How to test headphones in Windows

1 min to read
As part of this article, we will describe how you can quickly check sound in your headphones using various tools.

Test headphones online

The fastest, most universal and efficient way is to use an online service. How to do this, we described in this article.

Standard tools

You can test sound in your headphones using Settings in Windows. There are two ways to open the required menu:

  1. Click on Start menu, which is located in the lower left corner of screen, and select Settings, as we have shown in the screenshot.

    Settings in Start menu

    In the opened window, click on System category and then select, on the left side of list, the Sound tab.

  2. As an alternative, right-click on sound icon, which is located in the lower right corner of screen and select Open Sound settings.

    Sound settings in taskbar

Then refer to Manage Audio Devices.

Manage sound devices

Select the output device you are using and click the Test button.

Test button

If sound output is working correctly, you should hear a special sound.

Left-right stereo test

For test each channel separately, go back to the Sound settings window and select Sound Control panel.

Sound control panel

In the opened window, right-click on required audio output device and click Test.

Test device channels

You should hear a special sound play on left and then right channel.

Realtek manager

With this panel, you also can check sound output and test each audio channel in headphones separately.

There are several ways to open this manager:

  1. Type "realtek" in search bar, which is located in the lower left corner of screen.

Search Realtek in Windows

Select one you want from search results.

  1. If there is no search bar, open Start menu and in list of applications on the left, find required manager. The list is sorted alphabetically. In screenshot below, we have shown what the end result might look like.

Start menu list

In the opened Realtek window, select Headphones tab.

Realtek speakers tab

To start testing, click on Play button, which we marked in the screenshot.

Play button

If headphones are working correctly, you will hear sound in left and right channels in turn.

Skype

To make sure there is sound in headphones in the program you need:

  1. Open Skype
  2. In the upper left corner, where name, last name and account balance are located, click on three dots and select Settings, as shown in the screenshot below.

Skype settings

  1. On the left side of window, select Audio and Video section.
  2. Scroll down to Speakers. Click on the special Sound Test button.

Sound test button

If you hear a special song, then headphones are working correctly.

All headphone guides