Solved Realtek HD audio recognizes my headphones as speakers

[Dynentan]

Hello

When I plug in my headphones to the back of my computer where my onboard soundcard is located, it seems that realtek detects my headphones as speakers, and as a consequence, the volume is way too low.

When connected to the front of my computer however, realtek detects my headphones as headphones, and the sound is much louder, however for practical reasons I prefer to have my headphones plugged into the back of computer, but the low volume is a bit of a problem.

 

[fireberd]

The rear GREEN speaker jack is for amplified computer speakers. When something is plugged in to that jack, the PC will assume its speakers, since that is what the jack is designated.

 

[Dynentan]

I have five connectors on the back of my computers soundcard, a black, blue, orange, green and red. The only one that seems to work is the green one, but volume is really low.

 

[fireberd]

Green is the speaker jack. The blue is Line In, Pink is Microphone in. Others can be digital out and/or for surround sound speaker systems such as 5.1 systems which require 3 connections to the PC.

Headphones are different Impedance ((ohms) than a speaker system thus one reason for the low level. Second, computer speaker systems have a built in power amplifier so the lower level isn't a problem.

If you must use the speaker connection you will need to need a separate headphone amplifier. Otherwise just use the "normal" headphone jack on the front.

 

[Dynentan]

Is there really no way to change it so that the soundcard will recognize your headphones when you plug them into the back on your computer?

 

[fireberd]

That is the way sound chips are designed. There may be a separate sound card that you can install that will work a little better (more volume at the Speaker output) but that's the only option.

 

[Atreah]

I don't think you'll be needing an amplifier, try the following first and see if it works as you want it to;

Plug in your headphones, then open up Realtek HD Audio Manager. After that, on the right side of the Audio Manager, left-click (you might have to double click it, or right click it and select "connector retasking") the green output jack and a new box will pop up. Choose "Headphones" instead of speakers and voila, headphones should sound louder .

 

[Dynentan]

Thanks for your response atreah.

I have checked HD audio manager, and when right clicking on the green output jack on the front panel, it allows me to choose headphones, in fact the headphones mode was already selected -- so this clearly explains why the volume is louder and better when my headphones are connected to the frontpanel.

However, when I right click on the green output jack on the backpanel, nothing happens. There is no box that pops up and allows me to choose between speakers and headphones.

 

[Atreah]

Ah, I'm sorry to hear my response didn't help. I would assume your chip just doesn't support it. If using the front-panel jack is not an option for you, I would recommend you get a dedicated soundcard or a headphone amplifier, whichever you would prefer. Although, if you do decide to go with a dedicated soundcard route, make sure it supports what you're looking for, so that you don't run into the same problem with a new card as well.

 

[rvcjew]

I imagine when you use the front panel all it does is raise the gain you could try using it in the back then in Windows playback settings see if labels it as headphones or not in the front vs back, and if so you might be able to configure it when set on the back to headphones vs stereo under Windows options triggering the gain boost. If you decide to go with different hardware I recommend a external dac/amp combo like the odac/o2 since it's very decent for the money.

 

[Dynentan]

I am not sure if I understand your suggestion rvcjew, but the volume is so low when using the onboard audio on the motherboard, so even if I have my volume all the way up, it is still really low.

 

[rvcjew]

What headphones do you have?

 

[Dynentan]

My headphones.

 

[tommycake50]

Thanks for your response atreah.

I have checked HD audio manager, and when right clicking on the green output jack on the front panel, it allows me to choose headphones, in fact the headphones mode was already selected -- so this clearly explains why the volume is louder and better when my headphones are connected to the frontpanel.

However, when I right click on the green output jack on the backpanel, nothing happens. There is no box that pops up and allows me to choose between speakers and headphones.

You need to right click on the green output jack on the back panel, that is the one that is highlighted, a box should come up saying connector retasking, then you can select headphones when you are on that menu.

This was the solution that worked for me, but Realtek drivers do tend to misbehave a bit, after I thought it was solved I realised it was amplifying everything going out of that port to a ridiculous level making naturally quiet sounds sound loud. In the end, it is better to use the ports for their intended purpose.
There are some other workarounds but they require some work and aren't necessarily desirable.

 

[carwiz]

If you have something plugged into the front headphone jack, the default is to mute the rear output. Check to see if you have the front and rear jacks "separated".

 

[Dynentan]

Checked, didn't solve the problem.

I managed to solve this problem though by uninstalling the realtek drivers completely from my system and installing DFX instead which has no problems registering my headphones.

 

[rvcjew]

Glad you got it fixed after all that time.

 

[Dynentan]

I was able to change my settings from speakers to headphones by following this guide.