How to Use Two Headphones on PC? Explained 2023

It‘s disappointing to share one side of your headphone, or to give up headphones and connect to speakers. Some might like the sound effect headphones provide and a few would prefer privacy. Either way, there has to be an answer on how to connect two headphones on a PC? Yes, there are few ways to connect two headphones to your PC. This article will help you in connecting two headphones.

How to connect and use two headphones?

Nowadays we can hardly find a laptop that has two audio jacks. This was a part of optimizing the laptop designs. It is not convenient to listen to every single music on speakers especially when you have one to accompany you. To connect and use two headphones are now possible in the solution-finding world. The methods used to connect two headphones are:

• Connecting two Bluetooth headphones
• Changing the PC settings
• Playing audio from different applications on two devices
• Ways to connect on your MAC

1. Connecting two Bluetooth headphones

Connecting directly two of your Bluetooth headphones to your PC is quite not possible. But there are other ways to connect two of your Bluetooth headphones to your PC.

• First method is to connect your wired headphone and the Bluetooth headphone.  Plug in your wired headphone to your PC and also connect your Bluetooth headphones after turning ON Bluetooth on your PC. Here are the next steps to follow after connecting your wired and Bluetooth headphones.

Step 1: Open the control panel in your PC

Step 2: Now select the “Sound” option

Step 3: You will have the “Recording Tab” option there, click on it

Step 4: “Stereo Mix” is the option where you may have to right-click and set as “Default Device”

Step 5: Now click on the Listen tab

Step 6: Select the device in which you would like to listen to the audio in the “Listen to this device” section

This method will help you connect two headphones simultaneously but you can notice a small delay in the delivery of audio in your primary and secondary headphones. You might face issues in adjusting the volume on your secondary headphone. This method is best suited for connecting your wired and Bluetooth headphones, not two Bluetooth headphones. 

In case you are not able to find the Stereo Mix option on your PC, try finding the Recording Tab option. “Show connected devices” and “Show disconnected devices” boxes will be available besides recording tab. If you are unable to find these options on your PC, this certainly means that your PC does not support connecting two headphones.

• Here is your second method that lets you connect two Bluetooth headphones. In this method, you may use an audio mixer to connect two Bluetooth headphones. The audio mixer is a device that detects the audios automatically and provides you an option to choose which Bluetooth headphones to be connected to. There are no specific complicated guides to start connecting your audio mixer. There are multiple audio mixers in the market, you may have to buy one and connect as mentioned in their user manual. To connect the audio mixer will require a external software as mentioned in the user manual of your audio mixer. There is no better option available right this moment for you to connect two or more Bluetooth headphones to your PC simultaneously.  The audio mixer is a promising device for sound quality and automatically manages the EQ settings of all the connected Bluetooth headphones.

2. Change the PC settings

This method is expected to suit most of the laptops that allow access to two headphones. This method is almost the same as you connect a wired headphone and the Bluetooth headphone with a little more step to be followed in the end. Here are the steps for you to use two headphones on a PC:

Step 1: Open the control panel in your PC

Step 2: Now select the “Sound” option

Step 3: You will have the “Recording Tab” option there, click on it

Step 4: “Stereo Mix” is the option where you may have to right-click and set as “Default Device”

Step 5: Now click on the Listen tab

Step 6: Select the device in which you would like to listen to the audio in the “Listen to this device” section after checking the box

Step 7: After you select your headphone, now you will have to open the Advanced Tab

Step 8: Go ahead and uncheck the box “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device”

Step 9: You may now click on Apply to save the changes made

This method will let you connect two playback issues at the same time and play the audio without any issues. Be aware that you may have to face some delay in audio delivery to your secondary headphone. 

3. Playing audio from different applications on two devices

You might have adjusted your speaker or headphones while using Skype. We will be applying a similar method here by customizing playback devices for, particularly few software. Now all you have to do is to connect your speaker to play music from the Movies & TV App and your headphones to play sound from Firefox or Google Chrome. In simple words, it’s possible to enable alternate sound output for individual apps to use double headphone or any playback device on PC. 

Step 1: Find the sound icon on your taskbar and right-click on it

Step 2: Select the Open settings option

Step 3: Now select the App volume and device preferences 

Step 4: Now all your open apps will be listed in the settings box opened. Find the software that you would like to vary your playback device. You will find the Output dropdown menu right next thereto also.

Step 5: Now you can see all the devices connected to your PC. Select your device. Keep in mind that Windows will automatically save the chosen playback devices for the software. Therefore, it will always output sound to saved headphones or speakers whenever you launch the appliance. 

This is how you’ll use two headphones directly on Windows 10 by selecting a playback device for alternative applications or software.

4. Ways to connect on your MAC

All the discussed methods above will help you in connecting two headphones on your Windows PC. This method will explain how to connect on your MAC. MAC has its advantage in this issue because it is a lot simpler in MAC to connect two or more headphones. The following steps will help you connect the headphones:

 

Step 1: Search for Applications in your Finder

Step 2: Now select Utilities

Step 3: Select Audio Midi Setup

Step 4: Now click on the plus (+) button on the left lower corner and select Create Multi-Output Device 

Step 5: After creating your Multi-Output device, go ahead and select the one you created as “Use this device for sound output”

Step 6: Now you will have devices to check which you want to access. Go ahead and check the box

Step 7: Now select the Master device that is on your right

Step 8: Check the Drift Connection and choose the Slave Device

Step 9: Now open the Sound pane by launching system preferences

Step 10: Now select the Output tab

Step 11: Go ahead and select the Multi-Output device you created earlier

This method has a few steps to be followed but is more beneficial to connect two or Bluetooth headphones, wired and Bluetooth headphones.

Alternatives used to connect two headphones

1. Using a splitter to connect

 

A headphone splitter is a device that serves as a solution to your question. This headphone splitter is designed in a way to connect two or more headphones to one device. The splitter when you see it, explains its connecting way itself. You may have to just plug in the splitter in the audio jack of your PC. Now the splitter will leave with two or more ports to plug in your headphones. Now you can listen to the music in more than one wired headphones. 

If the headphone splitter has two ports to connect your headphones, then it is called a Y splitter. When it has multiple ports then it is called multiple headphone splitters. Headphone splitters will not let you experience any audio delay. The only disadvantage splitters hold is that they do not have an extension. You may have to stay a little close to your PC.

2. Using third-party software

The third-party software will let you connect to more than one headphone at the same time. This is preferred by most of the users. Regardless of the numbers, you will be provided with a lot more freedom when it comes to selecting your input and output devices. The following steps will help you use this third-party software:

Step 1: Download any third-party software

Step 2: Extract the files from the ZIP folder and launch the application

Step 3: Now go ahead and set up the input devices (headphones) and name them as Input device 1 and Input device 2

Step 4: Select both the devices as your output device

Step 5: Go ahead and try listening to the audio on both of your headphones.

It is as simple as that. There is no complication in steps when it comes to third-party software. Be it any software of third parties the steps mentioned above will help you launch the software and connect the headphones.

FAQs

1. Can I use two headphones on a PC at once?

If your PC has two audio ports, yes you can. If not you can try the above-mentioned steps to connect two headphones at once.

2. How do I split audio on the computer?

Go to the settings on your PC. On your audio control panel, you will find an option to split the audio on your computer. Basically, you will select one audio device as the default to perform this.

3. Can I connect two Bluetooth headphones to the phone?

Unfortunately no. When it comes to Bluetooth headphones you can connect only one at a time to your phone. Because your phone can recognize the Bluetooth devices nearby but it can connect to only one device.

Conclusion

I hope now you have a clear picture of how to use two headphones to your PC. I have explained the ways to connect two headphones to your Windows and MAC. The steps to connect on your MAC pc are quite considerable. In case you are comfortable or your PC is not compatible with connecting two headphones, you may have to prefer the alternatives mentioned. You can either buy a splitter or install third-party software to achieve this. 

I’m glad this article helped you and your friend listen to the same audio without sharing your headphones and also to maintain your privacy. Enjoy listening!