Ok, so Im quite a noob when it comes to audio stuff.

Im currently scratching my head over this little puzzle, Ill admit Ive not really tried yet, but figured the easiest way to sort it is to just ask.

I have a motherboard with onboard 7.1 sound, I also have a 5.1 soundcard installed. My case also has headphone & mic jacks at the front for ease of access, and so do my speakers (and my keyboard!)

Currently the speakers are connected to the soundcard.

I now have 3 options for headphones, and none appear to work quite right.

Options 1 & 2: Connect headphones to the speakers, or to the port on the front
This works, but I have to manually change the sound settings from 5.1 to headphones in the creative console panel. In the sound settings in the control panel, it does not detect that I have connected headphones.

Option 3: Connect headphones to the line out jack from my onboard sound.
The sound settings show that there are a second set of speakers connected, but I get no audio from them.

I have a feeling I might have connected the headphone cable from the soundcard to the front access jacks on my case, not sure, will have a look tomorrow.

Any suggestions on how or if it is possible to have windows output audio to all connected devices?

Im basically looking for a way of having 2-channel headphone audio when I want to use my headphones, whilst keeping my 5.1 surround when Im not using them, without having to constantly change back and forth. I guess this might take a bit of playing around with as I dont know whether its hardware or software related, as there is an option in the creative console to auto-detect and change sounds when headphones are connected! gah.

Yes, but the issue is that the software is meant to detect when the headphones are plugged in and auto-configure, or, failing that, just put 2 channel audio out the front headphone socket and 5.12 audio out the card!

Yeah, one issue I guess is if I plug my keyboard into the headphone socket, that is classed as headphones, even if I havent plugged my phones into the keyboard. It also doesnt return to 5.1 when I unplug it all. Ive not been that impressed with this creative soundcard tbh, will have to see if there is anything better out there when it next comes to time to upgrade

I gave up in the end hehe.

I was right though, I have connected the front panels to the sound card, rather than onboard audio.

you can use a headphone amp. something like this Click here .the main advantage of this is you can also connect your 5.1 speaker to this as well as your headphone together and it also has its own volume control, very handy.pitty it is already discontinued.I got mine for around £22 when it was on sale 2yrs. ago from quietpc.