so I’ve got a keyboard that has vol controls. A dell 27” 4k screen with speakers. Why can’t I adjust the vol from the keyboard using hdmi sound in the monitor? It only works using the Mac mini speaker. I have to use the monitor settings for vol. the Mac blocks this for some reason and it should not.
Daniel Moilanen wrote:
....I have to use the monitor settings for vol. the Mac blocks this for some reason and it should not.
It has been like this for Macs for years now. It is rare to be able to control the volume of a computer display from macOS (sometimes can be controlled within apps).
I believe a lot has to do with the information that a computer display exchanges with a Mac in terms of the display's capabilities and also it likely "sees" the HDMI interface as a purely digital interface without any adjustment capabilities.
If your monitor has a 3.5mm audio jack youcan connect it to the mini audio out socket and control the volume.
The sound quality is generally pretty appalling on most monitors and even cheap (£20) plugin speakers can make a dramatic improvement.
Finally the speaker on the M4 is not too bad . . . probably better than most monitor speakers.
M4 Mac mini hdmi sound
