diff --git a/src/platform/linux.rs b/src/platform/linux.rs
index beed657d3..b739e1b82 100644
--- a/src/platform/linux.rs
+++ b/src/platform/linux.rs
@@ -1550,6 +1550,9 @@ where
 }
 
 pub fn get_pa_monitor() -> String {
+    if let Some(monitor) = get_default_pa_monitor() {
+        return monitor;
+    }
     get_pa_sources()
         .drain(..)
         .map(|x| x.0)
@@ -1558,6 +1561,49 @@ pub fn get_pa_monitor() -> String {
         .unwrap_or("".to_owned())
 }
 
+// The first monitor in the source list can belong to an output the desktop does not play to.
+fn get_default_pa_monitor() -> Option<String> {
+    use pulsectl::controllers::*;
+    // The audio service retries about every second while PulseAudio is unavailable.
+    const LOG_INTERVAL: std::time::Duration = std::time::Duration::from_secs(60);
+    let mut handler = SinkController::create()
+        .map_err(|err| {
+            hbb_common::throttled_log!(
+                LOG_INTERVAL,
+                warn,
+                "Failed to create SinkController: {:?}",
+                err
+            )
+        })
+        .ok()?;
+    let sink = handler
+        .get_server_info()
+        .map_err(|err| {
+            hbb_common::throttled_log!(
+                LOG_INTERVAL,
+                warn,
+                "Failed to get the PulseAudio server info: {:?}",
+                err
+            )
+        })
+        .ok()?
+        .default_sink_name?;
+    handler
+        .get_device_by_name(&sink)
+        .map_err(|err| {
+            hbb_common::throttled_log!(
+                LOG_INTERVAL,
+                warn,
+                "Failed to get the default sink {}: {:?}",
+                sink,
+                err
+            )
+        })
+        .ok()?
+        .monitor_name
+        .filter(|name| !name.is_empty())
+}
+
 pub fn get_pa_source_name(desc: &str) -> String {
     get_pa_sources()
         .drain(..)