MacOS – What does the “cancel” icon in the volume prompt mean

audiomacos

I connected my earphone and when I tried to change the volume, I got a prompt like

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Except that there was a small "cancel" icon in it (like this). I could not change the volume. I had to unplug and plug again the earphone.

What does that mean?

OSX Yosemite. Macbook Pro Retina Display, Mid 2014 model.

Best Answer

It means that you cannot change the volume for the selected output device. For example, if you connect your mac to a TV using a HDMI cord, you will not be able to control the TV's volume with your mac. You'll have to use the TV's remote instead.

This shouldn't ever happen when you connect something into the headphone jack though. Perhaps you have a faulty set of headphones?

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