What Is Per-App Audio Routing on Mac?
Windows lets you pick an output device for each app in its sound settings, but macOS sends every application to a single system output. Audio routing on Mac used to mean building virtual audio devices and multi-output configurations in Audio MIDI Setup by hand.
Since macOS 14.2, macOS lets an app pick up the audio of another single app without any change to your Mac's security settings. LitLink Pro uses this feature for its per-app routing. We make LitLink, so this page sticks to what each developer publishes; competitor facts were checked on November 5, 2026.
How Does macOS 14.2 Make Per-App Routing Possible?
Before that, per-app routing meant kernel extensions, an older kind of system add-on that Apple has deprecated, or chains of virtual audio devices. LitLink Pro gives you a simple list instead: select an app, choose a destination, and the routing starts.
Per-app routing in LitLink adds a small delay that LitLink keeps short, well within what calls, streams and soundboard audio in Discord tolerate. If you need exact numbers, Export Diagnostics in the LitLink app reports the measured delay.
How Does LitLink Pro Compare to Loopback and SoundSource?
Sources: Loopback, Loopback pricing, Loopback manual, SoundSource, SoundSource pricing, OBS macOS audio capture guide.
Loopback combines audio from apps and input devices, such as your microphone, into virtual devices with up to 64 channels, with a volume slider and mute for each source and built-in monitors. Users who explored the Loopback alternative landscape know its visual device builder well. Loopback ($99) fits setups that need per-app isolation, many sources combined into one device, or up to 64 channels. It installs Rogue Amoeba's ARK plugin, which asks for your administrator password.
SoundSource gives you per-app volume sliders, per-app output selection and effects from the menu bar, including a 10-band EQ, Audio Unit plugins, AirPlay streaming of single apps and volume keys for HDMI and DisplayPort outputs. LitLink Pro covers per-app volume, output routing and EQ (a high-pass filter, one parametric band and a low-pass filter per app, plus a master EQ) for $29 instead of $49.
Which Use Cases Require Per-App Audio Routing?
Streamers on Twitch and YouTube often run Discord, a game, a browser and OBS at the same time. If all system audio goes to the stream, Discord notifications and browser tabs go with it. LitLink Pro lets streamers assign each application to a specific output, keeping the stream audio clean while monitoring everything through headphones. For OBS alone, OBS Studio 30 and later can also capture a single app on macOS 13 or later with its macOS Audio Capture source.
Podcasters recording with guests over Zoom or Discord benefit from putting the call app's audio on a separate track, so the guest's audio can be edited on its own afterwards. Loopback and Audio Hijack also do this; see LitLink Pro pricing for doing it at $29 one-time.
How Do You Set Up Per-App Audio Routing with LitLink Pro?
LitLink Pro does the rest in the background. When you assign Spotify to the built-in speakers and Discord to a USB headset, LitLink Pro picks up each app's sound and sends it to the chosen device. Adding or removing devices updates the available destinations automatically.
Users who previously managed per-app volume control on Mac in a separate app will find that LitLink has per-app volume (free) and per-app routing (Pro) in the same app, so one tool covers both.
Marcel Iseli is an indie developer, DJ, and music producer with over 20 years behind the decks and in the studio. Rooted in hip hop culture, he collects drum machines, samplers, and vintage audio gear. LitPads grew out of that obsession: decades of triggering samples on hardware led him to build the software equivalent he always wanted.