This online speaker test plays a tone through your left channel, right channel, or both together, so you can confirm each speaker or headphone driver is actually producing sound. It uses the Web Audio API to generate the tone directly in your browser, offers a device picker for switching between connected outputs, and needs nothing more than a modern browser to run.
A stereo signal only tells you the whole system works if you check the left and right channels separately. This test generates a pure sine tone and routes it through the browser's stereo panner, so you can play the tone in the left channel alone, then the right, then both together. If one side stays silent while the other plays cleanly, that side's speaker, its cable, or its amplifier channel is the problem, not your source material. A quick left/right check like this also catches a common wiring mistake, channels swapped left for right, which usually reveals itself in music but not in a plain tone.
Speakers do not reproduce every frequency equally. This test lets you switch between a low tone (100 Hz), a reference tone at concert pitch A4 (440 Hz), a mid tone (1000 Hz) and a high tone (8000 Hz), covering bass, midrange and treble. Small or cheap speakers often struggle to reproduce the lowest tone at any real volume, which is normal, but a tone that produces no sound at any setting points to a genuine fault rather than a limitation. The full range of human hearing is roughly 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, and this test's presets sit inside that range so you can judge what you should be able to hear.
If your system has more than one audio output connected, the device picker lets you send the test tone to a specific one, such as a USB DAC, a set of headphones or a Bluetooth speaker. Choosing an output device from the browser is only supported in Chromium-based browsers such as Chrome and Edge; Firefox and Safari currently route audio to whichever device is set as your system default, so the picker will have no effect there. Either way, everything happens locally through the Web Audio API: no audio is uploaded, recorded or sent anywhere, and the tone stops the moment you click stop or leave the page.
How to use the speaker test
- Click a channel button (left, right or both) to start the test tone.
- Pick a frequency preset to check bass, mid and treble response.
- If more than one output device is listed, select the one you want to test.
- Listen for the tone from the correct speaker, at a comfortable volume.
- Click stop when you are done, or switch channels to keep testing.
Frequently asked questions
Why is there no sound at all?
Check your system volume and mute state first, then confirm the correct output device is selected in the picker if you have more than one. If the tone plays in one browser but not another, or plays through headphones but not speakers, the fault is more likely a setting than the hardware itself.
Can I choose which speaker or headphones the sound plays through?
Yes, if your browser supports it. Chrome and Edge let you pick an output device from the list next to the test controls. Firefox and Safari do not currently support choosing an output device from a web page, so the tone plays through whatever device your operating system has set as default.
Is it safe to play these test tones at high volume?
Start at a low volume and increase gradually, the same as with any audio source. Sustained loud tones, especially at higher frequencies, can be uncomfortable or harmful to hearing over time, so there is no need to run the test louder than a normal listening level.
Why does the left/right test matter if my music sounds fine?
Some content is mixed close to mono, so a dead channel is easy to miss during normal listening. A dedicated left/right tone isolates each side completely, which is the fastest way to catch one silent speaker or a swapped channel that music alone might hide.
More hardware tests
Keep checking your gear with the rest of the MyGearCheck suite: