diff --git a/Source/Core/AudioCommon/AudioCommon.cpp b/Source/Core/AudioCommon/AudioCommon.cpp
index 1ffb323a3f..86d3d5943e 100644
--- a/Source/Core/AudioCommon/AudioCommon.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/AudioCommon/AudioCommon.cpp
@@ -92,6 +92,22 @@ void ShutdownSoundStream()
   INFO_LOG(AUDIO, "Done shutting down sound stream");
 }
 
+std::string GetDefaultSoundBackend()
+{
+  std::string backend = BACKEND_NULLSOUND;
+#if defined __linux__
+  if (AlsaSound::isValid())
+    backend = BACKEND_ALSA;
+#elif defined __APPLE__
+  backend = BACKEND_COREAUDIO;
+#elif defined _WIN32
+  backend = BACKEND_XAUDIO2;
+#elif defined ANDROID
+  backend = BACKEND_OPENSLES;
+#endif
+  return backend;
+}
+
 std::vector<std::string> GetSoundBackends()
 {
   std::vector<std::string> backends;
diff --git a/Source/Core/AudioCommon/AudioCommon.h b/Source/Core/AudioCommon/AudioCommon.h
index 249f608aad..8ba06ccac2 100644
--- a/Source/Core/AudioCommon/AudioCommon.h
+++ b/Source/Core/AudioCommon/AudioCommon.h
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ namespace AudioCommon
 {
 void InitSoundStream();
 void ShutdownSoundStream();
+std::string GetDefaultSoundBackend();
 std::vector<std::string> GetSoundBackends();
 bool SupportsDPL2Decoder(const std::string& backend);
 bool SupportsLatencyControl(const std::string& backend);
diff --git a/Source/Core/Core/ConfigManager.cpp b/Source/Core/Core/ConfigManager.cpp
index edb2386bd4..8e7837c90a 100644
--- a/Source/Core/Core/ConfigManager.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/Core/ConfigManager.cpp
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 #include <climits>
 #include <memory>
 
+#include "AudioCommon/AudioCommon.h"
+
 #include "Common/CDUtils.h"
 #include "Common/CommonPaths.h"
 #include "Common/CommonTypes.h"
@@ -613,17 +615,7 @@ void SConfig::LoadDSPSettings(IniFile& ini)
   dsp->Get("DumpAudio", &m_DumpAudio, false);
   dsp->Get("DumpAudioSilent", &m_DumpAudioSilent, false);
   dsp->Get("DumpUCode", &m_DumpUCode, false);
-#if defined __linux__ && HAVE_ALSA
-  dsp->Get("Backend", &sBackend, BACKEND_ALSA);
-#elif defined __APPLE__
-  dsp->Get("Backend", &sBackend, BACKEND_COREAUDIO);
-#elif defined _WIN32
-  dsp->Get("Backend", &sBackend, BACKEND_XAUDIO2);
-#elif defined ANDROID
-  dsp->Get("Backend", &sBackend, BACKEND_OPENSLES);
-#else
-  dsp->Get("Backend", &sBackend, BACKEND_NULLSOUND);
-#endif
+  dsp->Get("Backend", &sBackend, AudioCommon::GetDefaultSoundBackend());
   dsp->Get("Volume", &m_Volume, 100);
   dsp->Get("CaptureLog", &m_DSPCaptureLog, false);