Audigy SE and Headphones

I've been having an odd problem with my Audigy SE card and my headphones. When I was using on-board sound, there would be a "headphone" device separate from the "speakers" device. With the Audigy SE, there is only a "speakers" device. This is problematic because every program I run thinks I'm running stereo speakers and not headphones. Some programs, like Steam games, let me manually change from speakers to headphones (but it still resets to speakers every time I restart), others don't. And yes, it does make a difference.

I don't have a front-panel audio connector or anything, I just plug my headphones right into the green jack of the sound card.

I don't really need a "fix" for this (though it would be nice), just some kind of hack to make Windows think the "speakers" device is really headphones. Do any other Audigy SE owners have this problem too?

Many thanks.

That's not a problem. The card is designed with an output and you're using it. When you were using onboard, that's a different codec, a different driver and a different manufacturer. Can't compare the two and/or how they operate.

So there's no way to get Windows to think it has headphones connected? The Creative Audio Console has a "headphones" setting, but it keeps resetting to the system default...

If it has a headphone setting, then yes. But as far as Creative goes....be glad you have a driver running at all. They're kind of flaky when it comes to drivers. You could perhaps, try different versions or look up Daniel K. driver on Google.

Those Daniel_K drivers apparently don't work with the Audigy SE because it has a different chipset. Joy.

C'mon, there must be some kind of hack to make Windows think it has headphones connected instead of speakers, or just identify the playback device as "headphones" for all practical purposes

F%$& YEAH!

After Creative's tech support telling me to bug Microsoft, Microsoft's tech support wasting my time with one ineffective flowchart solution after the next, and this forum largely ignoring me, I finally fixed the problem!

I'm posting the solution in the off chance someone else experiences this issue.

Basically, I found a VB script while Googling here:

Audigy Driver: How to change speaker setting with shortcut/hotkey?


I modified the VB script as follows:

Code:

Option Explicit

Dim WshShell
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell" )

' Start up the Audio Console
WshShell.CurrentDirectory = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Creative\AudioCS\"
WshShell.Run "CTAudCS.exe"
' lets open the console
While WshShell.AppActivate("Audio Control Panel") = FALSE
wscript.sleep 200
WshShell.AppActivate "Audio Control Panel"
Wend
'

'
' set the speaker selection to Headphones
'
WshShell.SendKeys("{H}" )
'
' exit Audio Console -panel
'
WshShell.SendKeys("{ENTER}" )

WScript.Quit(0)

Pretty self-explanatory. The script pops open the Audio Console, sets it to "headphones" and then quits. Put this in the "Startup" folder so it works automatically, and you're good to go.

Steam still seems to use the Windows audio settings (which don't have a headphones option due to this bug)...oh well, can't win em all I guess. Still better than before =]

I'm gonna read up a bit on VB scripting, very useful tool...

You eventually had to modify a script, but you call it that the forum has ignored you?

Do you think we are monkeys with every solution known to man for all hardware off the top of our heads?

In any case, glad you were able to fix your issue.