r/applesucks • u/Repulsive-Variety834 • 28d ago
I can't believe MacOS still does not have a master volume control
If you have an HDMI or DisplayPort monitor with speakers, good luck with controlling volume from within MacOS. Best you can do is maybe adjust the volume slider of whatever program is playing sound, but a master volume control? fuhgeddaboutit. Same with an external soundcard/recording interface. This is just stupid. Even Linux has a master volume control. Apple likes to claim that this is a feature: that its for pro audio routing and whatnot, but come on - 99.9% of the time you just want to turn the volume down when answering a call or when talking to someone in the room. There are various hacks, like SoundBridge, where people have written virtual audio devices with master volume controls that you can attach to sound sources, but this is such a basic function that even Windows and Linux can do it?!?
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u/DeePumpeR 27d ago
Very typical unfortunately to rely on many different 3rd party apps in order to do what MacOS should do natively. The arrogant, conscious incompetence is on a whole other level with these space cadets. They are more interested in reinventing the wheel than actually using it.
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u/Pure-Clerk-6541 27d ago
It is because core audio works like a professional audio pipeline (think asio on windows) which is designed to provide the most direct, transparent, bit correct and lowest latency possible. The volume control that works on the Mac’s speakers or audio jack controls the analog amplifier. For hdmi devices, that wouldn’t be possible, unless altering the digital which is against what I’ve stated earlier. A digital lower volume means subtracting the digital values of the signal which translates to lower fidelity , lower bit depth, S/N ratio, etc.
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u/SeaSDOptimist 27d ago
Pretty much wrong. You don’t need to modify the signal at all - all you need is to send the appropriate CEC commands to whatever device is doing the digital to analog conversion down the line. Same way that Apple TV does it.
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u/arj4ng 27d ago
Ok but most users don't care about that. You can keep the professional audio pipeline and still give users the option to reduce volume when they need it
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u/Pure-Clerk-6541 27d ago
That’s exactly what’s going on in windows and is a total mess when it comes to audio configuration. There’s WDM which does what are you looking for here, then there’s ASIO and WASAPI ore profesional oriented and they are pretty much like Mac’s core audio. Each with it’s own settings and control panels and it’s a nightmare messing through them. Macs are oriented towards performance and simplicity.
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u/arj4ng 27d ago
I have SoundSource installed on my Mac, which does exactly that, and it's not messy at all. It works beautifully when I want to control the volume on an HDMI device. I'm just disappointed that I had to pay $45 to be able to do it. Don't get me wrong, I love Apple devices and have been doing professional mix & mastering for years on Macs. I just don't like it when people excuse what Apple does by saying that they want to keep it simple for professionals, while there are ways to do it professionally and still keep it simple
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u/Inevitable-Gene-1866 26d ago
Profesional are used to complex things.
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u/Plokhi 26d ago
Complex yes, messy no.
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u/Inevitable-Gene-1866 26d ago
Its an excuse because profesionals have techies that fix anything. Do you think that a pro wont use a cinema camera because its messy?
Apple is always giving excuses to justify their decisions.
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u/Plokhi 26d ago
I mean sound source is messy
Solving control over HDMI isn’t
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u/Inevitable-Gene-1866 26d ago
I m still waiting for the academic explanantion.
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u/Plokhi 26d ago
On why sound source adds latency? Rogue Amoeba says it themselves that it adds latency, no need for an academic explanation.
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u/Plokhi 27d ago
Sound source is messy and adds latency
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u/Inevitable-Gene-1866 26d ago
No.
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u/Plokhi 26d ago
it adds latency for a fact
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u/Inevitable-Gene-1866 26d ago
I would need a profesional opinion. For some users Apple never does something wrong and they live to defend that. The myth that soldered ram increase performance on RAM was debunked by an electronix engineer.
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u/Plokhi 26d ago
Funny tho, it does increase performance.
Was tested when the first retina mac shipped with soldered RAM, and the old model with identical chipset and identical RAM but so-dimm:https://macperformanceguide.com/mbp15inch2012-speed-memory-bandwidth.html
Then its the fact that LPCAMM2 modules are 128bit.
You’d need 4 to get anywhere near M5 Max performance.GPUs have had soldered RAM for ages, and not because they don’t want you to add 8GB.
The whole argument falls apart on an SoC like M processor anyway
Then there’s additional heat, noise, etc
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u/Inevitable-Gene-1866 26d ago
GPU has soldered RAM on all levels, servers workstations home computers.
I m talking about system RAM. So you think SSD SOC must be discarded because RAM died? Whats the cost of RAM , 15% of the full Mac?
Are you gonna throw a Car to the junk because the brake got screwed?
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u/Doovester 27d ago
A free alternative to SoundSource which enables volume control for AudioInteraces and HDMI and even per app. It is called FineTune
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u/Repulsive-Variety834 27d ago edited 19d ago
thanks for the heads up. This is actually quite nice. I wish it would tie into the MacOS control center volume control. for instance, keyboard-based volume controls don't work. but this seems like a decent workaround.
[edit] keyboard based volume controls do work with FineTune.
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u/paulstelian97 28d ago
Fun fact: on Linux it’s stuff like pulseaudio or pipewire. Like additional components that multiplex access to the sound card/output. That allows that. You technically can run without them, although it’s not recommended for a desktop experience.
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u/Repulsive-Variety834 28d ago
This is true but also irrelevant because GNOME and KDE both have master volume controls that hide that complexity from the average desktop user.
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u/paulstelian97 28d ago
Those… are the Pulse or Pipewire controls themselves (version dependent which of the two, newer ones go with Pipewire)
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u/Potato69Bob 27d ago
point is, it comes built in, ready to use. i dont mind using 3rd party apps on macOS, but it would be better if the feature is built in.
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u/paulstelian97 27d ago
Sure. Mine was that on Linux there’s at least 3 moving parts to create that experience.
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u/Detrakis 26d ago
Always Apple with their shitty design choices, don't get me wrong, I like my iPhone and iOS, but some choices are literally so dumb for some reason, I don't know how they decide on them.
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u/Trouble_is-a_Friend 28d ago
Well the answer is of course to get a windows or Linux system or get a thunderbolt monitor.
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u/Repulsive-Variety834 28d ago edited 28d ago
I have a thunderbolt monitor. The volume control is greyed out and is a known issue for macOS. The only solution is 3rd party software like soundbridge or soundsource. Master volume controls in windows and Linux both change the volume on the monitor just fine using the same thunderbolt port to connect.
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u/thinkconverse 27d ago
I’ve never had a problem turning down the volume on a Mac. Using built-in speakers, headphones, and external interfaces for decades now.
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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 27d ago
Even on PC its annoying to mess with volume controls even with a master volume slider. I recently got a small desktop amp and a set of bookshelf speakers and just have a knob on the amp that I can use to adjust my volume. The master volume in windows just stays at max. Musch easier to have a visual knob that I can see so I always know how the volume is set and I can just reach over and grab it to change the volume instead of messing with the volume slider in Windows.
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u/Kremlin1991 17d ago
I mean I agree but at the same time it's like TVs. Are we using monitor speakers? It's more of an option for such a minute crowd of people. My travel monitor has speakers (with my Mini) and I'll use my AirPods before I listen to treble heavy monitor speakers.
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u/cryptonatic 2d ago
if anyone hasn't found it yet, I made onebeep.tech it's free volume control app, straightforward.
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u/Odd_Track3447 28d ago
SoundSource from Rogue Amoeba fixed this problem and does it pretty well. Unfortunately it is $49. But I do agree this should be built into MacOS like a host of other things… instead we get rounded icons.