Dual Monitors With Split Sound | Tom's Hardware Forum

Tom's Hardware Forum

Search

Everywhere Threads This forum This thread Search titles only Note By: Search Advanced search… Everywhere Threads This forum This thread Search titles only By: Search Advanced… Log in Register What's new

Search

Everywhere Threads This forum This thread Search titles only Note By: Search Advanced search… Everywhere Threads This forum This thread Search titles only By: Search Advanced… Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar Menu Install the app Install How to install the app on iOS

Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.

Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.

  • Home
  • Featured
  • Forums New posts Search forums
  • What's new Featured content New posts Latest activity
  • Thank you all so much for sharing your 2025 with us. Have a great holiday season and a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!
  • Twas the night before Tom's Christmas!
Dual monitors with split sound
  • Thread starter Thread starter samtheham1
  • Start date Start date Jan 4, 2011
  • Tags Tags Dolby Motherboards Powerdvd
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
  • Home
  • Forums
  • Hardware
  • Systems
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Status Not open for further replies. S

samtheham1

Distinguished
Dec 10, 2010 44 0 18,530 Okay I may be posting in the wrong subject but this is sort of a split issue. I'm currently running dual monitors using my monitor and also running my TV via an HDMI cable from my GPU. The problem I'm having isn't with dual monitors but with the sound between them. What would be ideal is that when I'm running a game or whatever on my monitor and then maybe streaming a video on my second monitor (the TV), I'd like the game's sound to come from my computer speakers and the video sound to come from my TV. To this point I haven't found a way to make that happen. All that I know to do is go to control panel and set the default sound device to either my TV or my speakers. There's no option to split the sound between the two. So right now if I'm doing separate tasks on two different monitors, all of the sound is either from my speakers or from the TV. I know most dual monitors set ups are run with two actual monitors side by side so this isn't an issue, because of this I can't imagine this is a common issue. So my goal is to have the sound from any task running on my monitor to come out of my speakers. At the same time, any task that is running off of my TV should have its sound running through my TV. Any ideas? Sort by date Sort by votes tomvertommen

tomvertommen

Distinguished
Jan 2, 2009 136 0 18,690 Some applications allow to configure the used sound device...this way you can set the desired sound device. Like I said; some applications won't allow you to do this and will just use the default. To have any application detect on which monitor it's displaying it's gui and using this info to choose the desired sound device...well...I am not saying it's impossible, but atleast it sounds like an uneasy task. goodluck Upvote 0 Downvote Snipergod87

Snipergod87

Splendid
May 26, 2009 5,584 2 29,965 tomvertommen : Some applications allow to configure the used sound device...this way you can set the desired sound device. Like I said; some applications won't allow you to do this and will just use the default. To have any application detect on which monitor it's displaying it's gui and using this info to choose the desired sound device...well...I am not saying it's impossible, but atleast it sounds like an uneasy task. goodluck ^+1 you cant change it unless you can specify which sounds card to use in the application settings. Usually they wont let you do this and you are stuck with the default. Upvote 0 Downvote B

bmmpt

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2012 1 0 18,510 I just ran into the same issue and got it to work just fine. I set my laptop speakers to system default. So all sound outputs from my laptop speakers even from video players running on my TV. Then I configured those video players to output to the TV (I play videos with Windows Media Player and Media player classic, I'm sure most other video players will allow you to choose your output). Now all my apps, except for those two will output from my laptop speakers. Upvote 0 Downvote S

smitty_the_smith

Honorable
Nov 4, 2012 1 0 10,510 I know you can do this with a Virtual machine by having a separate OS on each monitor. It's not a very elegant solution but it works. :hello: Upvote 0 Downvote T

tas1978

Distinguished
Sep 29, 2009 4 0 18,510 I know this is an old thread, but I have two monitors, and an external sound card (M-Audio Mobile Pre). I have a simple audio cable from the external card to the selected monitor, but I also had to change the input settings in the <i>monitor's</i> menu. I still have to select the audio per application too though. If you swap the video cables, whichever monitor's audio was being used will also swap. Upvote 0 Downvote N

NoRest4Wicked1

Honorable
Oct 16, 2013 2 0 10,510 samtheham1 : Okay I may be posting in the wrong subject but this is sort of a split issue. I'm currently running dual monitors using my monitor and also running my TV via an HDMI cable from my GPU. The problem I'm having isn't with dual monitors but with the sound between them. What would be ideal is that when I'm running a game or whatever on my monitor and then maybe streaming a video on my second monitor (the TV), I'd like the game's sound to come from my computer speakers and the video sound to come from my TV. To this point I haven't found a way to make that happen. All that I know to do is go to control panel and set the default sound device to either my TV or my speakers. There's no option to split the sound between the two. So right now if I'm doing separate tasks on two different monitors, all of the sound is either from my speakers or from the TV. I know most dual monitors set ups are run with two actual monitors side by side so this isn't an issue, because of this I can't imagine this is a common issue. So my goal is to have the sound from any task running on my monitor to come out of my speakers. At the same time, any task that is running off of my TV should have its sound running through my TV. Any ideas? AMD's Catalyst software has an option for Theater Mode. Is this something that would allow the monitor used for streaming/playing videos to play those sounds but allow all other system/game sounds through the default sound device (PC speakers)? We frequently have movies streaming through the second monitor on my wife's gaming computer but she wants to separate the sounds so she can have her games play through the surround speakers and the movie sounds through the 2nd monitor's built in speakers. Upvote 0 Downvote Status Not open for further replies. Share: Facebook X Bluesky LinkedIn Reddit Tumblr WhatsApp Email Share Link

TRENDING THREADS

  • amdfangirl DiscussionWhat's your favourite video game you've been playing?
    • Started by amdfangirl
    • Aug 3, 2014
    • Replies: 4K
    PC Gaming
  • Z QuestionGaming laptop freezes for one minute every 20 minutes or while gaming. Do you see anything suspect in this HWiNFO log?
    • Started by zanzou
    • Today at 12:00 AM
    • Replies: 9
    Laptop Tech Support
  • Admin NewsNvidia GeForce RTX 5090 power wire reportedly caught fire despite using the original cable
    • Started by Admin
    • Saturday at 7:15 AM
    • Replies: 27
    News Comments
  • R QuestionGpu strange problem
    • Started by ridwan123
    • Today at 2:52 AM
    • Replies: 1
    Graphics Cards
  • Admin NewsRegistry hack enables new performance-boosting native NVMe support on Windows 11 — Windows Server 2025 feature can be unlocked for consumer PCs, bu...
    • Started by Admin
    • Dec 20, 2025
    • Replies: 75
    News Comments
  • DarschPugs QuestionPC will only turn when the case power button is held down while simultaneously powering on the PSU
    • Started by DarschPugs
    • Yesterday at 10:04 PM
    • Replies: 3
    Systems
  • D QuestionComputer has started hard freezing shortly after boot.
    • Started by DazedDustinAndConfused
    • Yesterday at 7:28 PM
    • Replies: 7
    Systems

Latest posts

  • Airlane1979 QuestionHome studio gear emits crackling sound when I touch a metal part of the rack mixer ?
    • Latest: Airlane1979
    • 6 minutes ago
    Home Audio & Theater
  • S QuestionS/PDIF on motherboard vs Creative Sound Blaster Z SE
    • Latest: Shalmaneser
    • 13 minutes ago
    Home Audio & Theater
  • Z QuestionGaming laptop freezes for one minute every 20 minutes or while gaming. Do you see anything suspect in this HWiNFO log?
    • Latest: zanzou
    • 29 minutes ago
    Laptop Tech Support
  • Lutfij QuestionGpu strange problem
    • Latest: Lutfij
    • 58 minutes ago
    Graphics Cards
  • TerryLaze QuestionIs there any way to get i9 13th HX CPU to working stable and well with Turbo Boost On?
    • Latest: TerryLaze
    • Today at 3:02 AM
    CPUs
  • TerryLaze QuestionDual CCD issue: 9950x3D refuses to use CCD0 despite multiple tweaks in Warzone, CS2, etc
    • Latest: TerryLaze
    • Today at 2:53 AM
    CPUs
  • CountMike QuestionGuidance needed on air cooling versus AIO liquid cooling for higher-end systems in 2025 ?
    • Latest: CountMike
    • Today at 2:26 AM
    Cooling

Moderators online

  • Lutfij

Share this page

Facebook X Bluesky LinkedIn Reddit Tumblr WhatsApp Email Share Link COMPANY Space.com is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. © Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. RESOURCES
  • Advertising
  • Cookies Policies
  • Privacy
  • Term & Conditions
  • Topics
FOLLOW Facebook Twitter Instagram Top Bottom

Tag » How To Change Audio Between Two Mo