diff --git a/audio/out/ao_audiounit.m b/audio/out/ao_audiounit.m
index 8d4eb4d..d170a1d 100644
--- a/audio/out/ao_audiounit.m
+++ b/audio/out/ao_audiounit.m
@@ -146,27 +146,29 @@ static bool init_audiounit(struct ao *ao)
     CHECK_CA_ERROR_L(coreaudio_error_component,
                      "unable to initialize audio unit");
-
+
-    err = au_get_ary(p->audio_unit, kAudioUnitProperty_AudioChannelLayout, kAudioUnitScope_Output,
-                     0, (void**)&layout, &size);
-    CHECK_CA_ERROR_L(coreaudio_error_audiounit,
-                     "unable to retrieve audio unit channel layout");
-
-    MP_VERBOSE(ao, "AU channel layout tag: %x (%x)\n", layout->mChannelLayoutTag, layout->mChannelBitmap);
-
-    layout = convert_layout(layout, &size);
-    if (!layout) {
-        MP_ERR(ao, "unable to convert channel layout to list format\n");
-        goto coreaudio_error_audiounit;
-    }
-
-    for (UInt32 i = 0; i < layout->mNumberChannelDescriptions; i++) {
-        MP_VERBOSE(ao, "channel map: %i: %u\n", i, layout->mChannelDescriptions[i].mChannelLabel);
-    }
-
-    if (af_fmt_is_spdif(ao->format) || instance.outputNumberOfChannels <= 2) {
+    if (af_fmt_is_spdif(ao->format) || prefChannels <= 2) {
         ao->channels = (struct mp_chmap)MP_CHMAP_INIT_STEREO;
-        MP_VERBOSE(ao, "using stereo output\n");
+        MP_VERBOSE(ao, "using requested stereo layout without AudioUnit channel layout\n");
     } else {
+        err = au_get_ary(p->audio_unit, kAudioUnitProperty_AudioChannelLayout,
+                         kAudioUnitScope_Output, 0, (void**)&layout, &size);
+        CHECK_CA_ERROR_L(coreaudio_error_audiounit,
+                         "unable to retrieve audio unit channel layout");
+
+        MP_VERBOSE(ao, "AU channel layout tag: %x (%x)\n",
+                   layout->mChannelLayoutTag, layout->mChannelBitmap);
+
+        layout = convert_layout(layout, &size);
+        if (!layout) {
+            MP_ERR(ao, "unable to convert channel layout to list format\n");
+            goto coreaudio_error_audiounit;
+        }
+
+        for (UInt32 i = 0; i < layout->mNumberChannelDescriptions; i++) {
+            MP_VERBOSE(ao, "channel map: %i: %u\n", i,
+                       layout->mChannelDescriptions[i].mChannelLabel);
+        }
+
         ao->channels.num = (uint8_t)layout->mNumberChannelDescriptions;
         for (UInt32 i = 0; i < layout->mNumberChannelDescriptions; i++) {
           ao->channels.speaker[i] =