Set default sound device output

Question

I own a pair of usb powered speakers, and I am having trouble finding how to set the usb speakers as the default output. I found the setting where you can switch the outputs but no where to asssign a default. I took screenshot here:

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Here http://askubuntu.com/questions/158908/how-can-i-force-a-preferred-sound-output-device-to-be-used — Nabil, May 28 '13 at 15:22

score 18 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 01 '12 at 16:49

18

You can first view your current default audio device by typing:

pactl stat

And with

pactl list

you can view all your devices.

And with this command

echo "set-default-sink alsa_output.Headset" | pacmd

you can set the default device.

answered Jun 01 '12 at 16:49

Mitch

107,631

1

seems no matter what I do, the output is always: "Welcome to PulseAudio! Use "help" for usage information." Is there a confirmation of any sort? – Zlatty Feb 01 '14 at 22:03
2

@Zlatty, I got that same message, but followed it up with pulseaudio --kill and pulseaudio --start which seems to persist the change. – Justin Skiles Feb 12 '14 at 05:00
Ah excellent. It had seemed to work after a restart so a hooray for the both of us. – Zlatty Feb 12 '14 at 05:08
3

in 2022 use pactl info (not pactl stat) – Stuart Cardall Apr 27 '22 at 18:06

Set default sound device output

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