Using headphones and speakers

[jcl]

I just got some ATH-M40x headphones to replace my old Siberia V2 headset. With these new headphones I can hear the static MUCH more loudly in my front panel jack than with the old ones. My on-board sound card of course only has one line out jack, and I want to be able to have both the speakers and headphones plugged in at the same time as I switch between them. This is the motherboard I have.

I have looked around so far for some options. A splitter wouldn't work because I don't want them outputting audio at the same time. The headphones did come with a Fiio e6 AMP, but it's a portable one with a battery. I know there are some sound cards out there as well as DACs and AMPS, but I really don't know anything about them, and don't want to spend $100 on one. What do you guys thing a good option for me?

 

[ssddx]

you could use a cheap usb soundcard (some under $10). this is likely the best option.

they also make 3.5mm switches you could use to physically swap between speakers/headphones (would work if you only have a 2.1 set).

 

[jcl]

you could use a cheap usb soundcard (some under $10). this is likely the best option.

they also make 3.5mm switches you could use to physically swap between speakers/headphones (would work if you only have a 2.1 set).

That's kind of what I thought about. I could do an internal or external. Any recommendations on something that won't cause me to lose sound quality on these headphones? Some of these cheap USB sound cards seem to have many reviews pointing to low quality.

 

[ssddx]

if you want internal, the xonar dg is cheap ($30) and not too bad. it gives you virtual surround as an option too if i remember.

not sure about what externals are good for cheap as most of the sub $30 ones are no-names.

 

[jcl]

I figured out a solution after reading the last post on this page. For some reason I didn't think about about it, but I can just mute what ever device I'm not using at the time when using the splitter. Then I wouldn't have to worry about the headphones outputting audio when I'm using the speakers.