3.5mm Surround Sound

[joehaines26]

I have a default Realtek sound card (not sure what model exactly) capable of 5.1, and when I use apple headphones, I can hear all 5 speaker sets (from one 3.5mm jack) but when I use a 3.5mm extension cable, the surround sound no longer works... do I need a special cable?

Side note;
Also how does the 5.1 work from just one 3.5mm, seems like normally you need like 6 jacks plugged in xD

Thanks for your help

 

[hang-the-9]

You are hearing virtual 5.1 audio, your headphones only have two drivers in them, so you are not getting 5.1 audio really. It's faking the positional audio info through software.