Dual Studio Displays are a popular-if-pricey choice among Mac users. In addition to making a case for going with the configuration in the first place, today’s Mac Studio setup offers some helpful tips for creating synced dual Studio Displays.
It suggests third-party tools to help sync audio and brightness levels across the two monitors.
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Tips to sync audio mirroring and brightness in setup’s dual Studio Displays
Redditor mcaputo023 (“Cap”) showcased the vibrant setup in a post entitled, “Updated Mac setup with standing desk.” As you can see in his photograph above, he mounts his Mac Studio desktop computer under the desk to drive a pair of Studio Displays side by side on a desk shelf above it. Cap’s discussion with commenters led to some helpful tips on syncing audio and brightness, below. And of course the side-by-side orientation brought up common concerns.
Cap suggested people go with Studio Display over other choices for certain reasons.
“Buy the Apple Studio Display if you value resolution, design, color accuracy (zero calibration required for most use cases), pixel density (218) [and] ease of use (faster wakeup, better macOS integration),” he said. “There are no other 5K monitors that come close in these categories. Now, if you don’t value ease of use and design, go for the Samsung S9, which is about $300 cheaper. The [Studio Display] build and speaker quality are great too, but they’re just not in my top features.”
But what about the bezels in the middle?
A number of commenters brought up the bezels, side by side in the middle where the two displays meet.
“Seeing two ASD’s side by side are so beautiful,” a commenter said. “Really considering buying them, but the [bezel] … might just stick to my ultrawide.”
“It disappears the more you work,” offered a commenter. And for his part, Cap said he tends to work on the two screens independently, so the bezels in the middle aren’t too big a deal.
A person who had just ordered a second Studio Display asked if Cap’s are only tilt-adjustable or both height- and tilt-adjustable (the pricier option).
“I have the standard tilt-adjustable stand, which works for me since I have the desk shelf. That said, I would have probably bought one tilt-adjustable and one VESA to use one of the monitors in a vertical orientation when needed,” Cap replied.
Then he added some observations he wished someone had told him about sooner:
- The bezels are noticeable in side-by-side orientation. It is not a big deal, but most don’t see it until it is too late.
- Audio plays out of only one monitor at a time, not both. In macOS, this is configurable by switching the audio destination in control center.
- Auto brightness on the second monitor doesn’t work.
- You cannot control the brightness of both monitors simultaneously natively.
Synced dual Studio Displays: Audio mirroring and brightness control
Cap’s post is useful in its discussion of running dual Studio Displays along the lines of the limitation he notes above.
“Have you figured out a work around to have the audio mirror to both monitors and have the brightness control both simultaneously?” asked a commenter.
“For the audio, you can use Loopback from Rogue Amoeba to loop back the audio to the second display,” Cap replied. “There are probably other ways to solve this with ‘cheaper’ software, but I already owned a loopback license. I had a third-party plugin for the display brightness, but it was half-baked, so I deleted it.” Here’s more info on syncing Studio Display audio with Loopback.
That led to other suggestions from commenters:
“Have you tried MonitorControl?” one asked. “I use this for both my Dell external displays to sync their brightness from the sensor in my MacBook Pro — but haven’t tried this with a ASD so YMMV.”
Another user said, “DisplayBuddy can help here, it syncs from both your internal as well as external displays.”
And if you like the wallpaper showing on the setup’s Studio Displays, you can find it here.
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If you would like to see your setup featured on Cult of Mac, send some high-res pictures to info+setups@cultofmac.com. Please provide a detailed list of your equipment. Tell us what you like or dislike about your setup, and fill us in on any special touches, challenges and plans for new additions.
Not as good as Apple's Pro Display XDR, but the 27-inch Apple Studio Display packs an impressive panel coupled with a six-speaker system and studio-quality microphones.
