Having a bit of a strange issue on 16.04. I just got some new speakers for the office (3.5mm jack), but unfortunately they don't seem to be recognized by my computer. I also have a Yeti microphone that's plugged in via USB.
When the microphone is plugged in, Sound settings shows only the microphone as a valid output device. I can select it and play sound through headphones connected to it, but can't make sound come through the speakers no matter what I try. This screenshot shows my sound settings when the mic is plugged in:
When the microphone is unplugged, no devices are listed under Sound settings for Output, but the sound will play through the speakers just fine.
The issue is that I would like to use the microphone as a microphone, and run my audio output through the speakers now. How do I get my computer to recognize the speakers as a valid device with the microphone plugged in?
Installing and opening
pavucontrol, I was able to configure the computer to use the speakers as an audio device. They still don't show up as a device in the normal sound settings, but Ubuntu is successfully using them to play music, and that has stayed the default over a few reboots. I think as long as I don't touch anything, it should work.Still don't know why it's not showing up under Sound Settings, but at least it's working.
have you tried using pavucontrol ? it has a lot more options for configuring pulseaudio devices.
something looks odd with your microphone presenting an spdif output, have your verified it works ok with other devices ?