Nintendo

How to listen to Discord and Nintendo switch through the same PC speakers/headset

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Comments (57)
  1. icarus says:

    thank you so much… ive been trying to get it to work for a while and it finally did!

    1. rosstpope says:

      Glad to hear it! I searched around for ages before I finally worked this way out so I figured I’d get it up online

  2. Arjun Dhawan says:

    Thankyou for sharing this info!

    1. rosstpope says:

      Happy to help, did it work?

  3. Ray says:

    Works for me! thanks a lot!

  4. Ben says:

    I cannot see the ‘listen’ tab when I click properties?

    1. Will_GSRR says:

      It could be an issue with out of date drivers?

  5. Tom says:

    Having some trouble here. My PC only has 1 combined mic/headphone port. Any suggestions on what I could buy to help with this?

    1. willgsrr says:

      I know you can get splitters for single ports so you can plug in headphones and a mic. But I’m not sure if this method would then still work.

  6. Davis says:

    Nothing is showing up in my Recording tab. Any idea how to fix this? I’ve got a combined mic/headphone port.

  7. TheColdest247 says:

    Bro you are the best! I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to get my switch to come through my 5.1 surround speakers. Everybody I asked said it couldn’t be done, or at least they had no idea on how to do it, and I just so happened to come across this post. Thank you so much and God bless you..

    1. Ross_GSRR says:

      No problem mate, glad to hear it

  8. Atlas says:

    I don’t see it posted anywhere here, but I’d like to point something out.

    If for any reason you are hearing the audio coming in kinda wonky (like quieter parts of the sound have a noticeably worse quality), uncheck audio enhancements. On some devices, that can help, but it really lowers the quality of the switch’s audio.

    Other than that, this worked like a charm. Damn well worth the money!

    1. Ross_GSRR says:

      Thanks for this, I’m going to add it into the troubleshooting section if thats OK?

  9. Mikkel says:

    Hey, I have my MSI thing pop up when i Insert it that then asks what i am connecting. Do i select it as a mic? Or as a headphone? Or simply as a line-in?

  10. Ross_GSRR says:

    Technically I think it should be a line-in, providing you can ‘listen’ to it. All this method is doing is creating a loop from your switch to your speakers/headphones. Any issues drop us another reply, and sorry for the delay.

  11. AussieBlue says:

    Is there a way to do this while also using the pro controller or will I have to use the headphone jack and plug it directly into my sound card? I am using a good sound card but I am still getting interference is there another way around this?

  12. Ross Pope says:

    Hi Aussie,

    I’ve not tried it myself, but if it’s taking up the USB slot maybe use a multi-USB port to split it out? Another reader suggested the following if you are still getting feedback:

    If for any reason you are hearing the audio coming in kinda wonky (like quieter parts of the sound have a noticeably worse quality), uncheck audio enhancements. On some devices, that can help, but it really lowers the quality of the switch’s audio.

    Alternatively you could try using one of these:
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L1NP7YI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=roadsun0a-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B01L1NP7YI&linkId=2662f99a2335da20ab3c14499569d54e

  13. Octavion says:

    I did this and the feed back is almost the same level of the game isnt it supposed to be lower

  14. Octavion says:

    Never mind I got the static to go away by putting the mic base boost to 0 and setting the volume lower. Then I turned up the switches volume instead.

  15. Octavion says:

    I don’t know if my last comment stayed because I don’t see it anymore. What I said was basically, you can turn down the static if you lower the settings in your PC, and increase the sound output of your console.

    1. Ross Pope says:

      Hi mate, we have comments on an approval basis just to avoid all the bot spam 🙂 that’s a great tip thanks!

  16. Alex says:

    I followed all the steps and it works great! However the nintendo switch audio is only playing through my speakers, and not my headset. I even set the playback device for the switch to my headset but it still doesn’t work. Any advice?

  17. Ross Pope says:

    If your PC is ‘listening’ to the switch as an input, then it should route all audio out to the primary device. Your PC has no idea that it’s a switch, it’s just been tricked into thinking it’s a microphone.

    The only thing I could potentially think of is that your PC default device is your speakers, and Discord has been separately told to go through your headset? (Discord settings override defaults on your PC).

    Does any other audio come out your speakers? Such as a youtube video or something like that?

  18. Railtracks says:

    Is there no way that I can have both my microphone and the Switch audio active at the same time? Seeing as they’re both audio inputs, I don’t know how I can use both.

  19. Mikey says:

    I have my switch directly into a line in, and a mic into my mic port, and headphones into my headphone port at the back of my Desktop PC. My problem is, whenever a discord call is started, my mic is working and I “listen” to the line-in, it plays the line-in to the person I’m conversing with. So they can hear me and my switch sound. But when not in a call, I can hear my line-in perfectly fine. If you have any insight it would be greatly appreciated.

  20. Rin says:

    Hey there, my setup involves my console games tv as a second monitor, utilizing a hdmi switcher to go between whatever mode I want. Of course, I’ve been wanting some sort of fix for being able to listen to both my switch and computer audio at the same time, especially for playing Smash while being in a voice call via Discord, so seeing this option over the much more expensive sound board was lovely.

    Having difficulties figuring out how to get it working though? I utilize a laptop (built for gaming,) instead of a desktop, but it still has a headphone port so should obviously still work, however I don’t see any new device popping up at all. Additionally, I only hear my switch audio when I have the audio cord plugged into the mic port on the adapter, while my headphones are plugged into the headphone jack. If I do it vice versa (Headphones in the mic port, the audio cable in both headphone ports) I get no sound whatsoever.

    If you’re able to offer any help, it’d be greatly appreciated.

  21. Hedera W says:

    Does this not work for the switch lite? I followed these instructions, skipping the part that involves the dock, yet I’m not able to hear anything from my switch. I’m plugging the aux cord into my switch headphone jack while plugging the other side into every compatible jack on my PC. My main earbuds plug into the jack on my monitor, but I’ve switched around into every different arrangement I can think of with no luck, the same goes for my sound settings. I’ve tried all the different input and output devices in my options, changing the defaults then running the troubleshooter but still wasn’t able to hear anything from my switch.

  22. askliva says:

    I dont know why… but I cant find the guide …. It only shows me the title… then the picture and then the comments… there is no description on how to do it… and I cant find a “register” button or something like this … Is this normal ? Help would be apreciated and sry for the bad English ( im from Germany) 🙂
    Thanks
    askliva

    1. willgsrr says:

      There is no need to register to anything. It should just display as normal. Could be an issue with your browser?

  23. Camil35 says:

    Hi I have sizzling.

  24. Ruth Maldonado says:

    Thanks for this. Did the trick.

  25. Max says:

    thank you! I just wish that there was a way to remove the buzzing…
    I turned down the volume but i can still hear it (a little bit when there is no other audio)

  26. Brodie says:

    Thank you for this, I just have a small problem where the audio from the switch keeps dropping out every now and then. Any suggestions??

  27. James Manning says:

    if you’re running the switch output as a microphone to the pc, wouldn’t that mean you can’t speak in discord? only listen?

  28. rosstpope says:

    You can set a different input device specifically in Discord settings, this should work.

  29. Lemony Snicket says:

    So, I set this up and it worked perfectly the first couple times I tried it, but after that it just stopped working. my pc and switch could both detect it working and according to my pc there were no issues. Any fixes?

  30. SS says:

    After the recent windows update, it doesn’t seem to work anymore? I’ve had it working for the longest time.

  31. cryux says:

    Does this work with a laptop and a usb headset?

  32. Jack Straw says:

    the pink 3.5 port is the mic not headphones

  33. Ryan says:

    Do you get a buzzing sound through your pc when using a USB to 3.5mm adaptor? because the method that I am using at the moment creates a small buzzing noise that is rather annoying, and I am wondering if using a usb to 3.5mm converter out of the switch rather than just the aux cable out of the switch will fix that

  34. Charesow says:

    Worked for me, thank you!

  35. Nate says:

    This works perfectly when I am not trying to use discord. My main microphone is plugged into the 3.5mm port on the front of my pc, but when I plug the switch cord into the rear 3.5mm port, it replaces my microphone, and appears as the exact same ‘microphone’ device under sounds. How would I make it appear as its own device separate to my microphone?

  36. Lucas says:

    If you want to completely get rid of the buzzing noise plug a group loop Isolator into the port on your pc and the aux cable into that. You get those things for around $8 on Amazon. With this you would also not need the USB to Aux thing. Personally I just have such an Isolator and an Aux cable directly into the switch. Cost me in total around 12€ and I get no buzzing at all as long as my sounds are configured correctly

  37. L says:

    If you want to completely get rid of the buzzing noise plug a group loop isolator into the port on your pc and the aux cable into that. You get those things for around $8 on Amazon. With this you would also not need the USB to Aux thing. Personally I just have such an Isolator and an Aux cable directly into the switch. Cost me in total around 12€ and I get no buzzing at all as long as my sounds are configured correctly

  38. Kyle says:

    Thanks so much for the help! Got it working and got it working another way too. If you’re using an Elgato capture card(probably works with others but that’s what i’m using) you can use the same principals as above with changing the device settings to listen to and it worked. Just in case you’ve already got one and want to save a bit of cash and no buzz at all, thanks for the tips, never would have ever thought to look there.

  39. Jay says:

    Would this work for listening to phone calls and nintendo switch games too?

  40. I was looking for a way to listen to music and hear my switch through the same headset and this method worked brilliantly. I bought a high quality aux cable and USB adaptor (same items that are recommended in the article), connected the aux cable to my line-out port on my sound card (with 3.5mm to 6.3mm jack adaptor) hooked the aux cable to the green port on the USB adaptor and plugged that into the Switch’s USB port. Changed the settings for the line-in audio on my ASUS Xonar essence sound card (recordings tab, properties, listen to this device) and top quality Switch audio coming through my PC. There are very VERY slight artifacts, but are barely noticeable unless the volume is turned up and there is no music/ambient sound coming from the Switch game.
    Overall, super advice, I’ll be happy playing Animal Crossing without having to bear the in game music over my own selection 😀

  41. Mike M says:

    I did this exact setup but instead of from the switch to the pc with the 3.5, I did from the monitor to the pc and it fixed the feedback issue without needing the adapter. You can’t hear the switch unless it is displayed in your monitor but it sounds way better than from switch to pc. So hdmi from switch to monitor, and 3.5 from monitor to pc, then setup the new “mic” to be listened to via properties.

    1. Ross Pope says:

      Great tip!! Thanks

  42. VL says:

    I have been trying to do this for the past month or so and i wont get any audio from my switch it just keeps doing nothing. is there any solution to this? also all of my drivers are up to date if thats gonna be one of the answers

  43. quickrick1 says:

    So I tried this and it works, mostly. When my switch is in handheld mode there are no issues, but if I use it docked (even with a usb adapter) any louder sounds sound distorted. When I check the mic the audio volume indicator keeps peaking on any louder noises, so that’s probably the issue, but lowering the mic’s volume and increasing the switch’s volume instead didn’t do much. Is there any way to prevent this peaking? Because any other sound sounds very crisp.

  44. PinBoi says:

    I’ve been having the same exact issue and have had no clue as to what to do. It’ll keep on producing a horrible static sound and it keeps on peaking if the audio is too high

  45. W says:

    The switch audio comes through my microphone, so when talking to friends through discord, they will also be able to hear my switch audio. And obviously when I click listen in it makes it so I hear my own voice too as the “microphone” for the switch audio and my actual microphone merge into one

  46. Maria says:

    Thanks, you’ve made my day! Works perfectly. Grateful for the suggestion to turn the mic base boost to 0 and reducing the volume, got rid of the static.

  47. Derek says:

    Hey I have yet to try this but for those of you who only 1 jack im pretty sure you can use the adapter on the computer and not the switch won’t fix that static in that case but will allow you do this

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