Virtual Surround Manager: 7.1 sound for your headphones with one click

Berny23 · 2026-04-27 15:23:22

Hey guys, wanted to share this app I built over the whole last week. I've seen countless requests for such a program on forums, reaching back lots of years.

TL;DR: It's like HeSuVi on Windows, but for Linux. Also, uncluttered, without PipeWire configs and intentionally very simple to use.

How it works normally (without this app):
1. Write filter chain config file, including path to your wav HRIR profile
2. Restart PipeWire
3a. Set the virtual 7.1 sink as system default and choose your real device in EasyEffects settings
3b. Or: Write 3 new config files (some clients use different PipeWire compatibility configs) that route all audio to the virtual sink and then your real device, making switching between headphones and speakers a chore
4. If you use EasyEffects: Exclude the apps that should use 7.1 audio
3. Restart PipeWire every time you change any config, causing disrupted audio and crashes for some tools like EasyEffects

How it works with this app:
1. Select your headphones as system default.
2. Open Virtual Surround Manager, select your favorite HRIR preset and click the switch
3. If you use EasyEffects: Exclude the apps that should use 7.1 audio

Features
- Enable or disable virtual surround sound seemlessly, without changing your default device
- Drop in your own HRIR WAV files as virtualization presets, same as HeSuVi on Windows
- Profile selection is automatically saved
- Compatible with EasyEffects (and probably similar apps)
- Written entirely using the PipeWire C API, no config files are required or used
- Modern user interface, built with KDE's Kirigami 6 framework
- Available languages: English, German
- Project is not just AI-generated, everything is written by hand or autocomplete

GitHub: https://github.com/Berny23/virtual-surround-manager

AUR: yay -S virtual-surround-manager

Flatpak support is planned, but currently not working correctly. IF YOU ARE A DEVELOPER, PLEASE HELP ME WITH THE FLATPAK. THANKS! (see folder dist/flatpak)

Last edited by Berny23 (2026-04-27 19:07:19)

Arch Linux

#1 2026-04-27 15:23:22

Virtual Surround Manager: 7.1 sound for your headphones with one click

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