How can I get sound from speakers and headphones?

Question - Someone stated that it is "usually possible to configure audio to play through headphones and speakers at the same time". I wonder how this is possible, as when the headphones jack is plugged into the headphone socket, the external/internal speakers are muted and the sound is transmitted only through the headphones.

Answer - We hold up our hands here - the wording of our statement makes it sound like a simple windows option can be used to enable this in any and all circumstances. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

In fact, the ability to achieve playback through both headphones and speakers at the same time depends on numerous factors, including the operating system, the type of pc, the sound card and the sound drivers - and in some cases it won' t be possible. on a typical desktop pc, for example, there will be sound-outputting 3.5mm jacks at both the rear and front of the computer: plug the speakers into the rear jack and headphones into the front and then it will usually be possible to have both play audio at the same time.

However, the driver may need to be tweaked and even this process can vary a lot: in windows 7, for example, right-click the speaker icon in the notification area, choose playback devices then, in the sound dialogue box, select the playback tab to see what devices are listed. if only one device is listed (speakers, say), right-click in the blank area below and click to tick both show disabled devices and show disconnected devices and then click the configure button to see what options are available.

In short, then, there are really far too many variables for us to give a single answer. If you want to write again with full details about your pc and operating system, we' 11 try to answer more specifically. Otherwise, a simple solution that will work in many situations (but not for internal laptop speakers) is to buy a 3.5mm jack splitter (like this £3 model from belkin, www.snipca.com/x4820). In this way, the headphones and speakers will share the same output and therefore always play at the same time.