Mac can't control display monitor volume

[cosmo811]

Hey there, I'm hoping some kind individuals might be able to help me resolve this small but quite frustrating issue.

I have a mid-2019 13" MacBook Pro connected up to my AOC 24G2U 144hz monitor. It's using a HDMI 2.0 cable connected up to a USB-C hub. The display itself works just fine, although for some reason the Display Settings in Mac OS only let me select 120hz (not the full 144hz) and it seems to think my monitor is a TV so the resolution is '1080p' (which is... technically correct I guess lol).

But the most annoying thing is that I can't use the OS volume, or the keyboard shortcuts, to adjust the volume of the built-in speakers in the monitor.

This isn't a problem with my Windows gaming PC. Yes, there are built-in volume controls on the monitor which you can adjust if you use about 20 irritating button clicks on the buttons underneath the screen, but Windows 10 also lets me adjust the volume regardless of that. Mac OS doesn't seem to let me.

Is there a fix for this? It's a very irritating bug. Would getting a different cable or USB-C hub help with this?

Thanks

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi Cosmo,


Cool, someone else out there with a AOC 144mhz monitor set up for a Windows laptop and a macbook ? I’ve got my work windows laptop set up with one, and I’ve got my 1st macbook on order coming in December, looking forward to it.



RE: Cable
I’ve been doing some reading today, and I came across the adage “HMDI for TV, Displayport for Monitor”
Is it worth trying using the Displayport connection on the monitor?



RE: Sound
I know what you mean by the setting on the monitor itself - so many clicks!
On my windows, I think I right clicked the sound icon, bottom right, and it gave me the option of using the laptop settings/sound. Can you hunt for the mac setting for this as well?


Hope that helps

Martin

 

[brianmowrey]

If your display has built-in speakers and no dedicated volume buttons, you're gonna have a bad time

I owned a lovely ASUS display with my mini before both melted in a wildfire last year, but I always outputed audio to bluetooth. Not because the ASUS speakers were bad, but because it is too difficult to adjust volume.

 

[russell_314]

This is "working as intended" unfortunately. I have a Mac mini with an HDMI montor and speakers connected to it. I have speakers with a volume knob but would rather use the volume slider on the menu bar. I had something called Soundflower installed where it made a different audio output. That worked for the menu bar slider but it was giving me some other issues (I can't remember now) so I just gave up.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

I would try A.) connecting via DisplayPort and B.) installing this utility:

GitHub - MonitorControl/MonitorControl: 🖥 Control your display's brightness & volume on your Mac as if it was a native Apple Display. Use Apple Keyboard keys or custom shortcuts. Shows the native macOS OSDs.

🖥 Control your display's brightness & volume on your Mac as if it was a native Apple Display. Use Apple Keyboard keys or custom shortcuts. Shows the native macOS OSDs. - MonitorControl/Moni...

github.com

Best of luck.

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi all,

Just tried my new Display port cable with the IPAD. (USB-C to display port.)


I have the same problem. Argh.
On top of this, the monitor speakers are rubbish sound - really quiet and tinny



Possible solution:


The monitor has a earphones “sound out”. Port.

Will this work - If I plug a cable into this, and connect to earphones / or external sound unit?

I.e. To divert the sound away from the monitor, and onto an external sound unit, which has volume control?



Hope you can advise

Regards
Martin

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi all,

Just tried my new Display port cable with the IPAD. (USB-C to display port.)


I have the same problem. Argh.
On top of this, the monitor speakers are rubbish sound - really quiet and tinny



Possible solution:


The monitor has a earphones “sound out”. Port.

Will this work - If I plug a cable into this, and connect to earphones / or external sound unit?

I.e. To divert the sound away from the monitor, and onto an external sound unit, which has volume control?



Hope you can advise

Regards
Martin

**** FIXED THE ISSUE ****


.... Well kinda... you will either love this heath Robinson fix or hate it ?


To bypass the crappy monitor speakers, and output to a decent sound system, I have:

1. USB-c connection from Ipad to Display port connection on monitor

2. 3.5mm earphone lead out of monitor to 3.5mm input - to a external sound system

3. Works!
- Volume control
- And much better sound quality.


Hope this helps others


Regards
Martin



The details:

1. Monitor:
https://eu.aoc.com/en/gaming-monitors/g2460pf


2. Sound system:
- Over 10 years old, gathering dust on shelf.
- Only used a few times before, with iphone 3GS (Yup, thats right.... serious historical artifact)
- Be good to make sure of now onwards.... Need to sort out working 12.9v charger, and thats it! ?


https://www.whathifi.com/logitech/pure-fi-anywhere-2/review
(5 stars from WhatHifi.... 13 years ago! ?. You have got to love internet pages from yesteryears!)

 

[cosmo811]

Hey guys, just wanted to provide an update in case someone else with the same issue comes across this thread.

I couldn't find an easy fix, and SoundFlower was a confusing mess to use half the time. I did find an easy solution though!

I installed SoundSource:

SoundSource - A Superior Sound Control

Access your Mac's audio devices, control per-app audio, and much more, all from the menu bar.

rogueamoeba.com

In the Preferences, there's an option under 'Keyboard Volume Controls' to enable 'Super Volume Keys' which 'Enables keyboard volume control for audio devices that do not natively support it.' I suppose it might depend on the specific monitor you're using, but for mine it worked a treat. It's not a free app, but it has a trial, and frankly I was happy to pay like £35 to just get this issue fixed and never have to worry about it again.

There may be cheaper ways of fixing it, but that worked nicely for me.

 

[scottguthart]

Another option also, my monitor didn't work with MonitorControl
On Big Sur (or earlier), you can do this:

1. Install Blackhole or brew install blackhole-2ch
2. Install AU Lab
3. Configure AU Lab (You'll be using blackhole as a substitute for Soundflower)

This option also has the benefit, similar to SoundSource, of allowing you to setup audio effects, like a system wide EQ and use things like NoAudiophile's speaker corrections and AutoEq's headphone corrections.

 

[tsanga]

In the past, I’ve used Sound Control to successfully control volume on my HDMI connected monitor using the macOS slider, but it stopped working for me some time after Mojave.

Another option also, my monitor didn't work with MonitorControl
On Big Sur (or earlier), you can do this:

1. Install Blackhole or brew install blackhole-2ch
2. Install AU Lab
3. Configure AU Lab (You'll be using blackhole as a substitute for Soundflower)

This option also has the benefit, similar to SoundSource, of allowing you to setup audio effects, like a system wide EQ and use things like NoAudiophile's speaker corrections and AutoEq's headphone corrections.

Thank you - this got me pretty excited since I used Soundflowerbed before Sound Control. However, I just couldn’t get Blackhole to work (homebrew install). It showed up as an output device, but I could not get any audio to come out no matter what combination of input/output settings I used in AU Lab.