El Capitan and missing volume control for speakers

If you select "About this mac" from the apple menu and then select system information from the dialog box that appears you get the system information application. Under the hardware section there should be an audio section. Do you see your speakers listed? Are your speakers connected via the headphone jack or via USB?

Same issue with my HiFiMan HM-101 USB soundcard/daq that I use at work. I installed the GM and it's been broke since then. I've tried everything to get the sound control back... hopefully Apple releases a patch to fix it at some point. Worked fine with Yosemite and Mavericks.

Ohh... and when I goto the Audio section in the system information I get: "There was an error while gathering this information."

Found the solution. My volume control was grayed out as well. Goto System Preferences/Sound and select the correct output. After the update my default was set to the external HDMI monitor and it worked when I switched it back to system speakers.

Thanks for the post... but you were experiencing a completely different issue than we are. We are using external USB sound cards, not the internal.

I have the same problem. Speakers connected by usb would appear to now have a fixed output. My speakers (Microsoft Digital Sound System 80) are correctly recognised, but in System Preferences when selected, I am told "The selected device has no output controls" There is an output there but it is very low. Switching back to Internal Speakers enables both Balance and Output Volume.

I have gone back to using the internal speakers for now but the sound quality is terrible when compared to the digital MDSS80 system.

These speakers have worked perfectly under the previous operating systems.

Same here, I also have the same USB device. At least the volume is still adjustable in an application like iTunes, however it's really inconvenient.

Also same her. Sondsystem is Microsoft Digital Sound System 80, iMac 21,5" mid 2011.

Helped me with 3,5mm audiocable but sound has become worse.

Same problem here. Using a USB DAC & amplifier with Burr-Brown Japan PCM2702 on a Macbook Pro 2015. I use this for my headphones at the office and need it to amplify the signal enough. Please Apple, fix this...

If you guys haven't... fill out a feedback form: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

I'm having a similar issue with my Creative Xmod USB audio device and El Capitan. When the Xmod is selected as the output device, I'm able to get sound out of it, but the volume controls are disabled. However, when I switch the output back to headphones plugged directly into my Mac, the Xmod's build-in volume controls are then able to control the system volume.

This is exactly the same issue I have with my Hifiman HM-101. "The selected device has no output controls"

After upgrading to El Capitan on my iMac, I find that the keyboard volume buttons and the sound slider in the menu bar aren't working.

My setup includes external speakers. I get sound from the speakers, which I can control using the volume knob on the receiver I route the sound through. This route is hard wired using a usb port on my iMac. However, when I attempt to use the volume keys on my Mac keyboard (wireless), I get no response. I do get a picture of the key on my screen, showing that international bar in a circle sign. When I check the sound slider volume control in the menu bar, it shows the volume turned all the way to the top, and is grayed out.

I experimented with recording sound routed through my external speakers from Spotify, using Audio Hijack. This worked to record the sound, and for what it's worth, Audio Hijack labeled the sound file as coming from "system audio."

When I switch to internal speakers, I stop getting sound. Unlike with the external speakers, the keys and the sound slider controls respond as if volume adjustments were being made. But still, no sound.

I experimented with recording sound routed through the internal system using Audio Hijack. No sound was recorded, although while the "recording" was supposed to be happening, Audio Hijack recognize that sound was being created - it just wasn't being captured by the recording.

My setup worked fine under Yosemite.