AppleMacBook Air 13-inch (M5)
host
New retail price (MSRP)
$1,299
Used market: $780*
Specifications
5 of 6 values have a recorded source- System
- macOS·
- Port
- USB-C·
- Headphone output
- 3 Vrms·
- Requires Asio Driver
- no·
- USB power available
- 15✓
- Indexable Locales
- ·
Expert Audio Engineering Commentary
Headroom notes
Two Thunderbolt 4 ports, hence at least 15 W each by Intel's certification floor. Worth knowing that this budget is per port and not per machine: two bus-powered devices on a two-port laptop are the case nobody publishes a number for.
What the datasheet actually says
Quoted verbatim from the manufacturer’s own page, with the date we checked it. We state what is printed, not what anyone intended by it.
Measurement conditions
«less than 150 ohms, up to 1.25 volts RMS; 150 to 1k ohms, 3 volts RMS»
The stored 3 V is the high-impedance output. Under 150 Ω Apple prints 1.25 V RMS.
checked 10/1/2026Setups using this gear
How to Connect Shure SM7B to MacBook via Focusrite Scarlett SoloConnecting MacBook to Klipsch RP-600M II via Denon AVR-S570BT ReceiverShure SM7B on a Scarlett Solo 4th Gen: is a Cloudlifter still needed?Shure SM7B with a Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen and a Cloudlifter CL-1KEF LS50 Meta on a Yamaha RX-V4A: safe at the impedance dip?Klipsch RP-600M II with a Denon AVR-S570BT: enough power?Yamaha HS7 on MOTU M2 line outputs, not on speaker terminalsRode NT1 5th Gen and a Scarlett Solo: phantom power and gainElectro-Voice RE20 through a Warm Audio WA73 preampQ Acoustics 3020i on a Cambridge AXA35: 6 ohms against an 8-ohm-only amplifierDenon AVR-S770H: 75 watts or 110? Both, and the difference is 1.6 dBNeumann TLM 103 through a Cloudlifter CL-2: why the condenser stays silent with +48 V switched onTriton FetHead Phantom with a Neumann TLM 103: the one inline booster a condenser survivesDoes the RODE PodMic need a booster into the Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 4th Gen?Lewitt LCT 440 PURE on a Focusrite Vocaster One: 70 dB of gain for a microphone that asks for 32DT 770 Pro on a FiiO K11: the impedance version that stops matteringCloudlifter CL-Zi with a Shure Beta 58A: the three-position switch is attenuation, not three levels of gainSoyuz Launcher with a Shure Beta 57A: 26 dB from a transformer, and the same unwritten phantom questionElgato Wave DX on an Audient iD14 MkII: an XLR-only microphone with 600 Ω of output impedance and no published load limitDoes the Shure Aonic 5 need an amp on an Audient EVO 4? The unit is ambiguous, the 50 Ω output is notShure SM7dB with Focusrite Vocaster One: why does a dynamic microphone need +48 V?Shure SM57 into a Scarlett 2i2 4th Gen: how much gain do you actually need?Does an SM57 need a Cloudlifter on a Scarlett 2i2 4th Gen?Sennheiser HD 490 PRO on a Scarlett 2i2 4th Gen without an amp: exactly enoughDenon PMA-600NE with DALI Oberon 1: 86 dB per 2.83 V is not 86 dB per wattRode PodMic on a Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen is quiet: how quiet, in decibelsFiiO K11 with the Sennheiser HD 560S: the problem is too much, not too littleTruthear HEXA on a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2: do you need a separate DAC?
* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~60% retained value).