but on the fact that as some time A&H experimented with different drivers parallel to using Apple CoreAudio.
I do understand the quest for bettering your setup but why can’t you just enjoy the awesome sound quality of PX5 (by all reviews) on it’s own?
Man, this is a forum, a place for discussing things. I make NO ASSUMPTIONS, but ask legit questions, that are being answered with assumptions:
maybe core audio improved and went bit accurate
A&H creation of different drivers is called “experiment”, while their advice to use them as first choice is kinda ignored
I would certainly accept the above if true, but is it?
No matter your long experience, you still do not have the definitive answer, which leaves the quest open and I don’t see the reason to get sensitive about it.
You assume that Bit Accurate mode gives you a noticeable difference while DJing, without having used it. Unfortunately there is very little information about Bit Accurate mode, I can’t even find any mention of it in the Xone:43C manual. So we can only guess why it isn’t available on the PX5. If you want a proper answer you’ll have to contact A&H.
X5 is a Mac USB Class Compliant CoreAudio CoreMIDI interface; No Device Software installation is required for operation with macOS, or OS X platforms.”
