The posterior most region of the striatum receives dense innervation from sensory brain regions and has been demonstrated to play a role in behaviors that require sensorimotor integration including discrimination, avoidance and defense​ responses. The output neurons of the striatum, the D1 and D2 striatal projection neurons (SPNs) that make up the direct and indirect pathways, respectively, are thought to play differential roles in these behavioral responses, although it remains unclear if or how these neurons display differential responsivity to sensory stimuli. Here, we use whole cell membrane potential recordings in vivo and in brain slices to examine synaptic inputs onto these cell types arising from stimulation of upstream auditory pathways. While both D1 and D2 neurons displayed stimulus evoked responses, D1 SPNs shows stronger and faster depolarization to all stimuli tested. In line with this, stimulation of fibers from primary auditory cortex and the auditory thalamus into this region revealed larger synaptic responses onto D1 SPNs. While excitatory inputs onto these cell types were comparable, the excitation/inhibition ratio onto D1 SPNs was larger. Finally, fast spiking interneurons in the auditory striatum showed strong connectivity with upstream auditory areas and were more strongly connected to D2 SPNs. Overall, our data demonstrate that the striatal direct pathway is more strongly recruited by auditory stimuli and establish a role for feedforward inhibition in establishing this disparity.