Trying to pass a USB audio interface through to a VM, I noticed that there's an option to add virtual audio devices already on the host client. Not on the vSphere Client though. I thought maybe it was because that particular VM was created on a Type 2 hypervisor then pushed through vCenter but I checked on one of the Photo helper machines vCenter creates and those have the option too.
Before passing through the USB device I tried adding a virtual audio interface to the VM then, but it didn't work. Then again, this was a specialized OS where neither the USB passthrough worked. I checked it with another VM to verify it works via direct USB attachment with another VM, but I had already forgotten about that when there was something shiny distracting me over the other side. Does ESXi has an audio service? Could I share a single physical audio interface — as long as it is supported by ESXi, of course. Like NICs — with a few VMs?
Why is there an audio interface assignable on ESXi, on Fusion, on Workstation Pro for Linux and Windows but not on the vCenter/vSphere Client if it's the one thing that connect to/accepts connections from all of the above, the one thing that its job is to know everything about the devices and expose configuration options otherwise obscured on them? e.g; DirectPath I/O.