Different Volume for Speakers vs Headphones on Mac

macOS actually remembers a separate system volume for each output device. What it doesn't keep is the level of each app, because it has no per-app levels at all. So headphones and speakers each keep their own overall volume, yet the moment you switch, one app is too loud and another too quiet.

What macOS remembers and what it doesn't

Each output device stores its own system volume. Set your MacBook speakers to 30% and your AirPods to 80%, and macOS keeps those two numbers separate. Plug in, unplug, reconnect, and each device returns to where you left it.

So why does it still feel broken? Because that memory stops at the one main slider. macOS has a single volume control for everything playing on a device. It doesn't know how loud individual apps should be, so the mix between Spotify, a Zoom call and a YouTube tab can't follow you from speakers to headphones. Every app shares the same slider.

What people usually want when they search for "different volume for speakers vs headphones" isn't just a different main level per device, it's a mix: quiet music, loud calls, notifications turned down, on whatever they're listening through.

The built-in options and where they stop

• Set each device's system volume once. Play audio through your speakers and set the level, then switch output to headphones and set that level. macOS keeps both. This handles the main volume per device, but nothing per app.
• Use an app's own volume where it has one. Spotify, VLC and most browsers have their own volume control, so you can trim a loud app inside the app. But that setting lives in the app, not the device, and many apps (Slack, Mail) have no volume control of their own.
• Switch output from the menu bar. Option-click the Sound icon in the menu bar to jump between devices. Fast, but it only moves the main level around. See how to switch audio output quickly on Mac.

These give you a main volume per device. None of them gives you a per-app mix, because macOS has no per-app mixer.

Per-app volume: set the mix in one place

The practical fix is to give each app its own volume. That's what SoundDial does. It sits in your menu bar, lists every running app, and gives each one its own slider, a mute button and a boost above 100% (up to 200%) for quiet apps.

For the speakers-vs-headphones problem, that means fixing the mix after a switch takes seconds in one panel, instead of hunting through each app's settings. Music too loud in your headphones? Drag that one app down. Call too quiet on the speakers? Boost the call app, without raising your music.

How to set it up

1. Install SoundDial from the Mac App Store.
2. Set each output device's system volume once, as described above. macOS remembers those.
3. Open the apps you use most; every running app appears in SoundDial.
4. Set each app's level, mute anything you don't want to hear and boost anything too quiet.
5. When you switch devices, open SoundDial from the menu bar and adjust the one or two apps that sound off. The panel also has an output picker that switches the Mac's system output (it does not send single apps to different devices).

If you switch often, save each mix as a profile, for example one for speakers and one for headphones, and click its chip after switching. Profiles store each app's volume and mute and apply to apps that are running; they don't follow the output device on their own.

The honest summary: macOS remembers volume per output device at the main level, and that's worth setting up. For the mix between apps, you need per-app volume control on top of it. More about SoundDial, a per-app volume mixer for Mac.

SoundDial is a €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, no subscription, and needs macOS 14.2 or later. Get SoundDial on the Mac App Store.