Headphone volume broken in High Sierra

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81 points

Headphone volume broken in High Sierra

Ever since upgrading to High Sierra, volume control only works using the keyboard or menubar controls. Using volume controls on headphones/headsets doesnt work. Anyone have any ideas why?

Some details:

-- MacBook Pro 2017, High Sierra 10.13.2

-- Air Pods

-- Logitech Ultimate Ears UE9000 headphones (bluetooth)

-- Sennheiser PXC5550 BT headphones

-- Apple EarPods (analog)

Regardless of the devices, or the connection (Bluetooth, analog 3.5mm jack, USB), the volume controls on the headphones/headset are ignored in High Sierra. Only the keyboard volume up/down keys and the Menubar controls work.

This is NOT the devices .. volume controls on all of them work fine when connected to an Apple TV or another MacBook running Sierra (10.12.x).

I've tried a PRAM/NVRAM reset, no difference. I'm assuming SOME setting is wrong, but this is pretty much a factory fresh MacBook Pro with a squeaky clean install of MacOS High Sierra.

Any ideas anyone??? TIA

--Tim

Posted on Dec 13, 2017 11:43 PM

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Answer 1

raina_b22

Community Specialist

Dec 14, 2017 1:52 PM in response to Tim Hill1

Hello and welcome to Apple Support Communities, Tim Hill1.
If I understand your post correctly, the controls on multiple pairs of headphones no longer work on your MacBook Pro since you upgraded macOS. I'd like to help.
It sounds like you've already done some great troubleshooting to determine that the issue is not with the headphones. Let's do some testing to further isolate the issue.
Safe mode will tell us if the issue is related to a startup item or plugins, and sometimes corrects the issue. This article will tell you how: Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac
If everything is working correctly in safe mode, but is not working when you get back to your user account, please check the section titled "If an issue doesn't happen in safe mode" for the next troubleshooting steps.
If the issue continues while in safe mode, a test user will let us know if the issue is isolated to your account, or system wide: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac. If the issue happens in the test user also, then please check the section titled "If an issue happens in more than one user account."
Let us know if that resolves this issue for you.
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Take care.

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Answer 2

Dec 14, 2017 8:34 PM in response to raina_b22

Becky,

I am having the same issue as Tim. I spent an hour on the phone with tech support to no avail. Are there any other options to fixing this?

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