Thanks britishdhez, but that would send the same audio simultaneously to both speakers and headphones. What I'm trying to do here is use the headphones for one specific sound source - VoIP - and the speakers for all other sounds. Oh well, once I get a USB headset it will be a moot point. Until then I can manage without the external speakers. The audio devices must be configured correctly i.e., they must show up as two separate devices. To check if you have two separate devices configured, right-click the speaker icon in the system tray and select ‘Playback Devices’ from the context menu. Output Audio To Two Different Devices.
My old system was annoying in that it only had one audio device for speakers and headphones. If I plugged in the headphones, the speakers would be disabled. It worked OK but it meant I was regularly plugging and plugging a fragile cord.
The new motherboard seems to have genuine separate audio devices for Speakers and Headphones. I can play to one or the other or both. I can set speakers for my default audio device and headphones for my default voice chat device. The Windows UI for switching between them is not awesome, but the functionality does work.
I wonder why this works now. The old motherboard has a “Realtek® ALC887 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC” (with LED lighting!). The new one has a “Realtek® S1220A 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC featuring Crystal Sound 3” (no LED lighting.) The old system was capable of treating the two outputs separately but I could never make it work reliably.
Now if I can just convince Windows to never, ever re-enable the crappy monitor speakers at the other end of my DisplayPort cable…
My old system was annoying in that it only had one audio device for speakers and headphones. If I plugged in the headphones, the speakers would be disabled. It worked OK but it meant I was regularly plugging and plugging a fragile cord.
The new motherboard seems to have genuine separate audio devices for Speakers and Headphones. I can play to one or the other or both. I can set speakers for my default audio device and headphones for my default voice chat device. The Windows UI for switching between them is not awesome, but the functionality does work.
How To Separate Speakers And Headphones On Laptop
I wonder why this works now. The old motherboard has a “Realtek® ALC887 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC” (with LED lighting!). The new one has a “Realtek® S1220A 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC featuring Crystal Sound 3” (no LED lighting.) The old system was capable of treating the two outputs separately but I could never make it work reliably.
Headphones Coming Up As Speakers
Now if I can just convince Windows to never, ever re-enable the crappy monitor speakers at the other end of my DisplayPort cable…