Unable to switch between headphones & speakers while using iTunes

Meursault6X8 · 15 Nov 2016

This is perhaps a borderline Windows problem, but so far I haven't gotten any replies on either of the iTunes or MS Windows community forums. What follows is the question I posted:

I am running Windows 7 on a Dell PC model XPS 8700 SE. Initially, when I select a song to play either from a CD inserted in one of the DVD/CD drives or from the iTunes library, it plays. But as soon as I switch from headphones to speakers or vice versa (by way of an ASUS XONAR U7 external sound card), the sound goes off & only returns after I boot & reopen iTunes. In contrast, if I use the ripping software (dBpoweramp) player, I can switch back & forth (again by way of the ASUS device) with no loss of sound. However, the disadvantage using this method is that I can only play inserted CDs -- I cannot access the iTunes library. The PC's playback settings seem to be correct, though I am not certain of this. Does anyone have thoughts in regard to my situation? Thank you.

There it is. One thing I have not yet tried is reinstalling iTunes because of bad experiences doing that in the past. But maybe it's the only remedy. Can anyone help me out here? Thanks in advance.

fireberd · 16 Nov 2016

Do you have the internal (on the motheboard) sound disabled, in the BIOS? If not that is a possibility, the internal is getting activated/set as default playback device and thus the problem. Don't just disable it in the Device Manager, disable it in the BIOS so there is no possibility of it conflicting or causing any problems.

The audio is identified as "On Board Controller" in the BIOS.

Meursault6X8 · 16 Nov 2016

Thank you very much, Fireberd, but I am sorry to report that disabling the Audio Controller in BIOS did not work. Now I have re-enabled it. The problem remains. One thing I noticed that I did not mention in my initial post is that system sounds (as well as dBpoweramp) switch between the two outputs depending on how the XONAR is set.

fireberd · 16 Nov 2016

You still need to disable the on board sound, if you are using a separate sound card. Windows only allows one default audio playback device at one time and most (all that I've seen/heard) that have a separate sound card only want to use that card.

You should also have "Stereo Mix" set as default RECORDING device (You must have that if you want to record streaming audio from the internet).

I have several audio devices (when I have them powered on) as I have a recording studio. When the recording hardware (recording interface unit) is powered on SOME PC media players will play through the recording interface and some play through the PC sound card/speakers. In those cases I have to manually set the media player to which I want it to playback. But, for most you only want one audio device, which in this case means disable the onboard. If a media player is trying to use something else, that media player needs to be set for the default playback device (the Xonar).

Meursault6X8 · 16 Nov 2016

I've been a few steps further down the road since I replied to your post earlier today. One of them involved a conversation with an iTunes "adviser". He told me that it was built into iTunes' design that any interruption puts whatever is playing into pause mode. I thought, well, I can live with that -- I'll just unpause it. So, I happily bid him a good day & ran a test. Of course, the music didn't just pause -- it stopped. Now, I am back to contemplating whether or not I want to risk updating or reinstalling iTunes. Thanks again. I appreciate the info. Oh, & btw another of those steps involved again disabling the onboard audio controller.

Meursault6X8 · 17 Nov 2016

Just following up. This morning I consulted with another iTunes adviser. In this case my problem was solved, mostly. We went into iTunes --> Edit --> Preferences --> Playback --> Play audio using: --> & changed the setting from Direct Sound to Windows Audio Session. Problem is that in this mode, while I can now readily switch between headphones & speakers, I can no longer access the XONAR sound card dashboard. For the time being anyway, I can live with this & I will mark this thread as "solved". Thanks again.