This article goes over potential reasons for why a guest cannot hear sound when joining a computer through Parsec.
Restart Parsec on both the host and guests
Sometimes all you need is to restart to get things going. Right-click Parsec's icon in the taskbar and click Restart, on all devices involved.
Programs are muted or set to a really low volume
Open your computer's volume mixer on both the guests and the host, and make sure that Parsec and everything you're expecting to hear isn't muted or set to some inaudible volume percentage.
On Windows machines, press 'Windows key + R', type sndvol and press Enter.
If the app volume is not editable, it's possible that the volume is being controlled by an application like Microsoft Teams.
My Parsec host is muting itself on connection
When you join your own computer as an owner, Parsec automatically mutes the speaker on the host computer to prevent audio from coming out on both the host machine and the client machine while you are far away. Normally, the host's speaker being muted will still allow for you to hear audio on the Parsec client, but this may not be the case for your audio drivers.
If you are noticing that the host's speakers are muted on connection, and that unmuting the host's speakers is allowing audio to work normally on the client, then you can either disable the automatic mute by adding the line server_admin_mute=0 to your advanced configuration, or check the VB-Cable section in our echo article for setting up an audio device that works better with Parsec.
Parsec is muted on the guest overlay
Make sure that the overlay on the guest says "Sound ON" instead of OFF.
Parsec has no speaker to capture on the host
Parsec does not create its own speaker when the host lacks one, and especially cloud PCs usually lack an audio device to capture. If hovering the sound icon on the host taskbar says "No speakers or headphones are plugged in", install a virtual audio device like VB-Cable.
Parsec isn't in the same speaker as the program with audio
Parsec by default captures all audio from whichever is the default speaker on the host's machine. If the program is running audio through a different speaker, Parsec will not capture it. To check:
- Press Windows key + R
- Type
mmsys.cpland press Enter - Open the program that is playing audio
- Watch where the audio is playing by looking at the green bar, and check if the audio is in the default device
In the example below, audio is not playing in the default device, so Parsec won't capture it. Check the game's audio settings, or Windows' audio settings to make it use a different device. If you recently switched the default audio device, you should restart Parsec and the programs that have audio to make sure they start using the new device.
If you want Parsec to capture a device different from the default one in Windows, change Audio in Parsec's settings > Host to something else. If anyone is currently connected, you need to kick everyone for the changes to apply.
Speaker sample rate and bit depth is too high
You may also wanna try lowering the sample rate and bit depth of the host's audio.
- Press Windows key + R
- Type
mmsys.cpland press Enter - Double-click the default device
- In the Advanced tab, switch to 16 bit, 48000 Hz (DVD Quality)
- Click OK
- Right-click the Parsec icon in the taskbar and click Restart
Your virtual surround sound setup is interfering
If you have a setup with virtual surround sound you may want to turn it off and test Parsec again. If you have a Razer headphone especially, make sure to check for this.
Parsec cannot capture the host's device
There are some cases in which Parsec just cannot make use of the device currently set as default. If you don't have other devices to test, check the VB-Cable section in our echo article for setting up an audio device that works well with Parsec.
macOS host: Parsec Audio Capture Driver issues
The Parsec Audio Capture Driver is necessary on macOS 12 or older, but is known to be unstable. If you are using macOS 13 (Ventura) or newer, consider removing the driver and using the Default Capture Kit audio setting. It's recommended to upgrade to macOS 13 or newer rather than using the audio driver. Learn more.