How to Play Audio on Two Headphones at Once on a Mac

A Mac plays sound through one output at a time. Pick your AirPods and the speakers go quiet; pick the speakers and the AirPods go quiet. If two of you want to watch the same film on one MacBook, each with your own headphones, you need one of three workarounds.

The short answer: macOS has a free, built-in way to do it, the Multi-Output Device in Audio MIDI Setup. It works, with two catches: there's no per-device delay, so a Bluetooth pair sounds behind a wired one, and your volume keys stop working while it's selected. SynchCast for Mac (macOS 14.2 or later) fixes both. A hardware Bluetooth splitter avoids software entirely but costs a purchase and usually stops at two headphones.

	Cost	Per-device volume	Per-device delay	Volume keys work	Devices
Multi-Output Device	Free, built in	In Audio MIDI Setup only	No	No	Several
SynchCast for Mac	$10.99 once, 30-day trial	Yes	Yes, plus a sync test	Yes	Up to about 5
Bluetooth splitter	Hardware purchase	On each headphone	No	n/a	Usually 2

Method 1: the built-in Multi-Output Device (free)

macOS can combine several outputs into one virtual device. You do this in Audio MIDI Setup, a utility that comes with every Mac.

1. Connect both pairs of headphones first: Bluetooth ones in System Settings → Bluetooth, wired ones by plugging them in.
2. Open Audio MIDI Setup (Applications → Utilities, or search for it with Spotlight).
3. Click the + button at the bottom left and choose Create Multi-Output Device.
4. In the list on the right, tick Use for each pair of headphones you want to hear sound.
5. Set Primary Device to the wired output if you have one; it becomes the clock the others follow. Tick Drift Correction for every device that isn't the primary.
6. Open System Settings → Sound → Output (or the sound menu in the menu bar) and choose Multi-Output Device.

Everything your Mac plays now goes to all the devices you ticked.

Where it falls short:

• No per-device delay. Bluetooth headphones typically lag 100–300 ms behind wired ones. With a Multi-Output Device there's no way to hold the wired pair back to match, so the two of you hear the same scene a beat apart. Two identical Bluetooth headphones line up better than a mixed pair.
• Volume keys stop working. macOS can't change the volume of a Multi-Output Device as a whole, so the keyboard volume keys and the menu bar slider do nothing. You set each device's level in Audio MIDI Setup instead, which is awkward in the middle of a film.
• It's a setup, not a switch. You go back into Audio MIDI Setup whenever you want to change which devices are in it.

Method 2: SynchCast for Mac

SynchCast is a small app that does this one job. You switch on the devices you want in a list, press Start Broadcasting, and everything your Mac plays comes out of all of them.

What it adds over the Multi-Output Device:

• A delay setting for each device, and a Play Sync Test to line a Bluetooth pair up with a wired one by ear. You set it once per device.
• Its own volume for each device, adjustable while the film plays.
• Continuous drift correction, so devices are still aligned at the end of a long film.
• A menu bar switch. Close the window and start, stop or change devices from the menu bar.
• No audio driver. It uses the system-audio capture Apple added in macOS 14.2, so nothing like BlackHole needs installing. macOS asks once for permission to record system audio.

It needs macOS 14.2 (Sonoma) or later on Apple Silicon or Intel. The Mac version is currently in beta and updates itself. There's a 30-day free trial; after that it's $10.99 once, with no subscription. The Mac setup guide walks through installing it and the one-time permission prompt.

Method 3: a Bluetooth splitter (hardware)

A dual-link Bluetooth transmitter plugs into your Mac's headphone jack or a USB port and connects to two Bluetooth headphones itself. Your Mac just sees one wired output.

It's the only option that also works with a TV or anything else that can't run software. The downsides are that you buy and carry another gadget, most handle exactly two headphones, and you can't add the Mac's own speakers or a wired pair to the mix.

Which one should you use?

• Two identical Bluetooth headphones and a one-off film night: try the Multi-Output Device first. It's free.
• A Bluetooth pair plus a wired pair, or you want the volume keys back: SynchCast for Mac.
• You also want to share sound from a TV: a hardware splitter.

If you use Windows as well, SynchCast runs there too; see how to play audio on two devices at once on Windows and the comparison of every option.

FAQ

Can I connect two AirPods to one Mac at the same time? Yes. Both can be connected at once, but macOS plays sound through only one output unless you combine them in a Multi-Output Device or use an app such as SynchCast.

Why can't I change the volume of a Multi-Output Device? macOS doesn't provide a single volume control for a Multi-Output Device, so the volume keys and the menu bar slider stop working while it's selected. Set each device's volume in Audio MIDI Setup, or use an app that gives each device its own volume.

Why does one pair of headphones sound behind the other? Bluetooth adds roughly 100–300 ms of delay for encoding and transmission, and different headphones add different amounts. A wired pair is nearly instant. Fixing it needs a per-device delay, which the Multi-Output Device doesn't have and SynchCast does.

Do I need BlackHole or another audio driver? Not for either method here. The Multi-Output Device is built into macOS, and SynchCast uses the system-audio capture added in macOS 14.2.

Does SynchCast work on older versions of macOS? No. It needs macOS 14.2 (Sonoma) or later, because that's when macOS added the system-audio capture it relies on.