Windows: 2 independent audio devices for stereo?

Question

In our company we have several small USB speaker/mic combinations (jabra speak) for skype conferences.

Is there a way I can just plug in 2 of these in 2 usb slots and then tell Windows (or iTunes) to use one of them for the left stereo channel and the other for the right stereo channel?

Answer 1

No, you cannot.

Windows does not natively support this.

Even if you theoretically would use software such as virtual audio cable, it is the driver of the USB that will only accept mono, so you would get the left channel on both speakers.

Maybe there is some audio routing software that can split up a stereo signal and route an individual channel to each usb device, but I do a lot with audio and I haven't seen that yet.

Answer 2

Skype audio is mono. Skype just doesn't send stereo audio. So, it doesn't matter what your sound configuration is.

If it had a chance of working, your easiest setup would be to tell Skype to use the "line in" device for its "microphone", connect a small external mixer to the line in, and connect two or more mics to the mixer.

Actually you can do that with Skype as it is, to use more than one mic... you just won't be sending stereo to the other end(s) of your call. (I recommend "boundary layer" microphones for conference room-type use.)

Incidentally, I have verified that "Skype audio is mono" with a setup just as described above... panned one of the mics hard left, then checked at the other end of the call. Nope, it comes out the same in both channels at the receiving end, no matter how things are sent from the sending end. Skype apparently sums stereo inputs to mono.

More generally: It is extremely rare for any program other than a fancy multimedia app to be able to handle more than one audio input device at a time, which is what you were proposing. Even Sound Forge (for ex.) can't do it. (Multiple channels from one device, yes, but not multiple devices at once.) The "Virtual Audio Cable" software might be able to handle it.