Two audio streams - headphones and speakers

Question

What I want (this is probably hard for most to answer, as this is a very unique setup) is to have two different streams (this means audio splitter is not an option, as it will still only be one stream) of audio - one through the headphones and one through the main speakers. I can do the audio rerouting using virtual audio cables, however the problem is this: i cannot get both headphones AND speakers to play even just one stream, let alone two seperate ones. using "split front and back audio into seperate streams is not an option, as the actual MB F_PANEL is faulty (nothing to do with the case front panel, just so you know. that works fine)

So, first things first. I need it to recognise the headphones as a seperate audio device so that Virtual Audio Cables will detect it and allow me to route the necessary audio to the headphones only. I also need to be able have sound play through speakers and headphones together

what i want to achieve overall, is this:

have the ENTIRE computer's sounds picked up by VAC, and stream them to Line1. then have Line1 stream to the headphones. that way whatever's being streamed is heard through the headphones, while the entire system sounds (including those not streamed) are played through speakers.

Answer 1

Your motherboard probably has built-in HD sound already, likely what you're using so honestly the easiest solution is going to spend $10 on an older SoundBlaster card so you have two devices shown on your system.

Two add-on cards will not disable the onboard one, you just need both sets of drivers installed. They just have different applications to manage individually such as equalisation. I use Skype (to headphones via built-in) + Music (to speakers via card) like this on my home system.

Which sounds are played to which are set by individual applications, music players and other sound focused applications like skype, always allow you to select their output device somewhere in the settings.