mjtp,
I took a look at your flowchart. I agree with a lot of your observations about how the user’s experience can be improved. The profile for your audio device (AudioTechnica headphones, JBL speakers, Dell Laptop Speakers etc) should definately be associated with the output device. However, in Windows computers this is not a constant thing. Many PCs only have one logical output device in the Windows audio settings screen. And even with Macs, as you observed, a USB device may have speaker and/or headphone connections.
Take a look at our latest mockup:
Ignore the tab at the top, it should be on the Settings selection.
The Home tab will show EQ, Stereo Enhancement and other controls you may want to adjust often. This will be revealed when we release the first beta version this summer!
Also, all of the controls on the left (DPS on/off, Output selection, Content selection etc) will always be visible in every tab. Only the content on the right (in this example the profile and output device selections) will change. This way you always know what you are listening to. And the changes you make are quite obviously associated with the proper profile and output device.
Let us know what you think.
PS – I will fix the image link problem in the forums right now…