Switch Audio Output Quickly on Mac, Skip the Settings

You unplug your headphones and want sound on your speakers. Or you connect AirPods and macOS picks the wrong device. Or you walk into a meeting room and need the conference speaker. Every time it's System Settings > Sound > Output > scroll > click. Too many clicks for something that should take one.

Here are the faster ways to switch audio output on Mac.

Method 1: Option-click the volume icon

This is the fastest built-in method, and most people don't know about it.

Hold Option (⌥) and click the Sound icon in your menu bar. You get a list of all available output (and input) devices. Click the one you want. Done.

If you don't see the Sound icon in the menu bar, turn it on: System Settings > Control Center > Sound, then choose "Always Show in Menu Bar".

On recent macOS versions, a normal click on the Sound icon also shows the output list under the volume slider.

Method 2: Control Center

Click the Control Center icon in the menu bar, then the Sound section, and pick a device from the list.

Limitation: a couple more clicks than the menu bar icon.

Method 3: System Settings

System Settings > Sound > Output lists every device. It's the slowest option, but it's where you'll also find per-device settings.

Method 4: A key combination (with setup)

macOS has no built-in key combination for switching audio devices. Technical users can build one with a command-line tool: switchaudio-osx from Homebrew provides a SwitchAudioSource -s "Device Name" command, which you can then run from an automation tool and assign to keys.

This works, but needs Homebrew, a command-line tool and setup per device. Not practical for most people.

After you switch: fix the per-app levels

Switching devices is only half the job. Your speakers and your headphones sound different, and the mix you liked on one, music quiet, calls loud, often feels wrong on the other.

SoundDial sits in the menu bar next to the Sound icon and gives every running app its own volume slider and mute button. Switch to AirPods with an Option-click, then open SoundDial and lower Spotify while boosting your call above 100%, without touching anything else. That's per-app volume control in two clicks.

SoundDial's panel also has an output picker (shown when you have two or more outputs), so you can switch the Mac's output and set the per-app levels in the same place. It switches the output for the whole Mac, not for one app.

If what bothers you is that each device needs a different mix, see different volume for speakers vs headphones on Mac.

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.