Can't change Volume with Bluetooth Headphones

Question

Can't change Volume with Bluetooth Headphones

Hello,

i have a Problem with my Bluetooth Headphones and the Volume adjustment on my MacBook Pro. The Volume adjustment on my Macbook works fine but with my headphones not at all besides mute, that works. It's weird because when I'm in the Audio-MIDI-Setup and change the channel from the Bluetooth Headphones from 2ch 32bit to 1ch 16bit, then I can adjust the volume with my Mac and it works with the headphones but the sound is horrible. I already did a reset of the Bluetooth module on my Mac and I did a reset of core audio.

Thank You for Your help!

Posted on Mar 15, 2021 11:45 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Joseph_S.

Community Specialist

Mar 16, 2021 1:26 PM in response to macbookpro115

Thanks for getting in touch with us about your Bluetooth headphones, macbookpro115. We can help.

It sounds like some features are working, others working but not well, and some are not working at all when it comes to using your headphones. While you can try a few steps, such as those in If a Bluetooth headset doesn’t work with Mac, and in Resolve Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues caused by wireless interference, it might be helpful to also try to isolate the behavior to either the headphones or the MacBook Pro.

What we mean by that is to test the headphones with another device, so we can see if it still happens there as well. If you are getting the same behavior when connected to multiple devices, and the articles above didn't help improve the situation, you might want to reach out to the manufacturer for support or service.

On the other hand, if you have no issues with your headphones with another device, we could look at updating your MacBook Pro to the current macOS version with How to update the software on your Mac, or even running an Apple Diagnostic as described in Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac.

Give those steps a try, and we'll see how it goes.

Take care.

Reply

Answer 2

bailier

Community Specialist

Mar 21, 2021 11:39 AM in response to macbookpro115

Thanks for following up on your progress!

So, you've found out some great details. First, you mentioned that the headphones work without issue with your iPhone, and when using a third-party app the headphones worked for a time, and then stopped working after restarting the MacBook Pro. What this indicates is that the issue is likely a software issue with your MacBook Pro recognizing the headphones. If it were a hardware issue with the headphones, they wouldn't work on any device.

So, let's try a few more steps. It wasn't clear if you ran the Apple Diagnostic, or what results you received if you did. If you haven't tried that step, let's do it now, because if the issue is hardware related on the MacBook Pro, it may be able to spot that right away and you can move on to exploring service options, as none of the steps ahead will fix a hardware issue.

Once that's ruled out, you can Start up your Mac in safe mode and see if the behavior continues there. Safe mode may look a little different as it doesn't load all the features that would be loaded when you boot up normally, and refreshes several system files. This helps determine if the issue is a configuration issue with your user account. During these steps, be sure to refrain from using any third-party software to test with.

If the headphones work in safe mode, go ahead and restart normally and we'll see if the refreshed files fixed the issue. If the headphones still do not work in safe mode, we'll go ahead and restart and try creating a new user account on your MacBook Pro and checking to see if the issue happens when signed in with it. This will help us narrow down software conflicts as the cause of the behavior.

If you're still unable to use your headphones after these steps, you may need to reach out and Contact Apple for support and service to investigate further.

Good luck!

Reply

Answer 3

Mar 21, 2021 6:55 AM in response to Joseph_S.

Hello Joseph_S.,

Thank You for Your reply. I read the articles provided by You and nothing helped. My MacBook Pro is on the newest OS and the Headphones can't be updated, so I checked that. Furthermore when I connect the Headphones to my iPhone everything works fine, exceptional from occasionally errors with sound but that's up to the Headphones. I had three pairs of this Headphones (JBL 650BTNC). All of them where in the JBL Workshop for "repair", they sended me simply new ones because they couldn't figure out what the Problem is. For a few weeks I had the Beats Studio 3 which worked wonderful (because it's Apple). But they sit pretty tight on my head and the JBL are much comfortable for me, so I decided to go back, just that You know why.

I've read a article on the internet and I followed that article. It said that, I should install Soundflower(which worked on Big Sur) and then go to audio MIDI and create a new main device with sound flower and the JBL in it. It worked, BUT only for one time the next time I started my Mac it didn't worked. So I followed the steps again and now it won't work with Soundflower anymore.

I would be very Grateful if You or anyone had a solution to this.

Thank You.

Reply

Answer 4

Mar 21, 2021 12:08 PM in response to bailier

Hello Bailier,

first of all, Thank You for Your quick and great response! I'll check all the things You said in a few days. I haven't run the diagnostics yet, so I'll do that too. What I've noticed today, after the volume control didn't worked a few days, that today it worked again. Since I haven't deleted the Soundflower app and created a new main user in audio MIDI, but like I said I didn't worked that day but suddenly today after I wrote my answer here it worked.

So I'll defiantly try the things You said and come back to report You what happened.

Thank You.

Reply

Answer 5

Mar 22, 2021 12:17 PM in response to bailier

Hello,

so I've done all these steps mentioned above. Diagnostics where flawless, no errors found. In Safe mode I deleted the audio MIDI setup and tried it, it still doesn't worked, same with the new account. So I'll try and contact the apple support.

Thank You for Your Support Joseph_S. and Bailier.

Reply

Answer 6

kikasik

Level 1

4 points

Mar 23, 2021 4:08 AM in response to macbookpro115

Hi!

I got this problem too.

My devices: Mac mini 2018 (big sur 11.2.3 (20D91)) + jbl live 400bt

Yesterday everything was perfect, but today I cannot change the volume of headphones – current volume has no matter on headphones, only when I set the volume to zero my headphones become muted.

Any news on this problem?

Reply

Answer 7

kikasik

Level 1

4 points

Mar 23, 2021 5:04 AM in response to macbookpro115

After some actions like turn off / reconnect to mac mini / delete jbl from bluetooth devices in settings / connect headphones with iPhone when already connected to mac mini / turn off and turn on jbl, it works!

Before success, I noticed that when I change volume by buttons on my headphones it didn't change the volume on my mac. So after the actions I mentioned before (I don't know what exactly helps) everything works and I can control the volume on mac from headphones, and also can control volume from mac.

Hope this will help

Reply

Answer 8

Mar 23, 2021 5:07 AM in response to kikasik

Thanks for Your Post. I hope it'll work for You from now on. I had the same thing a couple of weeks ago. The disconnecting, deleting the device etc. But in my case it stopped working the next time I wanted to use my headphones with my Mac. I hope that's not the case for You.

Reply

Answer 9

Mar 23, 2021 4:15 AM in response to kikasik

Hello Kikasik,

i have the same issue, besides the mute the volume won't work. I tried these things mentioned above and nothing worked. I will try the Apple Support and Post the results here.

Reply

Answer 10

kikasik

Level 1

4 points

Mar 23, 2021 4:26 AM in response to macbookpro115

Thank you! Will wait :)

Reply

Can't change Volume with Bluetooth Headphones

Similar questions