Member Avatar for vidmaa

My computer has audio jack at back panel and on front panel - i use to connect my headphones to front one - then i listen music (i.e. through winamp) i can hear it from both my headphones and my speakers (that are connected to back panel)

My question is: can i separate sounds? like i want to listen to music on my headphones (on front panel) and at the same time there would be playing movie and using back panel audio jack.

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Short answer: yes — but only if Windows sees two independent playback devices. The front and rear jacks on a single onboard codec are usually the same output (often with the rear muted when a front headphone is plugged in), so by default you get the same stream on both. That is why thought it wasn’t possible. There are two practical ways to get different audio streams for your headphones and speakers.

First, check your audio driver's control panel (for example Realtek HD Audio Manager) for a “front/rear independent” or “make front and rear output devices independent” option. If your driver supports it and you enable it, Windows will expose two separate playback devices and you can point one program (movie player) at the speakers device and another (music player) at the headphones device.

If the driver does not support independent outputs, add a second sound device (cheap USB audio dongle, PCI sound card, or HDMI audio from the GPU). Windows will list each device separately. Configure the movie player to use the speaker device and your music player to use the USB/headphone device — most players (VLC, Winamp, Media Player Classic, etc.) let you pick the output device in their audio settings.

Troubleshooting tips and cautions: a Y-splitter only duplicates the same stream — it won’t give different audio. If plugging into the front jack mutes the rear, look for the mute-on-plug setting in the audio manager or use the extra USB device. On Windows XP there’s no built-in per-app device routing, so either use players that let you choose the output device or use a virtual-audio routing tool for advanced setups (these require extra setup and drivers). For your scenario (movie on second monitor + music on main), assign the movie player to the speakers device and your music player to the headphones device once you have two devices available.

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Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi,
I don't think you can, you could try playing one with one program through the speakers on a sound card and another in another program through the motherboard. I can not see it working. I have never tried and I can see no use in trying. I have accidentally, had two programs with audio running at once through the same output but not through two different outlets.
I know you have two ears, but why would you want to listen to music through your head phones and have a video play through your speakers at the same time?

Member Avatar for vidmaa

it is not like it i would like with one ear listen to music and with another listen/watch movie,

my computer have 2 monitors attached and the whole point is i would like to run movie on my secondary monitor for my brother while continuing my work with my main (while listening music) or watching youtube etc ..etc

my main interest is not like the usability but possibility

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi again, as I said, I don't think it is possible. You could do both without audio on one.

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