The problem – Imagine you are listening to melodious music on your Windows 10 PC/laptop/tablet using a headphone, and one of your family members also wants to listen to the music at the same time, but he/she doesn’t prefer using a headphone.
Have you ever wondered if it’s possible to use speakers and headphones at the same time on a Windows 10 PC? Yes, it’s possible to simultaneously use headphones and speakers at the same time in Windows 10 without having to install additional programs.
Steps to use both headphone and speaker at the same time
In this guide, we are going to show how to use speakers and headphones at the same time in Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7.
Step 1: Connect your headphone to your PC and make sure that the speakers are also connected. Before proceeding to the next step, make sure that your PC’s speaker and connected headphone are properly connected.
Step 2: Right-click on the volume icon in the taskbar and then click Sounds option to open Sounds dialog. Alternatively, type mmsys.cpl in the Start/taskbar search and press the Enter key to open the Sounds dialog.
And if the Volume icon is not appearing in the system tray of the taskbar, please refer to our volume icon missing from Windows 10 taskbar guide.
Step 3: Under the Playback tab, right-click on your speaker and then click Set as Default Device option to make it default. If the Default Device option is missing or greyed out, then it’s likely because the speaker is already the default audio device on your PC, and you can skip to the next step.
Also, you will see Default Device entry just below the device, as shown in the picture above.
Step 4: Switch to the Recording tab by clicking on the same.
Step 5: Right-click on your microphone or Stereo Mix and click Properties.
Step 6: Click on the Listen tab. Here, check the box labeled Listen to this device. Select your headphone from Playback through this device drop-down dialog.
Step 7: Click the Apply button. That’s it! The sound should now be coming from both your headphone as well as speakers.
If both headphone and speaker are not playing the sound at the same time, please check if your have actually set Speaker as the default device (and not default communication device).