System Settings has a Notifications panel that controls whether an app can notify you at all, and whether it does so with a sound. It has no setting for which output plays that sound. Music and video keep going to your main speakers or headphones, and every notification chime goes to the exact same place, at whatever volume the app chose.
This is the part that catches people out. Turning a notification's sound off is easy and macOS has always supported it. Moving that sound to a different speaker while leaving the sound switched on is a different request entirely, and it is one the Notifications panel was never built to answer.
What System Settings > Notifications actually controls
Open System Settings, go to Notifications, and pick an app such as Slack, Mail or Messages. From there you can turn its notifications off completely, choose whether alerts show as banners or persist until dismissed, control whether they appear on the lock screen, and toggle the sound on or off. That last toggle is the one people reach for first, and if the goal is simply silence, it is the right one to use.
Why there is no "route it elsewhere" option
Sound settings pick one output device for the whole system, and Core Audio, the part of macOS handling audio underneath, sends everything to that device unless an app has built its own output picker. Notification sounds do not get special treatment. Slack, Mail and Messages all use the system's default output like every other app, which is exactly the output your music or video is already using. There is no separate lane for alerts, and nothing in Notifications settings was designed to create one, because the panel governs whether and how an app notifies you, not where the sound comes out.
The result is the mismatch that makes this annoying in the first place. Ambient music playing quietly through good headphones, and a notification sound designed to cut through a noisy room, arrive at the same volume through the same driver. The chime was never tuned to sit next to your music. It was tuned to be noticed over silence.
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Download for MacHow Chorus splits notifications from music
Chorus lists every app currently making sound in its menu bar, and lets you choose an output for each one on its own. Set your music or video app, Spotify, Music, QuickTime, a browser tab, to your main speakers or headphones. Then set Mail, Messages and Slack to a different output, such as your Mac's built-in speaker, and turn that device's volume down low. The ping still plays. It just arrives through a quieter, more distant source instead of directly into your headphones at full strength.
Each app keeps its own assignment the next time it launches, so this is a setup you do once rather than a workaround you repeat every session. If a specific notification genuinely does not need to be heard at all, muting that one app is faster than reaching for output routing. See our guide on muting one app without muting your whole Mac for that case.
This also solves a problem the sound toggle cannot: knowing something arrived without losing track of what you are actually listening to. A muted Slack means checking the app manually to see if anything happened. A Slack routed somewhere quieter still gives you that signal, just without it cutting straight through your headphones at full volume.
A practical setup worth copying
The version of this most people actually want is straightforward: one place for what you are choosing to listen to, and a separate, quieter place for what is trying to interrupt you. A few starting points:
- Music and video on headphones, notifications on the built-in speaker. Turn the built-in speaker's volume down low in Sound settings, and pings register as a soft chime in the room rather than a spike in your ears.
- Calls on one output, chat apps on another. Route Zoom or FaceTime to your headset for privacy, and keep Slack and Messages on your desk speaker so a ping is easy to notice without it competing with the call itself.
- A dedicated "quiet channel" device. If you have a second, less central speaker connected, point every notification-heavy app at it and leave your primary output free of anything except what you chose to play.
None of this needs the sound toggle switched off, and none of it needs Slack, Mail or Messages to support the split themselves. Chorus sits outside every app and decides which output each one uses, so the routing works whether or not the app was ever built with this in mind. For sending a single app somewhere else more generally, not just notification sounds, see how to send one app's sound to a different output.
For every option available on a Mac, see Apple's own guide to notification settings.
Frequently asked questions
Can I stop notification sounds from playing through my music speaker on a Mac?
Not with a system setting, no. System Settings > Notifications lets you turn a specific app's sound off entirely, but it has no option to send that sound to a different output device. To keep the sound but move it somewhere quieter, you need a routing app like Chorus.
Does macOS let me silence just Slack, Mail or Messages notifications?
Yes. Open System Settings > Notifications, choose the app, and turn its sound off. This is the simplest fix if you want that app silent everywhere, and it costs nothing. It only falls short when you still want to hear the ping, just not on the same output as your music.
What is the difference between silencing a notification and routing it elsewhere?
Silencing removes the sound completely, using the per-app toggle already built into macOS. Routing keeps the sound but changes which output device plays it, so a notification still reaches you, just through a quieter or separate speaker instead of the one carrying your music.
Does Chorus let me send notification sounds to a different output than music?
Yes. Chorus lists every app playing audio in its menu bar, including Mail, Messages and Slack, and lets you set each one's output independently. Point your music or video app at your main speakers or headphones, and point notification-heavy apps at a quieter device instead.
Will this change stop me from hearing notifications altogether?
No, that is the point of routing rather than silencing. The notification still plays, just through an output you have chosen to be quieter or less central, such as your Mac's built-in speaker turned down low, so it registers without cutting across whatever you are listening to.
