A Mac can play one sound on several speakers three ways: the Music app for AirPlay speakers, a Multi-Output Device in Audio MIDI Setup for wired and Bluetooth speakers, or a mixer app for all of them from any app. Two of those are free and already on your machine. Start there and see how far they get you.
Route one: the Music app, for AirPlay speakers
If the sound you want in two rooms is music from Apple Music or your own library, this takes four clicks and costs nothing.
1. Open Music and start a track. The picker only fills in once there is something to send.
2. Click the AirPlay icon in the playback controls at the top of the window, beside the volume slider.
3. Tick every speaker you want. Each has its own tick box, and they start together.
4. Set a volume per speaker on the slider that appears under each one.
The TV app has the same picker in its own playback controls. Apple’s support note on AirPlay has the steps, along with the sentence that sets the boundary: “You can’t use AirPlay to stream audio to multiple speakers from Control Center on a Mac.” So this route covers Music and TV, and nothing else your Mac plays. How to AirPlay to multiple speakers from a Mac goes through it in more detail.
Route two: a Multi-Output Device, for wired and Bluetooth speakers
Audio MIDI Setup builds one output out of several real ones, and macOS then treats that as a single place to send sound. It works from every app, which is the part the Music picker cannot do.
1. Connect every speaker first. Pair Bluetooth speakers in System Settings, then Bluetooth, and check each says Connected rather than just paired. Plug in wired and USB speakers.
2. Open Audio MIDI Setup, in the Utilities folder inside Applications. Faster: Command and Space, type the name, press Return.
3. Click the plus button in the bottom-left corner and choose Create Multi-Output Device. A new entry appears in the left-hand list. Double-click its name to call it something you will recognise.
4. Tick the Use box beside each speaker in the right-hand pane. Leave your Mac’s own speakers unticked unless you want them playing too.
5. Tick Drift Correction on every speaker except the one at the top of the list. It nudges devices whose internal clocks run at slightly different speeds so they do not slide apart over a long session.
6. Select the new device in the menu bar, or in Control Center under Sound, or in System Settings, then Sound, then Output. Press play and every ticked speaker should sound.
Apple’s guide to playing audio through multiple devices at once documents the same tool.
Four things to expect from it, none of which are your fault:
- The volume keys stop working. macOS cannot set the volume of a device it assembled, so the keys and the Control Center slider go dead. Volume moves to each speaker’s own buttons or to the app that is playing.
- There is no volume per speaker. A loud kitchen speaker and a quiet bedroom one both get the same signal.
- Nothing holds the speakers in time. Drift Correction is about clock speed, not about the head start a Bluetooth speaker takes before it plays. Two speakers in earshot of each other can end up sounding like an echo.
- AirPlay speakers often grey out. Sometimes they join and hold. Sometimes they vanish the moment you select the combined device.
If your two speakers are in different rooms with a door between them, none of that will bother you, and you are finished for free.
Route three: a mixer, for every app and every speaker
If the speakers are in earshot, or the sound you want in the kitchen is Spotify rather than Apple Music, the piece missing from both free routes is something that mixes the audio before it leaves your Mac.
That is what Audiout does. It lives in the menu bar and sends what you play to as many speakers as you tick, with AirPlay 2, AirPlay 1 and Bluetooth speakers on one list. Each speaker gets its own fader, and one Main Audio fader sits over all of them, so the volume keys go back to doing what the key says. It routes per app as well, so Spotify can be in the kitchen while a call stays on your Mac.
AirPlay 2 speakers stay together on AirPlay’s own clock. A Bluetooth speaker is a different job: it keeps a little music in reserve before it plays, every model keeps a different amount, and the fix is to hold the early speaker back by that measured amount. Audiout Remote, the free iPhone app included with Audiout for Mac, is coming soon and will do the measuring with the phone’s microphone. Until it lands, the “Align by ear…” wizard on the Mac plays a click from two speakers and asks which one you heard first, about fifteen rounds of it. Aligning a Bluetooth speaker by ear walks through a round. A Bluetooth speaker will not come back with the same head start every time it reconnects, so one that has wandered wants measuring again.
It is €24.99 once, and the free 14-day trial of Audiout for Mac asks for no card and no email. Apple Silicon, macOS 14.4 or later.
Same on MacBook, iMac and Mac mini
All three routes are macOS features, not hardware ones, so a MacBook Air behaves like a Mac Studio here. The one difference worth checking is Bluetooth: some Macs will hold only one Bluetooth speaker connected at a time, and you find that out at the pairing stage rather than later.
Which route should I pick?
| Music and TV app | Multi-Output Device | Audiout | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apps covered | Music and TV only | Every app | Every app, and per app |
| AirPlay | Yes | Sometimes | Yes |
| Bluetooth | No | Yes | Yes |
| Volume per speaker | Yes | No | Yes |
| Kept in time | AirPlay 2 speakers | No | AirPlay 2 on AirPlay’s clock, Bluetooth by measurement |
| Volume keys | Yes | No | Yes |
| Price | Free | Free | €24.99 once |
Try the free ones tonight in that order. Tick three speakers in Music, then build a Multi-Output Device and stand where you can hear two of them at once. Whatever bothers you after ten minutes of that, the echo, the dead volume keys or the fact that it only works in one app, is the thing you are actually shopping for.
Common questions
Can a MacBook play through two speakers at once?
Yes, and the built-in way is free. Open Audio MIDI Setup in the Utilities folder, click the plus button, choose Create Multi-Output Device, tick both speakers, then select that device in the menu bar. It works the same on a MacBook Air, a MacBook Pro, an iMac or a Mac mini, because the tool is part of macOS rather than the hardware.
Why do my volume keys stop working with a Multi-Output Device?
macOS cannot set the volume of a device it assembled out of other devices, so the keyboard keys and the Control Center slider both go dead while one is selected. Volume then lives on each speaker's own buttons, or in the app that is playing. Switch back to a single speaker and the keys come straight back.
Can a Multi-Output Device include an AirPlay speaker?
Sometimes. An AirPlay speaker can appear in the Audio MIDI Setup list once your Mac has connected to it, and plenty of people tick it in successfully. It also greys out or drops off for plenty of others, depending on the macOS version and the speaker, and Apple's own guide to Multi-Output Devices never mentions AirPlay. It costs nothing to find out which one you get.