I am trying to find out how to assign different sound outputs to different applications in Windows 10. I heard that Windows came out with an update that now lets you do this but for the life of me I can't find any info on it.

Here's what I want to do. I use Kodi for watching TV and have the sound output on my HDMI. The sound is set as Samsung TV in my sound control. For playing games I use my Astro Gaming Headset and have the sound set for that in my sound control.

The problem is that whatever device I had it on last, is the device it is set on when I open my applications. With Kodi, if the sound is on headset, then we can't hear it through the TV. If I simply set the sound to the TV in the sound control, then Kodi crashes and I have to restart Kodi with the sound set to TV.

Same thing happens if I'm watching TV and then afterwards decide to play a game. The game sound comes out of the TV instead of the headset and I am again shutting down the game and restarting after setting the headset as my output.

I am looking to set each program to a dedicated sound device and have it automatically connect to that device when the program is started.

Any advice?

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Arte et Marte

1) Rick click your volume icon on your taskbar and select open sound settings.
2) Under Other sound options click App volume and device preferences.
3) Start any programs with sounds and they will be listed under the App section on this window.
4) Adjust to your desired device and the change is instant.

I tested with Spotify, it changed instantly and held the setting even after exiting and opening Spotify again.  I did not test with a reboot.

Steam seems to show up permanently under Apps there but Spotify did not UNLESS there was sound playing.  So I am assuming for the most part you have to always start some audio before the app will show up.

Also I had no idea you could do this until you asked the question so thanks.

Edit:  Chrome showed up when I submitted this reply.  Strange.

Second edit:  This is a handy Windows 10 feature and I can see it being useful for just about everybody in the clan, maybe somebody can pin this post in General Technology?