How to Change Audio Device on Mac

When connecting a device to your Mac, it might automatically switch to that device. Many times that's what you want, but not always.

For example, if your device is connected via bluetooth the audio quality can drop significantly. There's even an article written by Apple explaining why that happens.

The main takeaway from that article is that you need to avoid using the same bluetooth headphones for both listening and speaking at the same time.

My personal recommendation is to keep the bluetooth headphones and switch the microphone to the one from the Mac.

#Default way of switching audio devices on Mac

Switching audio devices on Mac can be done in 4 simple steps.

1. Open System Settings
2. Go to Sound
3. Select the Output or Input tab
4. Choose the preferred device

You'll see something like this:

The default way is fast, especially when using the shortcut to open the Sound Preferences, but you'll have to do it every single time your Mac changes the selected devices, which can become annoying very fast.

#Best way of switching audio devices on Mac

There's a better way, with Recadio. It's just one click away when you need it, but the best part is that you won't even have to change devices because Recadio does it automatically for you!

Recadio is a tool that I created out of frustration with the default auto-switch. It remembers your choice of preferred input and output for any combination of connected devices.

You only need to set the preferred device once. Recadio will remember your choice, and use it when you have the same devices connected. That's all!

This is the app I'm using for managing audio devices, and you can get it for just $10.

I hope this article was useful and at least you learned the shortcut to open the Sound Preferences as fast as possible!