How to enumerate audio out devices in c#

Question

I would like to know how to get a list of the installed audio out devices (waveOut) on a machine

OS: Windows (XP, Vista, 7) Framework: .Net 3.5 Language: c#

When iterating through this list I would like to get information like Identifier, Manufacturer, ... per device.

Any hints?

score 18 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 06 '09 at 13:00

Here is code to enumerate audio devices in C#, using WMI (reference System.Management).

    ManagementObjectSearcher objSearcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher(
           "SELECT * FROM Win32_SoundDevice");

    ManagementObjectCollection objCollection = objSearcher.Get();

    foreach (ManagementObject obj in objCollection)
    {
        foreach (PropertyData property in obj.Properties)
        {
            Console.Out.WriteLine(String.Format("{0}:{1}", property.Name, property.Value));
        }
    }

Which results in output something like:

Availability:
Caption:USB Audio Device
ConfigManagerErrorCode:0
ConfigManagerUserConfig:False
CreationClassName:Win32_SoundDevice
Description:USB Audio Device
DeviceID:USB\VID_047F&PID_0CA1&MI_00\6&2C037688&0&0000
DMABufferSize:
ErrorCleared:
ErrorDescription:
InstallDate:
LastErrorCode:
Manufacturer:(Generic USB Audio)
MPU401Address:
Name:USB Audio Device
PNPDeviceID:USB\VID_047F&PID_0CA1&MI_00\6&2C037688&0&0000
PowerManagementCapabilities:
PowerManagementSupported:False
ProductName:USB Audio Device
Status:OK
StatusInfo:3
SystemCreationClassName:Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName:
Availability:

Caption:Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA (R) Audio Controller
ConfigManagerErrorCode:0
ConfigManagerUserConfig:False
CreationClassName:Win32_SoundDevice
Description:Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA (R) Audio Controller
DeviceID:PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3059&SUBSYS_09011558&REV_60\3&61AAA01&1&8D
DMABufferSize:
ErrorCleared:
ErrorDescription:
InstallDate:
LastErrorCode:
Manufacturer:Realtek
MPU401Address:
Name:Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA (R) Audio Controller
PNPDeviceID:PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3059&SUBSYS_09011558&REV_60\3&61AAA01&1&8D
PowerManagementCapabilities:
PowerManagementSupported:False
ProductName:Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA (R) Audio Controller
Status:OK
StatusInfo:3
SystemCreationClassName:Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName:
Availability:

WMI annoyingly does not appear to distinguish simply between input and output devices for audio. However, using the managed interface to DirectSound, and the DevicesCollection class, as below (reference Microsoft.DirectX.DirectSound), we can get a lot more sound-oriented information.

        DevicesCollection devColl = new DevicesCollection();
        foreach (DeviceInformation devInfo in devColl)
        {
            Device dev = new Device(devInfo.DriverGuid);   

            //use dev.Caps, devInfo to access a fair bit of info about the sound device
        }

Do you know if it is possible to get Jack Information of the certain Audio Device? — NoWar, Dec 01 '15 at 17:47
I'm not sure, perhaps look at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd370793(v=vs.85).aspx - just a stab in the dark. — Alistair Evans, Dec 03 '15 at 09:02
Now that I've got the device, how can I start listening to it? — Paul Alexander, Jul 31 '17 at 14:46

Ohad Schneider · Answer 2 · 2014-06-28T17:10:28.857

8

In Windows Vista and above you can use IMMDeviceEnumerator which is wrapped for you by NAudio in order to enumerate audio endpoint devices. For example:

var enumerator = new MMDeviceEnumerator();
foreach (var endpoint in 
         enumerator.EnumerateAudioEndPoints(DataFlow.Render, DeviceState.Active))
{
    Console.WriteLine(endpoint.FriendlyName);
}

edited Jun 28 '14 at 17:10

answered Jun 14 '14 at 14:24

Ohad Schneider

36,600
15
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Do you know if it is possible to get Jack Information of the certain Audio Device? – NoWar Dec 01 '15 at 17:50

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 06 '09 at 12:54

here is an example

Add a reference to System.Management

ManagementObjectSearcher mo = new ManagementObjectSearcher("select * from Win32_SoundDevice");

foreach (ManagementObject soundDevice in mo.Get())
{
     Console.WriteLine(soundDevice.GetPropertyValue("DeviceId"));
     Console.WriteLine(soundDevice.GetPropertyValue("Manufacturer"));
     // etc                       
}

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 02 '13 at 10:39

        /// <summary>
        /// The DirectSoundEnumerate function enumerates the DirectSound Odrivers installed in the system.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="lpDSEnumCallback">callback function</param>
        /// <param name="lpContext">User context</param>
        [DllImport("dsound.dll", EntryPoint = "DirectSoundEnumerateA", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
        static extern void DirectSoundEnumerate(DevicesEnumCallback lpDSEnumCallback, IntPtr lpContext);

And the callback should by like this:

  private static bool DevicesEnumCallbackHandler(IntPtr lpGuid, IntPtr lpcstrDescription, IntPtr lpcstrModule, IntPtr lpContext)

score -3 · Answer 5 · edited Apr 04 '14 at 08:25

-3

Check waveOutGetNumDevs API

[DllImport("winmm.dll", SetLastError = true)]
public static extern uint waveOutGetNumDevs();

Returns the number of devices. A return value of zero means that no devices are present or that an error occurred. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd743860(v=vs.85).aspx

edited Apr 04 '14 at 08:25

Ivaylo Slavov

8,839
12
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answered Sep 22 '11 at 07:33

Amol

133
2
11

2

This only gives you the number of devices. How do you enumerate them? – Roger Lipscombe Oct 24 '12 at 18:51

How to enumerate audio out devices in c#

5 Answers5

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