Headphones vs Monitor: HDMI audio, SRS for Monitors, & Realtek ???

I'm getting frustrated with trying to get all these options to play together correctly when it comes to my headphones. When I plug my headphones in the front jack, nothing changes unless I manually switch the default Playback Device. All things in question work, and well. However, depending on the convoluted configuration at the moment, either the monitor will keep playing & the headphones will play nothing, OR the monitor will keep playing & the headphones will also start playing.

Setup right now:
Monitor= ViewSonic VX2253 22"
(built in speakers, I own no others)
Connected to my video card via HDMI.
Connected to back green audio input.
Relevant internal settings through monitor= set to "HDMI PC" (as opposed to AV)

Audio input set to HDMI

Onboard Audio= Realtek® ALC 892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
This is what the green audio plug is plugged into from the monitor.
Controls the front headphone jack.

I have tried as many different combinations of settings as I could think of. Any ideas how to make the monitor speakers play nice with the headphones???

d(--n--)b

Normally, when you have something connected to the HDMI port on the PC, the HDMI becomes the default audio playback device. Thus the regular PC audio (Realtek in your case) is not used. This would account for not having headphone audio. You can manually change the default playback device to "Speakers" (your PC sound device) and then you should get the headphone sound. I would suspect you will have to do this every time you boot your PC.

When I set the default device to Realtek's "Speakers," the sound comes out of BOTH the headphones and the monitor. I even disabled the SRS for Monitors (literally the same jack as Realtek is looking at) & HDMI audio...

What I don't understand is, since audio is transferred through both the HDMI (which can be disabled/uninstalled), AND the green audio plug/jack, WHY won't the Realtek driver of said jack recognize that as regular speakers? Why does it make it a new device? Both "SRS for Monitors" AND "Realtek Speakers" playback out of the monitor as would be expected, the headphones play faithfully when plugged in, but why does it not then "mute this rear output device when headphones are plugged in?" (this is checked under "device advanced settings.")



Right now, if I want to listen to ONLY my headphones, as would be the point of them, I have to go into the monitor's onscreen menu, switch "Audio Input" from "Audio In" to "HDMI," AND switch the Default Playback Device to Realtek Speakers. And, I think, the audio from the jack and not the HDMI, sounds better. The sound quality of the monitor is generally crappy all around, so any little improvement is welcome. =/


I guess I should just buy a cheap set of speakers, and totally disable the monitor's sound abilities... =(

Enable the Front Panel Jack detection and see if that makes a difference. I don't have a Realtek system, but I've seen posts about how to configure it so the speakers and headphones are on at the same time, so there has to be a setting that will revert it back to "normal" operation of the headphone jack connection muting the speakers.

Yes, that was the problem I had when I first got the system. That's why I included that window in the shot. I've been toggling it back and forth, but either way, the headphones still work. Still can't get them separated except for how I explained.