Then once the sound is the way you want it on the internal speakers, you can hook up the external display once more. Sadly, this issue has an almost primitive workaround: you’d unhook the external monitor so that sound is once again enabled on the Mac and then do what you need to with the sound levels. Apple disabled all ability to control volume when an external display is hooked up to avoid affecting the external device. Part of what got caught up in this policy is that since the macOS does not control external devices, you cannot control any volume once the device is hooked up. If you changed the volume, that would be controlling another device. What that means is that the macOS does not allow you to control end devices that are attached using an HDMI cable or DisplayPort hookup. The root of the issue is that Apple computers do not support Consumer Electronics Control (CEC). So How Do You Control Sound When Your Mac Is Connected to a Display? They are forced to use the external speaker in all instances. But users report having issues with volume control on the monitors and speakers, being that they might be buried in more inconvenient menus and the buttons on the display might be located in truly terrible places, like the direct back of the monitor.Īnother problem with the volume being disabled on the Mac itself is that when users are in an app that allows them to select the audio device, and they select the Mac’s speakers, the volume controls remain disabled. It may seem straightforward to use the volume control on additional monitors or speakers.

The core of this issue is that plugging a Mac into a DisplayPort monitor with loudspeakers actually just straight disables the Mac’s volume controls. When A New Display Becomes a Worse Way to Control Sound

So How Do You Control Sound When Your Mac Is Connected to a Display?.

When A New Display Becomes a Worse Way to Control Sound.

Application volume mixer for mac