Every widget here is a real recording from the app, at the size it runs.
Audio OutputA taskbar widget for Windows 10 and 11Pro
The question this answers is never "is the volume up" — it is "why is the sound coming out of that". A headset connects, Windows moves the default endpoint without telling you, and the next thing you play goes somewhere you weren't expecting. This names the device your sound is actually going to, on the taskbar, next to the level it is going out at. Underneath, running the full width of the strip, are two meters — left and right, as the endpoint reports them — with a line marking where the volume is set. A channel that has gone quiet is a fault people live with for weeks because nothing ever tells them; here it is a bar that stopped moving. The speaker icon mutes on its own, and clicking elsewhere opens a panel with a volume slider and every other output Windows knows about.
Where it runs
What it does
- Names the output your sound is really going to, not just the volume
- Two meters, left and right, so a dead speaker shows up the day it dies
- A line marking where the volume is set — the gap above it is your headroom
- Real per-channel levels, not one number drawn twice
- Speaker icon mutes on one press, the rest of the strip opens the panel
- A volume slider in the panel, dragging the real system level
- Scroll anywhere over the slider to nudge it, 2% a notch like the volume keys
- Lists every other output, so a wrong default gives itself away
- A long device name scrolls, dwelling at both ends rather than looping
- Reads the real endpoint, so it can't disagree with the tray or the keys
- Reflects volume changes made anywhere else within a second
- Follows the taskbar's own colour, and re-matches when the theme changes
What you can change
- Clicking elsewhere
- Second line
- The number
Put it on your desktop
Free download — this one needs Pro to run.
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