Belkin 11-in-1 USB C hub doesn't pass sound to speakers plugged in speaker output port.

Can anyone help me get my Belkin hub to pass through the sound to external speakers plugged in to the hub. 11-in-1 Multiport USB-C Docking Station for Mac and PC | Belkin US

I am using this hub as a low cost substitute "docking station" for a Lenovo laptop that doesn't support a docking station. Mouse, keyboard, Ethernet, HDMI display all pass through OK. But not the sound. I have played around with the sound settings to no avail. I need to play the sound through the laptop's own speakers. This is a problem with a Lenovo laptop originally running Win 10 Pro, but since upgraded to Win 11 Pro, so I don't think that OS version is particularly relevant here.

x509 said:

I need to play the sound through the laptop's own speakers. This is a problem with a Lenovo laptop originally running Win 10 Pro, but since upgraded to Win 11 Pro, so I don't think that OS version is particularly relevant here.

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I'm kind of confused by the wording there. Just to verify, are you saying you want to use the laptop's own speakers and can't OR are you saying sound still works through the laptop speakers but not through the audio jack on the hub to external speakers? I believe you mean the latter. That be the case, since you also had the issue in Windows 10, I would suspect the issue would be with the hub not passing audio. Has the audio through that hub ever worked with any device before?

What I notice from reading its description is that there is a limited number of devices that Belkin has tested to work with with that dock. You do not say what model Lenovo you are working with. This came from Belkin support.

Thanks for taking the time to share your review of the Belkin Connect USB-C 11-in-1 Multiport Dock. This dock has been tested to compatible with the following devices:
iPad 7th geniPad
8th geniPad 9th geniPad Pro (12.9")
5th GeniPad Pro (12.9”) 3rd GeniPad Pro (12.9")
4th GenMacBook Air M2 (2022)MacBook Air 13" M1 (2020)
MacBook Air 13" (2018)MacBook Air 15" M2 (2023)MacBook Pro 13" M2 (2022)
MacBook Pro 13" M1 (2020)MacBook Pro 15" (2017)
MacBook Pro 15" (2018)MacBook Pro 16"
(2019)iPad mini 6th Gen
ASUS Chromebook
Dell XPS 15"Google Pixelbook
HP Envy 360
Lenovo ChromebookThinkPad X1
CarbonYoga 730Yoga
920Portege X20W-
EPortege X30-ESurface Book 2
Surface Pro 3Surface Pro
XAcer Chromebook
Macbook Pro M3 14"
Macbook Pro M3 16"

I suggest you reach out to Belkin support. I have found they are easy to reach and very helpful.

glasskuter said:

I'm kind of confused by the wording there. Just to verify, are you saying you want to use the laptop's own speakers and can't OR are you saying sound still works through the laptop speakers but not through the audio jack on the hub to external speakers? I believe you mean the latter.

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Yes, I do mean the latter.

glasskuter said:

That be the case, since you also had the issue in Windows 10, I would suspect the issue would be with the hub not passing audio. Has the audio through that hub ever worked with any device before?

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None that I have, but all I have now or in the recent past were three different Lenovo laptops, none of which are listed below. That said, you would think (right?) that audio output is kind of standardized in the USB protocols, so that there you can ASSume that there would be no problem.

glasskuter said:

What I notice from reading its description is that there is a limited number of devices that Belkin has tested to work with with that dock. You do not say what model Lenovo you are working with. This came from Belkin support.

Thanks for taking the time to share your review of the Belkin Connect USB-C 11-in-1 Multiport Dock. This dock has been tested to compatible with the following devices:
iPad 7th geniPad
8th geniPad 9th geniPad Pro (12.9")
5th GeniPad Pro (12.9”) 3rd GeniPad Pro (12.9")
4th GenMacBook Air M2 (2022)MacBook Air 13" M1 (2020)
MacBook Air 13" (2018)MacBook Air 15" M2 (2023)MacBook Pro 13" M2 (2022)
MacBook Pro 13" M1 (2020)MacBook Pro 15" (2017)
MacBook Pro 15" (2018)MacBook Pro 16"
(2019)iPad mini 6th Gen
ASUS Chromebook
Dell XPS 15"Google Pixelbook
HP Envy 360
Lenovo ChromebookThinkPad X1
CarbonYoga 730Yoga
920Portege X20W-
EPortege X30-ESurface Book 2
Surface Pro 3Surface Pro
XAcer Chromebook
Macbook Pro M3 14"
Macbook Pro M3 16"

I suggest you reach out to Belkin support. I have found they are easy to reach and very helpful.

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I'm dealing wth Belkin on a hardware RMA issue. They have phone hold times over 1 hour. (I gave up each time at 1 hour, because they played just one piece of music over and over and over and over.) What superpower do you have?

x509 said:

What superpower do you have?

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No superpower. Guess I've been lucky. Only times I've dealt with Belkin was with routers and that's been a while back so things may have changed.
I do notice that each complaint in reviews on the Belkin site gets a response from Belkin. I didn't see one regarding audio though. If this is your model number see this and scroll way down.

By default, Windows likes to send audio to your HDMI device. Even when your monitor doesn't have speakers.

glasskuter said:

No superpower. Guess I've been lucky. Only times I've dealt with Belkin was with routers and that's been a while back so things may have changed.
I do notice that each complaint in reviews on the Belkin site gets a response from Belkin. I didn't see one regarding audio though. If this is your model number see this and scroll way down.

11-in-1 Multiport USB-C Docking Station for Mac and PC | Belkin US

Create the ultimate workstation with this 11-in-1 Multiport USB-C Docking Station. It supports pass-through charging, 4K monitors, SD cards, and more.

www.belkin.com

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Yes. this is my Belkin model. And there was one complaint about external speakers not working.

garlin said:

By default, Windows likes to send audio to your HDMI device. Even when your monitor doesn't have speakers.

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Ok enough. But if this was the case, then there would have been lots and lots of complaints. My downstairs monitor does not have speakers, so I use external speakers and there is a speaker port on the hub, so what gives?

No. I'm just suggesting to check if Windows hasn't re-routed audio to the HDMI device. It's a well known issue that Windows like to do that because it assumes you may have a big-screen TV plugged in. If you're not using any HDMI ports, then the question doesn't apply.

Every time I reinstall my PC, my laptop likes putting audio thru my Dell monitor.

x509 said:

and there is a speaker port on the hub, so what gives?

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You can't say "what gives" without testing to prove for sure where the problem lies. If your setting in Settings>system>sound is set correctly, and since neither 10 or 11 sound comes out of the hub jack, the problem is either the audio jack on the hub is defective, the cable connecting the hub to the laptop is flakey OR the laptop is not passing sound to the hub.

You can test with another device connected to the hub. Borrow one if you have to. If you get sound out of the hub jack, it's not the hub or the cable. It would point to your laptop not passing sound to the hub.. If you don't get sound using another device, it's the hub or its cable.

glasskuter said:

You can't say "what gives" without testing to prove for sure where the problem lies. If your setting in Settings>system>sound is set correctly, and since neither 10 or 11 sound comes out of the hub jack, the problem is either the audio jack on the hub is defective, the cable connecting the hub to the laptop is flakey OR the laptop is not passing sound to the hub.

You can test with another device connected to the hub. Borrow one if you have to. If you get sound out of the hub jack, it's not the hub or the cable. It would point to your laptop not passing sound to the hub.. If you don't get sound using another device, it's the hub or its cable.

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I have owned 3 of this model hub (TL;DR) and they all have the same problem, tested with 3 different Lenovo laptops.