Software-based (digital attenuation) volume control for external displays

[adeolaadeshina14-wq]

Describe your issue

Currently, BetterAudio relies entirely on DDC/CI commands to adjust the volume of external monitors. However, many monitors (like my LG UltraGear) or specific HDMI/DisplayPort cable setups do not support or actively block DDC commands. This causes BetterAudio's volume control to completely fail on these displays.

Instead of only sending hardware DDC commands, it would be incredible if BetterAudio could implement a software-based fallback. This feature would digitally attenuate (adjust the pre-gain level of) the audio stream on the Mac itself before sending it out to the monitor. This is how apps like eqMac handle multi-device and monitor volume control, ensuring it works universally on 100% of external displays.

Steps to reproduce

1. Connect an external monitor that lacks DDC/CI support (or use an adapter that strips DDC data).
2. Attempt to use BetterAudio to adjust the volume of this monitor.
3. The volume slider does not affect the physical output sound.

What was the expected result?

I expected the volume to change. Introducing a software-based digital volume attenuation toggle would allow users with non-DDC compliant hardware to still seamlessly control their external monitor and multi-output speaker setups right from BetterAudio.

Put here any screenshots or videos (optional)

Platform

macOS

Application version

26.6.2

Operating system (name + version)

macOS Tahoe 26.6

[adeolaadeshina14-wq]

if you look at the output section, there is currently no slider in beside the Lg ultra except when the eqmac is active, this also stops the seamless switch between each devices

[seirenkr]

SoundSource also supports this feature, and I agree that it would be very useful to have it in BetterAudio as well.

If BetterAudio supported this, it would make it much easier for more users to migrate from SoundSource.