DirectSound Devices

The DirectSound device object represents a rendering device and is used to manage the device and to create sound buffers.

Multiple applications can create objects for the same sound device. When the input focus changes between applications, the audio output automatically switches from one application's streams to the other's. As a result, applications do not have to repeatedly play and stop their buffers when the input focus changes.

This section describes how your application can enumerate available sound devices, create the device object, and use the IDirectSound8 methods of the object to manage the device. The following topics are covered:

• Enumerating Sound Devices
• Creating the Device Object
• Cooperative Levels
• Device Capabilities
• Speaker Configuration