Erratic volume issues with an M1 MacBook Pro

[WilsonNM]

Has anyone else encountered this issue of the volume varying a bit on their MacBook Pro, despite not actually adjusting it?

Essentially what happens is this: I'll plug my headphones into the headphone jack on my M1 Max MacBook Pro and the sound sounds to me to be a bit quiet. I then pause whatever I'm listening to (music through the Music app, a YouTube video on Safari), unplug the headphones, plug them back in--all without adjusting the volume level with the keyboard--and the sound is suddenly louder. The volume level is the same according to the software (the same number of notches), but the volume is noticeably louder now.

What is going on here? I can't remember if this has been a problem from day one or this is was introduced with a macOS update, but it's been going on for a while. I often have to plug and unplug my headphones to get the volume sounding correct.

 

[Bigwaff]

What makes you convinced the issue is with your Mac and not the headphones? Do you have another set of headphones you can test with?

 

[WilsonNM]

What makes you convinced the issue is with your Mac and not the headphones? Do you have another set of headphones you can test with?

Oh yes, it happens with all the headphones I own. They're just simple analog headphones (Sennheiser open-back, Audioquest and ZMF closed-back), no bells and whistles. With any of the pairs, there are times when I realize the volume isn't quite right and I need to unplug them and re-insert them to "re-calibrate" the volume.