Guides

Mac, Sonos, and the cable in between

Four pages about the problems people run into when a Mac feeds digital audio to a DAC, receiver, or Sonos speaker. They are written to be useful whether or not you ever buy anything from us, and they say when the answer is that you do not need our app.

How do you control S/PDIF volume on a Mac?

Why macOS greys out its volume slider for optical digital output, every real way to control the level, and which answer fits a DAC, receiver, powered speakers, or Sonos.

Why don’t my Mac’s volume keys work with my Sonos?

What is actually happening when the keys go dead over an optical cable, how to confirm that is your problem, the four fixes that do not work, and the situations — AirPlay, an analogue line-in — where your keys already work and there is nothing to install.

Optical or AirPlay to a Sonos from a Mac?

AirPlay 2 is lossless, so the trade is not sound quality — it is delay, and delay is why audio drifts behind the picture. What each one is genuinely better at, and how to choose by what you actually do with the Mac.

How to connect a Mac to a Sonos Ray over optical

The practical build: what to buy, why most Macs need an adapter or a dock first, selecting the output in macOS, confirming the speaker is really receiving it, and what to do about the volume keys afterwards.

Something else

The home page covers Optically itself — what it does, what it costs and what it sends. If the app is installed and misbehaving, the support page lists every message it can show and the fix beside each one. And if your question is not on any of these, ask it — one person builds and supports this and reads every message.