A gaming audio setup on a Mac comes down to four decisions: which output you play through, keeping voice chat separate from game sound, stopping other apps' notifications from cutting through a match, and switching fast if the Mac also does work or calls.
None of this needs new hardware. It needs macOS routing each app's sound to the right place, rather than everything defaulting to whatever output happens to be selected. Below is the full picture, with links to the specific how-to for each piece.
1. Choose your output: headset or desk speakers
The right choice depends on what you are playing, not on which one sounds better in general. For anything competitive, anywhere a footstep behind you or a teammate's callout genuinely changes the outcome, a headset wins. It isolates you from room noise, puts direction cues closer to your ears, and keeps your own microphone from picking up whatever the game is playing back to you.
For casual or couch gaming, desk speakers or a TV are the better default. A single-player story or a relaxed session with a controller rarely depends on hearing a footstep from behind, and not wearing anything for a two-hour session is worth more than the isolation a headset gives you. Neither device wins outright; the game decides.
Chorus does not change which device is right for which game, but it removes the friction of switching between them. Group your speakers and set a keyboard shortcut bound directly to your headset, and moving from a couch session to a ranked match is one keypress rather than a trip through Sound settings.
2. Keep voice chat off the same output as game sound
Explosions, gunfire, and music all sit in roughly the same frequency range as speech, which is exactly why a loud moment in a game can bury a teammate's callout even when both are set to a sensible volume. The fix is not turning the game down. It is putting voice chat and game audio on two different outputs entirely, so one never has to compete with the other for the same speaker.
We have covered the steps for this in detail elsewhere rather than repeating them here. For the general pattern that works with any voice chat app, see how to route game audio and voice chat to separate outputs. If your teammates use Discord specifically, Discord to your headset, game audio to your speakers walks through the exact settings.
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Once the game and voice chat are sorted, the next thing people notice is everything else. Discord's own notification chime, a Slack message from work, Mail announcing a new email: all of it plays through whatever output is currently active, at whatever volume that app chose, with no regard for the fact that you are mid-fight. A ping designed to cut through a noisy office lands just as hard through a gaming headset in a ranked match.
macOS has no built-in setting to send one app's sound to a different output than another, so every app shares whichever device is selected by default. Chorus fills that gap: point Discord's ping sound, Slack, or Mail at a separate, quieter output than your game and voice chat, and the notification still registers without reaching the headset you are playing through. Our guide to sending notification sounds to a different output covers the setup, and pairs well with a lower per-app volume for the apps you keep loudest, covered in our guide to per-app volume.
4. Switch fast if the Mac is shared with work or calls
Not everyone games on a machine that only games. If the same Mac runs a headset for work calls during the day and a different setup for a session at night, resetting Sound settings by hand gets old fast, and it is easy to forget a step and end up on the wrong output when a match starts.
The fix is the same one that solves the headset-versus-speakers switch above: save each full configuration, which app goes where, which output is default, as a group in Chorus, and bind a shortcut to each one. One keypress restores your gaming setup, game on speakers or headset, voice chat on its own output, notifications turned down. Another restores your work setup exactly as it was, with nothing to rebuild from scratch.
A setup worth keeping
None of the four pieces above have to be perfect on day one. Start with the output that matches what you are playing, split voice chat from game sound using whichever guide above matches your setup, quiet down the apps that ping the most, and add a shortcut if the Mac does double duty. Once it is set, it stays set.
For every option available on a Mac, see Apple's own guide to sound output settings.
Frequently asked questions
Should I game on a headset or desk speakers on a Mac?
Use a headset for anything competitive or voice-chat-heavy, where hearing footsteps and teammates clearly matters more than comfort. Use desk speakers for casual or couch gaming, where the room is quiet enough that isolation is not the priority and not wearing anything matters more.
How do I keep voice chat separate from game audio on a Mac?
Send your voice chat app to one output and your game to another, so a loud game moment never buries a teammate's callout. The exact steps depend on whether your voice app has its own output setting; our guides to routing game audio and voice chat separately and to the specific Discord setup cover both cases in full.
How do I stop Discord or Slack pings from interrupting my game at the wrong moment?
macOS plays every app's sound through whichever output is currently active, so a Slack ping lands at full volume through your gaming headset mid-match. Chorus lets you set chat apps like Discord and Slack to a separate, quieter output than your game, so pings still register without cutting through gameplay.
How do I switch between a gaming setup and a work setup on a shared Mac?
Save each configuration as a group in Chorus and switch between them with a keyboard shortcut, rather than resetting Sound settings by hand every time. One shortcut restores your gaming outputs, and another restores whatever the Mac was set to for work or calls.
Do I need special hardware to set up gaming audio properly on a Mac?
No. Everything here works with whatever headset, speakers, or microphone you already own. The setup is about how macOS routes each app's sound, not about buying new equipment, and it works the same way whether your gear is wired, USB, or Bluetooth.
