Send Only Spotify to Your USB DAC on Mac

Short answer: In SoundDial, open ⋯ next to Spotify → Play Through → your DAC. Spotify plays on the DAC while all other apps stay on your usual output.

You bought a USB DAC for music. It sounds great with Spotify. But the moment you select it as your Mac's output, everything goes through it: Zoom calls, browser videos, notification sounds. And when you switch back to your headphones or built-in speakers for a call, Spotify comes along. What you want is simple: Spotify on the DAC, everything else where it was.

The problem: Spotify follows the Mac's output

Spotify's desktop app plays through whatever output macOS is using. The device list inside Spotify is mainly about other devices you can play to, not about which local output your Mac uses for Spotify. So the built-in way to get Spotify onto the DAC is to make the DAC the output for the entire Mac.

That's fine if you only ever listen to music. It's awkward if you also take calls, watch videos with a headset on, or want system sounds out of your hi-fi chain.

What macOS gives you

In recent macOS versions, System Settings > Sound > Output picks one device for every app. There's no per-app setting.

Audio MIDI Setup (in Applications > Utilities) is where you'd look next. It lets you see a DAC's formats and choose its sample rate from the Format menu, which is useful. It also lets you create a Multi-Output Device (the same audio on several outputs at once) or an Aggregate Device (several devices combined into one). Neither separates apps: every app still goes everywhere the device goes. macOS has no setting for "this app, that device".

How to send Spotify to your DAC with SoundDial

SoundDial is a menu-bar app that gives each app that plays sound its own volume slider. Version 2.0 adds per-app output, called Play Through: several apps can play on different devices at the same time.

1. Connect your USB DAC and make sure macOS sees it.
2. Start playing something in Spotify.
3. Open the SoundDial popover from the menu bar or with Control-Option-S.
4. Click ⋯ on Spotify's row, open Play Through and pick your DAC.
5. Leave the main output on your usual device (built-in speakers, headphones, a headset). Every other app stays there.

To return Spotify to normal, open Play Through again and choose Same as the app (default). If the DAC is unplugged while Spotify is set to it, Spotify falls back to its own device, then to the system default.

Check the DAC's sample rate

SoundDial's output card shows the current device's format as a label, for example "48 kHz · 32-bit". When the device offers more than one sample rate, the card also has a sample-rate menu, with rates from 44.1 to 384 kHz depending on what the hardware supports. If your device only offers one rate, there's no menu, because there's nothing to choose.

Which rate to pick depends on your DAC and your music. If you're unsure, leave the DAC's current setting, or choose the rate that matches the material you listen to most. The point is that you can check it without opening Audio MIDI Setup. More on this in Change Mac Sample Rate Without Audio MIDI Setup.

If your DAC has no volume control

Some USB DACs and audio interfaces don't have a volume control of their own that macOS can use. For a device like that, SoundDial shows a " volume" slider. The app explains it: "This device has no volume control of its own, so SoundDial sets the level for every app." SoundDial applies that level as software gain to every app it controls, and remembers it per device. Details in USB DAC With No Volume Control on Mac.

Together with Spotify's own per-app slider, that gives you two layers: the device level, and Spotify's level relative to your other apps.

Example setups

Goal	Main output	Spotify (Play Through)
Music on the DAC, calls on the headset	Headset	USB DAC
Music on the DAC, everything else on laptop speakers	Built-in speakers	USB DAC
Everything on the DAC	USB DAC	Same as the app (default)

Desk setup with a headset. Main output on the headset, Spotify on the DAC. The setting Lower other apps during calls is on by default, so when a Zoom or Teams call starts, other apps play at 30% of their volume and come back afterwards. The calling app itself is never lowered.

A little shaping for Spotify only. Open ⋯ > Equalizer & Balance… and choose a preset, or leave the Equalizer switch off if you want no EQ at all. Each app has its own EQ, so this doesn't affect anything else.

Links and Shortcuts. sounddial://route?app=Spotify&device=<your DAC> sends Spotify to the DAC, and sounddial://sample-rate?value=48000 sets the sample rate. Both work from any launcher or script that can open a URL, or with open in Terminal. In the Shortcuts app, the Set App Output Device action does the same without opening a window.

Limits worth knowing

• Profiles don't store the output device. A profile saves volume, mute, EQ and balance for every app, but not Play Through. Use a Shortcut or a sounddial://route link if you want it in a one-click setup.
• Stereo only. SoundDial is not a surround or multichannel tool.
• Per app, not per browser tab. If you listen to Spotify in a browser rather than the desktop app, you move the whole browser, including other tabs.

Common questions

Can I pick an output device inside Spotify on Mac?

Spotify's desktop app follows the Mac's output. With SoundDial's Play Through you can send Spotify alone to a different device.

Do other apps still play on my normal device?

Yes. Play Through only changes the app you set it on. Everything else keeps its own output.

Does this work with Apple Music, Tidal or other players?

Yes, as long as the player plays sound and gets a row in SoundDial. Play Through works the same way for each app.

What does SoundDial need, and does it go online?

SoundDial changes levels and outputs; it has no network entitlement and no account. It needs macOS 14.2 or later and macOS's System Audio Recording Only permission, under Privacy & Security > Screen & System Audio Recording.

SoundDial, a per-app volume mixer for Mac needs macOS 14.2 or later and costs €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, no subscription.

Get SoundDial on the Mac App Store.