How can I make VLC output its sound through USB headphones?

Question

Whenever I plug-in my earphones with a round connection into my MacBook Pro, the sound automatically switches to them. Whenever I plug my headphones with a USB connection (Logitech USB ClearChat Comfort Headset) and I am playing sound in iTunes, the sound automatically switches. Whenever I plug in my headphones and VLC is playing, the sound continues to play through the speakers. Is there any way to make VLC work with my USB headphones?

Update: It seems that the headphones don't work properly with Skype either.

Answer 1

Ask and you shall receive...

I logged this as a bug on VLC and they delivered within 2hrs!

https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/9231

Answer 2

VLC can't switch audio interfaces on-the-fly. You either have to stop playing media entirely, and go into the preferences and change it, then start playing your media again; or, the slightly easier way:

1. Kill VLC
2. Plug in headphones (and ensure they become the primary output sound device, hold option and click the sound icon in your menu bar, select usb headphones if necessary)
3. Start VLC

Assuming VLCs preferences are still set to use the Default Audio Device for output, then it'll use them when you start playing content again.

Answer 3

Since you're getting iTunes and system sounds through the headset, it should be set as the default audio device, but check the the Sound Preferences pane to make sure. After this, try restarting VLC to get it to use the new default audio device. This should also work for Skype, however Skype should have options in the preferences menu that will let you choose the audio output/input device. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any similar option in VLC.

Answer 4

Exiting VLC player, and then changing the default Sound Output to Logitech USB Speakers worked for me. So long as the Logitech speakers are plugged in before you open VLC player and System preferences are set correctly then VLC should play through the Speakers.

I know a lot of people use VLC player instead of Quicktime, because some Windows files don't play sound on Quicktime, but work perfectly on VLC player. Although this may have changed since Snow Leopard and the latest version of Quicktime.

Hope this helps. Toria

Answer 5

Hmm, I can switch audio devices in VLC on the fly without problems:

It defaults to the device defined in the system settings on startup.

Answer 6

I've just solved the problem like this (without killing the app): I went into the Bluetooth settings (long click on the main icon in the main settings of my smartphone) and saw that "Media audio - Connected to media audio" was checked. I unchecked it, checked again, and yey, the sound is coming from the loudspeaker, finally :) I hope I won't have to do this every time though :/