How to Remove a Multi-Output Sound Device on Mac

Easily unpair a multi-output sound device in Mac's Audio MIDI Setup program

Written by Megaera Lorenz, PhD

Last Updated: December 31, 2023 Fact Checked

You can easily set up your Mac to play audio out of multiple devices at once, including headphones, wired speakers, and Bluetooth speakers, in your Mac’s Audio MIDI Setup app. But what if you no longer need the multi-output device you created? Deleting the device is even simpler—all you have to do is select it from the list in the app and click the — (Remove) button. In this article, we’ll talk you through the steps to delete a multi-output device you no longer want.

Things You Should Know

You can delete multi-output devices in your Mac’s built-in Audio MIDI Setup app.
Click the device in the lefthand menu of the app window and then click the "-" button in the bottom left corner to delete it.

Steps

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The icon looks like an electronic piano keyboard. You can find it in your Launchpad in the Other category, or click the
Spotlight Search button in the toolbar at the top of your screen and type in audio midi setup to find it.
You’ll see a list of your devices on the left side of the Audio Devices window. Click your multi-output device to select it.^{[1]
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Click the — button. You’ll see this button in the lower left corner of the app window, between the + and
buttons. When you hover over it, you’ll see the text Remove Selected Aggregate Device. Click this to delete your device.
- To create a new multi-output device, click + and select the devices from the list that you want to combine.
  - To select your new device as the audio output for your Mac, you’ll need to go to Apple menu > System Settings > Sound and select it from the list there.

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Tips

You can view all the audio devices connected to your Mac by going to Apple menu > System Settings > Sound. While you can select your output device and adjust the sound settings from this menu, you can’t add or remove multi-output devices there.

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