Techniques are provided for determining, at an audio processing device, whether to produce high quality or low quality audio output based on one or more factors. The one or more factors may include the type of output device (e.g., headphones, built-in speakers, or USB audio devices) that is connected to the audio processing device and whether certain operations (e.g., mixing and/or scaling) are to be performed on the decoded audio content. Thus, the highest quality audio output is produced based on current conditions of the audio system, which includes the output device. If the current conditions of the audio system indicate that producing high quality audio output does not yield sufficient perceived benefits, then the audio processing device may produce lower quality audio output.