I'm looking for a sound card or related device with more than one audio output. I want to have sound going out to my computer speakers of course, but I also want an audio output that goes to my flatscreen TV. And I need a program that can route the audio to one or the other outputs.
multiple audio outputs
- Thread starter dmehling
- Start date
CdnAudiophile
Member
How is you flatscreen connected to your computer? HDMI cable can carry 5.1 signals along with the video so it might just be as simple as selecting the output source in your sound settings. Also if your TV is like mine it will have an optical in for the sound and if you sound card has one you could also connect it that way.
My question is not really regarding my TV. I know how to connect the audio out of my computer to the TV. I just want to know if there is a sound card that supports two separate audio outs. One to go to the TV and another to go to the computer speakers. And I want a software program that allows me to control which output is active since I would not want both the TV and computer speakers being used at the same time. Does such a thing exist?
CdnAudiophile
Member
Yea just about any newer sound card can do this, be it onboard or a separate card. I was asking that because you can just connect your computer speaker to the Mini Plug out on the sound card then connect the TV to HDMI for audio or an optical cable. Within the sound setting usually found in your tray or can be accessed through the control panel it should give you some kind of option like this:
I see what you are saying. Unfortunately I do not have HDMI. I'll have to use a VGA or DVI output. I cannot use any optical audio connectors because my TV does not have one. It only has optical audio outputs. The only audio input for computer use is the standard left and right inputs. Are there soundcards with two separate analog audio outputs?
CdnAudiophile
Member
Do you care if the output is 5.1? Because you could buy a sound card like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829126004
It has 2 stereo channels. You could connect both your tv and computer speakers at the same time and it will give you quadraphonic stereo (stereo x 2)
Edit: It is also possible to just split the sound coming off your sound card with something like this: http://www.audiogear.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?key=Adpt-2MsfMsm&preadd=action
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I don't really need 5.1 sound since I don't have a surround sound system. I don't really like the idea of quadraphonic audio. I would have two separate volume levels to control. I just want to be able to use one or the other but not at the same time. I think you have kind of given me an idea. I could use the audio out on the integrated sound card to go to the speakers, and then I could have a small USB audio adapter with the output going to the TV. Then I could switch the output of my sound inside the sound and audio devices in the control panel.