I assumed the dial would talk to a Mac like a tiny knob. It doesn’t. Here’s what really arrives, tested with real buds and Bluetooth logs while building Dialed.
1. A turn is a volume step
The buds report each turn as a Bluetooth volume change on a 16-step grid. Dialed reads the step, does its job (scroll, seek, zoom) and puts your volume back about 30 ms later, so your music doesn’t creep louder.
2. No audio, no turns
If nothing is playing, the Mac never hears the dial. So Dialed keeps a silent audio stream open. It sounds odd. It works.
3. Press-and-hold never arrives
Holding the dial (noise cancelling) and press-then-hold (dial lock) are handled inside the buds. I checked twice in the Bluetooth logs. Nothing reaches the Mac.
4. Triple-press only if you ask
A triple press reaches the Mac only when the Nothing X app sets triple-press to “Previous track”. On “Low lag mode” or “No action”, nothing arrives.
5. Presses go to whoever is “Now Playing”
Media presses are delivered to the app macOS considers Now Playing. Dialed claims that spot. YouTube Music takes it back on every track change, so Dialed quietly reclaims it every two seconds.