The volume mixer in the system tray offers very basic sound control functionality in Windows 11 – just control the volume and select the device to play it on. If you need something more complicated – say, change the volume in a separate program – you will have to open the corresponding section in the system settings. Not very convenient, but luckily for a long time there has been an EarTrumpet utility for Windows, which we talked about a year ago in the article “11 utilities for configuring Windows 11″. It adds advanced functionality to the system tray and actually allows you to abandon the standard mixer.

And finally, Microsoft seems to have paid attention to EarTrumpet – at least in the latest test image of Windows 11 Insider Build 25281, the volume mixer in the system tray has acquired functionality very similar to this utility. Now the Audio section in it includes volume control in individual programs, which was pointed out by one of the developers of EarTrumpet, Rafael Rivera.

Microsoft has not yet officially announced this functionality, and in the latest test image it is hidden as experimental.