Defaulting Sound Output ?

2009 Mac Pro 10.6.8
Just recently my Mac pro defaults to the Internal speaker when I restart or reboot, I have to go into Prefs to set it to Display Audio.
I have already tried deleting - com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist and com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist and then re booting and re setting the sound output, but on next restart/bootup it defaults back to the Internal speaker.
Tried resetting the PRAM also, still defaults to the internal speaker.
Also tried this :
Delete Audio Folder
sudo rm -r /Library/Preferences/Audio
Recreated a new one:
sudo mkdir /Library/Preferences/Audio
Change the permissions:
sudo chown -R _coreaudiod:admin /Library/Preferences/Audio
Then go back to the sound preference panel and set the audio to the one you prefer. This will recreate the settings file.
Still defaults to internal speaker.
And these :
Repaired HD via Disk Utility
Repaired Permissions
Still defaults to internal speaker.

Problem solved and this may help others with this problem.
As a last resort I copied the Audio folder from another Mac I have running 10.6.8 onto my Mac Pro, it worked it solved the problem :)
Do not know if copying that folder from different OS would work.
Hope this helps somebody.

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How to set default sound output

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Sound output device problem since 10.6.2 upgrade...

wHey, I've had a look through some other forums and have found solutions and so on to this problem, which is basically this:
Since the 10.6.2 Upgrade my sound output device changed from 'Headphones' to 'Soundflower (2ch)'...The three options are as follows on Sound preferences through System Prefs...
Headphones
Sondflower (2ch)
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Any help greatly appreciated, thanks

Refer to Apple - Support - Discussions - System does not store my sound preferences or Apple - Support - Discussions - Sound preferences sometimes messed up after boot for removing Soundflower from your Mac.
However, AFAIK, there is no way to make 'Headphones' the default sound output device, since the switch among built-in audio, headphones, (& optical output on Macs with a dual purpose optical/analog output jack) is controlled by what you do or don't insert into that jack.

How can I change default audio / sound output or remove the displayport audio option?

I upgraded from Mavericks to Yosemite and while I don't have any of the number of issues that see to accompany that move, I've discovered a different one that is not necessarily related to it, but is irritating.
2014 Macbook Pro Retina
I use a thunderbolt to displayport (AKA just displayport) cable to attach a Dell monitor to my mac at the desk.
Prior to this update, the mac ignored the display as far as audio was concerned (the Dell does NOT have audio built in). But now it seems to think it does.
Moreover, it continually switches back to that Sound output in the preferences whenever I plug or unplug an audio source from the audio jack. This is Annoying!
Is there any way to either
1) set the default to prefer the internal speakers / headphones instead of the DP?
2) remove the Sound output for the DisplayPort connection (which is a false connection since the Dell doesn't actually have AUDIO)
Thanks much

I found the com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist and Com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist, but can't make sense of either enough to feel confident in altering any entries there. here's the SystemSettings one that seems like it might have something you could change, but...

Sound Output defaulted to AirParrot

Hey guys!
So I installed AirParrot yesterday to test some stuff out with my Apple TV then uninstalled the program. Today, after booting up my Macbook Pro Retina 2013, I found that I wasn't getting sound from my external, plugged in speakers. I unplugged the speakers and the internal ones worked. I found that AirParrot was selected as my device for sound output. Then I later I rebooted my computer without my external speakers plugged in, and found that my sound would not come out of my internal speakers. Checking my sound output again, I see that AirParrot was again selected for my device for sound output.
I know how to switch my sound output back to my internal speakers, but somehow my Mac keeps selecting AirParrot as the default output upon bootup. Should AirParrot even still be a device since I uninstalled the app? How do I get rid of AirParrot as an option for sound output and make my internal speakers the default?
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You may not have gotten all the parts and pieces un-installed. If the Un-install below doesn't work, go to the developer's web site for instructions.
AirParrot Uninstaller

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Any ideas?

I have the same issue. I get great sound when I plug in external speakers but I use those at work and have for about 6 months this problem just started a couple of days ago. If anyone finds an answer please post it this is crazy.
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Macbook Pro 13" late 2011

Assigning an application to different sound outputs

Question: Is there a way to assign an application to use a sound output options in the mixer or another Win7 application?
I have installed Win7 RC 32bit. I have headphones and speaker outputs on my system. Both are detected and both can be assigned to a working default sound choice. I am unable to assign an applications sound output to a certain outputs or change them.
The only way I can make a sound application work through the speakers if the headset is assigned the default role is to go into sound management, then assign the speakers to default and then restart my application.
Desired: I would like an application profile to default to the assigned role from the mixer. The settings could be permanent or temporary. If the 1st choice is not available, use the alternate working or (default). The sound should dynamically change or at the very least keep that profile with that application until changed.
In the mixer, I should be able to rt click on the application in the mixer and manually assign it to a sound device. This option should be assigned to a default target to play ONLY if the desired is not available. Possible options can be, just one time, or have this device handle sound if available.
Hardware: Asus Rampage 2: Gene motherboard, 6GB Ram, GTX 275 graphics, Seagate 1.5TB. Drivers auto discovered on install and appear to be functional.

Hi TKCDAC,
As you may noticed, great improvements have been made in Windows 7. Applications can realize Stream Routing via the new Core Audio APIs. Windows 7 has the ability to distinguish between communication devices and all other audio devices. It is now possible to have both a Default Communications Device that is separate from the Default Audio Device. The Default Communication Devices will be used for PC based communication like web chat or VOIP, and the Default Audio Device will be used for everything else. Stream switching enabled dynamic stream switching based on the default device. If the default audio device is disabled or unplugged, Windows automatically tries to determine the next default audio device and will dynamically redirect the audio to that new device.
For instance, if you would like to play the audio via headphone when using communication applications such as Windows Live Messenger, we can simply right click the volume icon in the system tray, click Playback Devices, right click the headphone listed and then choose Set as default Communications Device.
For more information, please refer to the following articles:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd756612(VS.85).aspx
http://louisgale.blogspot.com/2009/08/live-messenger-and-default.html
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In the meantime, I will forward your suggestions to our Product Group. Please be assured that any improvements in the product are based on users' requirements.
Thanks,
Linda

No Sound Output but Still Loaded

Hi guys, this is my first journey with Arch Linux and this introduction process has been fairly trouble-free with the exception of getting my sound system working.
Right now I'm running a Macbook Pro 6,2 (Mid 2010) with two audio devices: 1) an Intel integrated card(labeled=MID) and 2) a Nvidia HDMI card(label=NVidia). Since I'm not using any HDMI outputs, I'm trying to get the Intel card to output sound but it seems like nothing I do is working. I've combed through both the wiki pages on ALSA and the Macbook#Sound configuration section but so far, it's a no-go. According to /dev/snd, the sound modules are indeed loaded. "speaker-test" has no problem running but there's no sound output. I've tried muting and playing around with volume levels in alsamixer. Right now, I'm guessing that I might have missed something with my .asoundrc? I'm not entirely sure.
Here's all the relevant information...forgive me if I missed anything.
aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 0: CS4206 Analog [CS4206 Analog]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: MID [HDA Intel MID], device 1: CS4206 Digital [CS4206 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
cat /proc/asound/modules
0 snd_hda_intel
1 snd_hda_intel
/etc/mprobe.d/alsa-base.conf - setup according to the Macbook page
options snd_hda_intel model=intel-mac-auto
lsmod | grep '^snd' | column -t
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 49213 4
snd_hda_codec_cirrus 17630 1
snd_hda_codec_generic 63126 1 snd_hda_codec_cirrus
snd_hda_intel 26387 5
snd_hda_controller 26938 1 snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_codec 108536 5 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_controller,snd_hda_codec_cirrus
snd_hwdep 17244 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 88487 5 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_controller
snd_timer 26614 2 snd_pcm
snd 73436 16 snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_cirrus
and my .asoundrc includes the following according the the ALSA#configuration wiki...(before and after these additions to .asoundrc didn't make a difference)
pcm.!default {
type hw
card 0
ctl.!default {
type hw
card 0
If someone could lend a hand, I'd greatly appreciate. I know that it can get working since it was working out of the box flawlessly on an Archbang install but I wanted to do things the right way, The Arch Way, this time around.

Hi
I have a similar setup with AMD/ATI devices. Try to set the order of the soundcards (Alsa#Set_the_default_sound_card): Look up your "vid" and "pid" values with "lspci -nn" and change the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf to:
# SB [HDA ATI SB]
options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=auto vid=1002 pid=1308
# HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI]
options snd-hda-intel index=1 model=auto vid=1022 pid=780d
...or something like that. After that my soundcard worked but the sound quality was poor (no bass).
Hope this helps.
Last edited by iceflower (2015-01-04 12:46:41)

No sound output on Slimline S2130n (or USB activity)

A buddy gave me this "HP Pavilion Slimline S2130n TV PC" to work on. There was SO much junkware installed I had to do a Factory recovery back to Day-1. It originally came with Vista Home Premium so, I updated it with SP1 and SP2. I finished by updating all the stuff from Microsoft Update, to bring it totally to date.
I plugged in some speakers and I I wasn't receiving any sound. The speaker monitor shows there is sound playing, but it was not outputting from either the rear connection or the headset jack in the front. I tested my speakers with a MP3 player and the speakers work just fine.
I went to Device Manager and there was no conflicts. It detected the audio device and is working properly. Note: This PC also came with a TV Tuner/Capture card. I also tested the Audio Output on the tuner card and it was not functioning, either.
All drivers show to be working. I even went to HP.com and updated to the latest and greatest drivers for everything that was available. The only thing I didn't do was update the BIOS.
The only sound I haven't been able to test is the Digital Output, as I don't have anything to test it on.
Just in case there may have been a hidden conflict, I removed the tuner card. This did not work, either. Lastly, I did a complete format and installed Windows 7 and did all the updates. Still nothing.
This is quite perplexing. I can understand if either the front or rear audio out was bad, but for all of them to be bad??? The only thing I can think of is a bad main board. I pulled it and did a visual inspection. I didn't see any burn marks or popped capaciters or tophats. I'm out of ideas.
Any suggestions would be great.
FYI: I am also having the same issue with the USBs. None of them work, but they show up in the Device Manager. I even tried enabling/disabling the Legacy USB mode in the BIOS. No change.

If you can see the volume levels going up and down in Windows volume control, then sound levels are being recognized by Windows and are being output to the hardware. So... one of two things I can think of...
1) You are connecting the a wrong port. USe a set of headphone and connect to teh lime green connector on the back to test.
2) The wrong "speaker" output is selected In Windows Sound Properties. That is, you might have "Realtek HDMI audio" selected as the default sound device. If you are trying to connect "regular" analog speakers to the lime green port on the back (or front), then select "Speakers" as the default sound device.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00820207
... an HP employee expressing his own opinion.
Please post rather than send me a Message. It's good for the community and I might not be able to get back quickly. - Thank you.

Default Sound device with attached USB devices

Hi,
my situation: i've got an iMac 27" with an attached 24" cinema display (using display port and usb). Also i've plugged in a usb headset (headphone with microphone).
Whenever booting up Mac OSX 10.6.4 (also happened to older version of Mac OSX, at least all 10.6.x versions) OSX sets the default audio device (input, output and system sounds) to the cinema displays audio device. No matter what i choose as the default sound device i have to reset it after every boot.
Does anyone know how to come around this? I know i can easily set the device by alt clicking on the speaker symbol in the menu, i know there are tools out there like SoundSource that let me even more easily set the sound device but all i want to have is a default sound device that doesn't get overridden on every boot.
Any help?

All right, I seem to have solved it. The fact that it was only working using plughw: should have tipped me off, but at any rate, this is my working ~/.asoundrc:
pcm.!default {
type plug
slave {
pcm "hw:1,0"
ctl.!default {
type hw
card 1

Sound output device

Hello,
Recently I have been experiencing problems with my sound in my iMac with OS X 10.6.2
In my sound output device list, I have the following:
- Headphones (Should be selected)
- Soundflower (2ch)
- Soundflower (12ch)
To hear sound from my iMac speaker or headphone, the Headphone option should be selected. However, everytime I reboot the OS, it go to the soundflower and I have to manually go to system preferences and select the Headphones. I don't even know what the Soundflower is and why it is there. How do I make the "Headphones" as the default selection?
This has been an issue for the past month or so.

Soundflower is an audio routing program that emulates an output. It comes in very handy for people like me who use studio monitors through an audio interface as Apple doesn't allow you to adjust the volume on such setups with a keyboard (no idea why, since it works PERFECTLY under Windows 7 on Bootcamp, but I digress). I'm not sure how you installed it by accident, but you can delete it if you don't need it.
To fix your issue you need to delete the audio preferences file (I forget where it is, hopefully someone can help me out), then select the headphone output again and it should remember your setting.

Having problems choosing sound output through HDMI to my television, any one any ideas?

Though listed in the sounds options, I can't seem to choose a sound output to my TV through HDMI. I have sound output to headphones via the headphone socket or usb, but when I highlight to the HDMI TV option it justs returns to the top of the list, any ideas anyone?

About alsa dmix, and for the record:
On an Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7500 @ 2.93GHz, the following are my finding about
quality/cpu when mixing two streams at 44khz:
a snippet from my .asoundrc
#converter "samplerate_best" # perfect: 16%cpu, maybe overkill
#converter "samplerate_medium" # almost perfect: 6%cpu
#converter "samplerate" # good: 4%cpu, definitely usable
#converter "samplerate_linear" # bad: 2%cpu, way better than default wine resampler
#converter "samplerate_order" # very bad: 2%cpu, like the default wine resampler
Here is the reference topic: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=942724
I may be wrong, but in an opensource world (code reusing), i really doubt pulseaudio could lead to better quality/cpuuse tradeoff.
Pulseaudio, being just another layer atop of alsa, could only lead to higher cpu usage.
Last edited by kokoko3k (2013-11-11 15:33:41)

G60-230US Laptop - HDMI cable does not provide sound output only video

HDMI cable does not provide sound output only video. I have the following device adapter - Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chip Set Family, and two sound, video, game controllers - Coexant High Definition Smartadudio 221 and Intel (R) HIgh Definition Audio HDMI. I do not see any option but "Speakers" on the Sound "playback" tab. Not sure what to do to fix

With the cable connected to source, click to select/highlight the Intel HDMI. next click the 'Set default' button.
******Clicking the Thumbs-Up button is a way to say -Thanks!.******
**Click Accept as Solution on a Reply that solves your issue to help others**

Sound output from other user accounts

It used to be that I would hear sounds from other logged-in user accounts; I'd hear my wife's new mail arrival sound, I'd hear her Skype ringing when calls were coming in, etc. I also used to be able to play iTunes in one account, fast-user-switch to another, and the music would still play.
This has all gone away recently. I'm not exactly sure but I think it coincided with the 10.4.4 update.
This is a big concern because my wife was used to hearing her incoming Skype calls ringing when I was using the Mac, but now she misses all her calls if someone else is logged in!
I haven't found any other mention of this in any forum. Is this just me having this problem? Any way I can fix it?

Okay, I just got off the phone with Apple support and they say that sound outputting from other user accounts was a "bug" that has now been "fixed." They said that this was patched sometime between the 10.4.3 and 10.4.4 updates. I'm surprised to hear that you are having this problem in 10.4.2 because I'm sure it worked for me under 10.4.3 at some point. None of the security updates released under either 10.4.3 or 10.4.4 make any mention of this patch.
Apple support says that there's no preference for this setting and we've just got to live with it now.
This is so irritating! I've got my Skype ring tone, she's got hers, and we'd hear it ringing and know who it was for no matter who was logged in. Now that functionality is busted, and when one of us is logged in the other misses all the calls, and if one of my kids is logged in then both of us miss our calls! I can't believe Apple considers this "bug" to be "fixed".
There's got to be a way around this; maybe by using the "defaults write" command or something? That command sets a lot of preferences that Apple claims are not user-settable.
eMac Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Why do my sound output settings keep resetting after restart?

Just bought a MBPro with OS 10.6.4.
After restarting my sound output settings keep resetting to Soundflower (2ch) from Internal speakers.
It doesn't take too much to change it, but it is pretty annoying and I'm assuming there's some obscure setting that can fix this.
Anyone able to help?

This fixed it on my Mac Pro. It might work on a MacBook Pro.
Delete these three files:
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.soundpref.plist
/Library/Preferences/Audio/com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist
/Library/Preferences/Audio/com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist
Reselect whatever sound device you want as your default in the Sound Preference Pane.
Restart the computer.

Defaulting Sound Output ?

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