How to play chrome audio through separate devices

Windows lets you assign individual apps to different playback devices, but all your Chrome tabs are treated as a single application. Here’s how to split up your Chrome tabs and play sound from different tabs through different audio devices.

A word of caution: installing Chrome extensions is more dangerous than you’d think, so we generally advise against adding too many of them. However, this one seems okay and is open source to boot. If you’re still cautious, you can manually set it to only work on certain sites, like YouTube, in Chrome’s extension settings.

Installing AudioPick

Click “Add to Chrome” on AudioPick’s download page, and accept the permissions. You’ll have a new icon in the menubar, which brings up the interface:

By default, it’s set to use your system’s main audio output, or more specifically whatever you’ve set Chrome to use in Windows’ per-app sound settings. You can change the current tab to use any other output you have set up in Windows.

AudioPick remembers your selection for each tab. Your selection also won’t affect other tabs. Current tabs keep using whatever you set them to, and new tabs will use the System Default Device.

This works with any device, even virtual ones, which makes this extension useful if you’d like to play music through your speakers while listening to something on your headphones, like game audio.

One bug we’ve found: occasionally, when hotplugging audio devices, the extension can get stuck and mute output. If this happens, just set it back to the System Default Device, and then re-enable your preferred device.

Limit the Extension’s Permissions

As a general rule for all Chrome extensions, you should whitelist specific sites on which this extension can work. That ensures the extension is only running where you need it and provides some protection in case the extension goes bad and starts tracking you.

You can do this in Chrome’s extension settings. Click the menu icon in the top right corner, and select More Tools > Extensions. Scroll down to AudioPick and select “Details.”

You can change the site access permission, and add as many sites as you’d like:

Alternatively, you can set it to “On Click,” which will disable permissions until you click the icon in the menubar.

From watching shows to listening to songs, and every other sort of entertainment these days, we pretty much depend on the internet. When it comes to using the internet for our entertainment, we have to use a web browser that can help us visit the websites that we want. Needless to say, Google Chrome is the browser of choice for most users these days, and even if it is not Google Chrome, it will likely be some other Chromium-based browser or Mozilla Firefox. Now, if you are playing audio on the Chrome browser, it will be played automatically on the default audio output device set in your system.

For example, if you have multiple audio output devices, like a pair of headphones, speakers, and others, and the sound output is set to the speakers in your sound settings, Chrome will also use the same audio output channels for playing the audio. But, it can sometimes be necessary to play the audio stream from the Chrome web browser to a particular audio output device that is not the default audio output device and play the audio stream from other programs on your system-default audio output device. You can do that on most Windows programs if the option is available within the program, but it is not available by default on Chrome. That level of granular control is easily possible on Chrome, and I will discus, how you can do that on Chrome.

So, without any further delay, let’s get started with, how you can set the audio output from your Chrome web browser to a particular audio output device.

Routing audio from Chrome to several audio output devices

Step 1: Open Chrome web browser on your computer, and visit the Chrome Web Store to search for the AudioPick extension. Just install in on to Chrome.

Step 2: After you have completed the installation of the AudioPick extension, open your favourite audio or video streaming website, and before you start playing any audio or video, click on the AudioPick extension in the extension area, and then select the audio output device, where you want to get the audio output from Chrome.

Set audio output device on Chrome browser

The audio from that particular Chrome tab will start playing in the selected audio output device chosen by you. Yes, you heard it right. You can route the audio from different Chrome tabs to different audio output devices.

If you want to open a second tab, and want to use another audio output device for that tab, you have the liberty to do that. So, AudioPick offers granular controls over which tab will play audio to which audio device. If you do not set the audio output device for every single tab on Chrome, the audio from those individual tabs will be played on the default audio device, which is something that you should keep in mind.

Step 3: However, you can even lock Chrome to play audio to a particular audio output device for all the new tabs that you open. To do that, simply right-click on the AudioPick extension, and click on ‘Options’ .

Step 4: Now, just select the audio device to play audio from all Chrome tabs, and close the window.

select the audio device to play audio from all Chrome tabs

From next time, Chrome will play audio on the selected audio device, for all the next tabs that you open from time to time. It can really be useful to select a specific audio output device to play audio from certain Chrome tabs if you are having multiple monitors, and you want to play several contents, one which you want to enjoy, and the others are supposed to be enjoyed by your family members. In that case, you can route the audio output from certain tabs to specific audio output devices pretty easily with this method. This tutorial should also work perfectly with other Chromium-based web browsers, and it also worked with the Chromium-based Edge web browser.

So, that was all about, how you can set a specific audio output device for different Chrome tabs on your computer. Do you have any questions, or faced any problems? Feel free to comment on the same below.

Chrome Remote Desktop is one of the well-known feature provided to the users to get access over the network from one computer to another even through a mobile device. Yes, many of the users have complained or noticed that audio does not stream from PC, windows device to another especially when you need to access the remote desktop session.

However, one of the amazing news is that Android Power hub has discovered a great way to stream audio from Windows to Chrome book or Android smartphone to another PC. Therefore, without any hassle, you will get a chance to stream audio through Google Chrome remote desktop.

Audio stream of Chrome Remote desktop

Chrome Remote Desktop offers the audio support in the remote desktop chrome latest update of version 53. The app is well-known as the chrome remote desktop assistance app that allows users to control the desktop of any PC from Android set and supports audio streaming between slave and chrome remote desktop host devices.

Many of the users demanded the audio support in chrome desktop remote app and the latest update is fully functional. However, the user cannot change the volume from Android smartphone on laptop or desktop computer system.

Click here to download the latest Chrome remotes desktop.

How To Use Chrome Remote Desktop?

The steps to set up chrome remote-desktop are incredibly easy and simple.

• You just need to download the chrome remote desktop app from the Google Store. Just log into the Chrome with Gmail account.
• Open the app and set the connection options. You simply do not need to deal with the user-to-user connection because it is used for the remote tech support. Now click on GET STARTED under the My computers tab.

• Now click on enable remote connections.

• The chrome remotes desktop application will ask in a dialog box to download the Chrome Remote desktop host on Windows PC. Then click ACCEPT AND INSTALL to install the host, which will be downloading in Chrome. Install the host after download.

• Now you have to enter the 6 digit PIN for your connection and this PIN will be asked on the Android device or smartphone during the setup.

• Make sure to install the Chrome remote desktop on Android device. Then open the app and log in with the Gmail account, which you are using on Chrome. You will be able to see the PCs name in My Computers list.

• Click on the desired PC name and enter the PIN.

• Woooahhh! The PC screen is now mirrored to Android smartphone. User can navigate to various music videos or audio. However, audio will be streamed without any interruption. You can also enjoy a YouTube video with chrome remote desktop sound simultaneously on Android device.

• If you need to end the connection click, STOP SHARING present at the bottom of window.

Are you ready to enjoy audio or video streaming?

Android Power hub is well aware with many similar applications such as TeamViewer but Google idea to enjoy the streaming of videos or audios to the smartphones is great. The experience of the users is great but a reliable internet connection really matters.

Windows 10 now lets you choose which sound output and input devices individual apps use. For example, you could have one app play audio through your headphones and another app play it through your speakers.

This feature was added in Windows 10’s April 2018 Update. On Windows 7, this requires third-party apps like Audio Router or CheVolume if the application in question doesn’t have its own sound device selection options.

To find these options in Windows 10, open the new Sound settings panel. You can either right-click the speaker icon in your notification area, and then select “Open Sound Settings” or navigate to Settings > System > Sound.

In the Sound settings, scroll down to the “Other Sound Options” section, and then click the “App Volume And Device Preferences” option.

At the top of the page, you can select your default output and input devices, as well as the system-wide master volume.

Below that, you’ll find options for configuring the volume level of each individual app, as well as the sound output and input devices that each app uses. An app’s volume level is configured as a percentage of your master volume level. For example, if you set your master volume to 10 and Chrome to 100, Chrome will play at a volume level of 10. If you set your master volume to 10 and Chrome to 50, Chrome will play at a volume level of 5.

If an app doesn’t appear in the list, you’ll need to launch it first—and perhaps start playing or recording audio in it.

To the right of the volume slider for each app, click the “Output” or “Input” dropdowns to assign a different output or input device to the app. For example, you could have one app output sound to your headphones and other apps output sound to your speakers. Or you could use different recording devices for different applications.

You may have to close and reopen the application for your change to take effect. However, Windows will remember the volume level and sound devices you assign to individual apps and automatically apply your preferences whenever you launch the app.

If you just want to set your default sound playback device on Windows 10, you can do that directly from the sound icon in your notification area. Click the speaker icon, click the name of your current default sound device in the menu, and then click the device you want to use. This change affects all apps set to use the “Default” device.

This new “App volume and device preferences” pane functions a lot like the old Volume Mixer, which allowed you to adjust the volume level for individual apps. However, the Volume Mixer never allowed you to select sound devices for applications.

The traditional Volume Mixer tool also is still included in Windows 10—right-click the speaker icon in your notification area and select “Open Volume Mixer” to launch it.

illusineer

New Member

As my current OBS is set up, I can isolate mic audio from desktop audio, and this makes things very flexible in editing. However, I want to have chrome open playing YouTube videos and have this same flexibility in being able to isolate it in editing by having it on it’s own stream. example

stream 1 application audio
stream 2 microphone audio
stream 3 chrome audio (or separate application audio)

I’m very curious to know if it is possible to isolate audio between applications into their own streams while recording in OBS. Thanks

Pupp3tm4st3r

New Member

you could maybe use a software like and reroute the audio output to another virtual cable so that OBS can use a different track for chrome audio (as it is on a separate virtual audio cable). Maybe in addition with:

Kind Regards
Simon

Suslik V

Active Member

Pupp3tm4st3r

New Member

Narcogen

Active Member

The newest OBS can treat individual browser sources (sources added as URLs from inside OBS) as separate audio sources– it cannot isolate audio from different tabs on an external browser or different external applications.

For that you need Voicemeeter or similar, or other means of isolating different applications from each other.

If you have more than one Google Home device, here’s how to set them up and enable multi-room audio to get sound everywhere.

Google Home and its growing family of devices are great in-home companions that can assist you with just about anything. And if you have more than one of these smart speakers, they can work together as a networked sound system.

Out of the box, the Google Home app for Android and iOS makes it relatively easy to set up an individual smart speaker, but dig a little deeper and you can connect them to fill entire floors of your home with music.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to set up your devices and how to create groups so you can play music throughout your house when you’re having a party, cleaning your home, or just want to liven up the atmosphere.

Set Up Each New Google Home Device

Once you plug in a new smart speaker, your mobile device should automatically tell you there is a new Google Home to set up. If you don’t get a notification, open the Google Home app and tap the bubble that says “Set up 1 device” at the top. Choose which home you want to add this device to (you’ll probably only have one).

Next, you’ll be asked to confirm which device you’re setting up. A sound will play from your speaker to confirm that it’s the right one. If the sound plays successfully, you’re good to go. Google will briefly ask you if you’re okay with sharing usage statistics. Once you’ve made your choice, you can move onto the next step.

Add Your Device to a Room

Connect to Wi-Fi and Finish Setup

Next, you’ll connect your device to Wi-Fi. The Google Home app will automatically detect available networks. If you’re already connected to your Wi-Fi network on your phone, you can just tap the network and choose Next.

The Google Home app will take you through the final phases of setup, which may vary if you already have other devices set up. You’ll be asked to confirm privacy policies, add your address, and enable voice match. This last feature will let you get personalized responses based on your voice in multi-user households.

Link Your Music Accounts

Add Devices to a Group

Once all your devices are set up, it’s time to start adding them to groups. Multiple speakers in one room will be automatically grouped together. However, say you want to add all speakers on a floor to a “Downstairs” group. To do that, open the Google Home app and tap Add and choose “Create Speaker Group.”

On the next screen, you’ll see a list of all the audio devices you have connected to your account. Tap the ones you want to include and click Next. Finally, give the group a name and tap Save. You can create any number of groups with any arrangement of speakers you want.

You can also include most Google Home devices, including the full-size Google Home, the Google Home Mini, Chromecast Audio (RIP), or Google’s Hub smart displays. Keep in mind that the audio quality of some of these devices may vary depending on your setup. Even if you have more speakers available, it might not be worth including a poorer-quality speaker in a group with better ones if it’s only going to make the whole system sound worse.

Arrange Your Speakers

Once you have all your speakers connected to a group, you may want to give them each some room to get that perfect sound. Experiment with moving your speakers around in your rooms to get the most coverage. Any music you play will be synced up, so you should be able to walk from one room to another without even noticing you’re listening to a different speaker.

Keep in mind that having speakers next to each other may result in multiple devices responding to your voice commands. This shouldn’t be an issue generally, as the Google Assistant will pinpoint where you’re speaking from and respond from the device closest to you. However, this might be something to keep in mind if you use smart displays and want to make sure that, for example, the device with the screen is the one that responds when you’re in the kitchen.

How to Activate Multi-Room Audio

You have several options to listen to audio on multi-room groups. First, you can use a voice command just like you would for playing music normally. Just say “Hey Google, play music on [Group name] speakers,” and it should begin playing on all devices in that group. You can also replace “music” in that command with an artist, album, or playlist.

Alternatively, you can cast to the group from your music app. In apps like Spotify or YouTube Music, tapping the cast icon or the Devices available option will bring up a list of potential casting targets. You can either choose an individual speaker, or the group that includes several speakers in one area.

When playing on a group, you can adjust the volume of each speaker individually on each device itself. You can also use the volume buttons on your phone (when casting) or voice commands to raise or lower the master volume for the group as a whole. This helps balance audio across rooms and set a consistent level no matter how loud or quiet you want it in each room.

Jan 1, 2018
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Windows only lets you output audio to one device at a time. If you have more than one app playing audio, Windows will route the audio stream through the same audio device. It will do this even if you have two different audio devices enabled and there won’t be an option to output audio to two different devices. This is something that can only be accomplished through a third-party app. There are quite a few apps that let you output audio to two different devices however, for a free solution we recommend using Audio Router.

Audio Router is a free, open source app that lets you send the audio output of an app to your device of choice. The audio devices must be configured correctly i.e., they must show up as two separate devices. To check if you have two separate devices configured, right-click the speaker icon in the system tray and select ‘Playback Devices’ from the context menu.

Output Audio To Two Different Devices

Install Audio Router and play audio in two different apps, or in separate instances of the same app. Run Audio Router and it will show you an interface that resembles the volume mixer in Windows. Note the dropdown arrow under each app that is running, and the audio devices that you are configured on your system.

Click the dropdown arrow under an app and select the ‘Route’ button.

Another small window will open with a dropdown for selecting the audio device that you want to route your audio to. Select a device. The audio from the app will be sent to the device you selected. Repeat for the other app that’s playing audio and select your other audio device.

Audio Router works well but it doesn’t recognize all apps by their name. For example, the TV & Movies app in Windows 10 is listed as video.ui.exe. We expect something similar happens with Groove. It might be a UWP app thing because apps like Chrome and VLC appear with their correct names.

Audio Device Configuration

If your audio device isn’t configured correctly, you will need to fix it before you can use Audio Router. While we can’t give system specific solutions, a couple of things you should try are;

Whether you have a Google Home, a Chromecast Audio or a Chomecast built-in audio device, here’s how to use it as part of a multiroom music system.

Ever dreamed of having a future home? One where your music plays in multiple rooms simultaneously, and from multiple devices, party-style? Google’s Chomecast technology, formerly known as Google Cast, can realize that dream for an affordable price.

The $35 Chromecast Audio , the Google Home speaker , and numerous other Chromecast built-in devices such as the Sony STR-DN1080 receiver and the JBL Playlist speaker, can now work in concert together throughout your home. You can create groups of multiple devices and send music, news or whatever to any or all of them at the same time, using the Google Home app on your phone.

If you’re serious about multiroom music then Sonos and other systems, such as Samsung’s multiroom system or Play-Fi, might be better investments. But they cost a lot more and require you to buy Sonos speakers exclusively or other expensive components. An inexpensive Chromecast Audio dongle works with virtually any powered speaker or audio system.

Here’s how to set it up.

Here’s everything the Google Home can do

Getting started

First you’ll need to connect your device to the network. If you’re using a third-party Chromecast product, such as the Sony receiver mentioned above, follow the usual connection method as directed by the device. This could mean using the device’s smartphone app or navigating to the setup routine under the device’s Settings.

If you’ve bought a Google Home or Chromecast Audio, or a device like the JBL Playlist that’s tightly integrated with Google’s ecosystem, connecting it to the network is a little more straightforward. You’ll use the Google Home app for iOS or Android. From the main page of the Google Home app (below left) look for the little “setup” icon in the top right-hand corner, next to the search icon. Pressing that will take you to the Devices tab (below right).

The main page of the Google Home app (left). Touching the devices icon in the upper right, next to search, takes you to the Devices page (right).

Screenshots by David Katzmaier

All of the compatible devices that the app has detected will appear here, and it will inform you whether they need to be set up or not. If for some reason Google Home doesn’t find them, you can press the Add Device button at the bottom of the screen. The setup process walks you through step by step; see “How to set up Google Home” for more info.

How to create groups

A group consists of two or more Chromecast components (such as a Chromecast Audio, Google Home and a Sony receiver) which will operate as if a single speaker. To create one, choose one of the devices on the Devices page and click the “. ” button.

Choose “Create group”, and a setup page appears. Here you can name the group — for example “House Party” if they’re in three living areas — and then choose from the available devices that you’d like to add. The new “House Party” group will now appear on your list as if it was a single device.

Screenshot by David Katzmaier

Use your group in Chromecast apps

There are dozens of apps that support casting, but here we’re going to concentrate on ones that are audio focused. First open up a Chromecast-compatible app, like Spotify or Pandora, and click the Cast button. On the list that appears you’ll see all the available devices as well as any groups you’ve created, such as “House Party”, for example. Choose a group, play a song using the app and the music will play to all the included speakers and devices simultaneously.

The $150 JBL Playlist is one of our favorite Chromecast-compatible devices.

Is Chromecast a Sonos killer?

While the technology shows great promise, it’s not quite able to rival Sonos just yet. The biggest hurdle so far are the apps themselves. It’s one source or app at once. As of writing there are still no Chromecast apps that can integrate multiple streaming services in the way that Sonos’ app does.

So while we wait for the “killer” Chromecast app, the ecosystem is nonetheless an excellent look into the future of low-cost multiroom music. If you’re looking to dip your toes in the house party waters for a very modest outlay, Chromecast built-in is definitely the best place to start.

Apr 12, 2018
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Chrome is a web browser at its core but as a browser, it ens up running versatile apps from spreadsheets and word processors to media players. It’s well equipped to handle all this in most cases but you will find it is lacking when it comes to playing audio through a Bluetooth device. If you’re using a pair of Bluetooth headsets or speakers to listen to something on YouTube in Chrome, you will find the sound isn’t quite right. Some users might not hear sound at all. In either case, you can fix Bluetooth audio in Chrome by disabling Flash.

Prechecks

Make sure audio is working correctly on your desktop, and in Chrome. Connect a wired set of headphones and check the audio quality. If there’s a problem there, then it’s with sound on your system and not necessarily a Bluetooth problem.

You should also check sound quality in other apps using your Bluetooth headsets. If Chrome is the only app where the sound is distorted, or doesn’t play then this solution ought to fix it.

Disable Flash

Flash may be dying but it isn’t dead yet and while Chrome doesn’t allow it to run by default, the plugin is still there in your browser. Chrome uses a version of Flash called Pepper Flash and it doesn’t seem to play nice with Bluetooth audio.

Open Chrome and type the following in the address bar;

Here, turn the on the switch that you see and then play audio in Chrome. Restart Chrome, and disconnect and reconnect your Bluetooth device to see if the problem has been fixed or not.

If it persists, you need to add the website you’re playing audio from to the Flash block list. Return the settings page mentioned earlier and click Add next to the Block section. Paste the URL of the website you’re playing audio on and you’re done. For good measure, restart Chrome. Disconnect and reconnect your Bluetooth device and then play audio.

You will observe a noticeable improvement in sound quality.

Limitations

Bluetooth audio also depends, to some extent on the quality of your headphones. With expensive and/or high quality headsets, the sound will be better even if it isn’t the same as the sound you get from a wired audio device. Lower quality Bluetooth headphones may not play well with desktops and hence there is likely to be some compromise over the sound quality in Chrome.

If the website you’re listening to relies on Flash, you will not be able to use it. Either that or you’re going to have to make-do with the bad audio quality.