How to Switch Audio Output Quickly on Mac (Without Digging Through Settings)

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

Here are all the ways to switch audio output faster on Mac — from built-in shortcuts to menu bar tools that eliminate the clicking entirely.

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 volume/sound icon in your menu bar. Instead of the normal volume slider, you get a list of all available output devices. Click the one you want. Done.

If you don't see the sound icon in your menu bar, enable it: System Settings → Control Center → Sound → select "Always Show in Menu Bar."

Limitation: This only shows output devices — you can't adjust per-app volume or see what's currently playing from this menu.

Method 2: Control Center

Click the Control Center icon (the two-toggle icon) in the menu bar → click the Sound section → click the current device name to see all available outputs.

Limitation: It's three clicks instead of one. Slightly slower than Option-clicking the volume icon.

Method 3: System Settings shortcut

You can pin Sound to the top-level System Settings sidebar, but it still requires navigating to the Output tab and selecting a device. Not fast.

Method 4: Keyboard shortcut (with setup)

macOS doesn't have a built-in keyboard shortcut for switching audio devices. However, you can create one using Automator or Shortcuts:

1. Open Shortcuts app
2. Create a new shortcut that runs a shell script: SwitchAudioSource -s "Device Name" (requires the switchaudio-osx command-line tool from Homebrew)
3. Assign a keyboard shortcut to the shortcut

This works but requires Homebrew, a command-line tool, and manual setup per device. Not practical for most users.

Method 5: SoundDial's built-in device switcher

SoundDial includes an output device picker right in its menu bar popover — alongside your per-app volume sliders. One click to open SoundDial, one click to switch devices. No digging through System Settings.

The advantage of switching devices inside SoundDial: you can switch your output and adjust per-app volumes in the same panel. Switch to AirPods and immediately lower Spotify while boosting your call — all without leaving the popover.

Combined with SoundDial's volume memory feature, each output device can remember its own per-app volume levels. Switch to speakers and your "speakers" volume balance applies. Switch to headphones and your "headphones" balance applies. No manual re-adjusting.

Get SoundDial on the Mac App Store — €14.99 one-time purchase, no subscription, macOS 14.2+.