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October 24th, 2017 09:00

inspiron 15 5000 gaming

hello, I would like to use my plugged in headphones for one program and the builtin speakers for another at the same time. However I do not see any option to split the speaker and headphones. In the taskbar->audio->properties I see only one default speakers/headphones and see no way to separate them. The audio driver seems to be realtek but there is no realtek audio manager program and the actual program for the realtek audio manager which I know to be in C:/program files/reaktek/audio/HDA folder does not even open. 

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October 25th, 2017 08:00

Hello. I'd just like to add a couple of things in addition to what Jesse said.

In the taskbar->audio->properties I see only one default speakers/headphone

What shows up there is determined by the audio driver. Although there may be exceptions, as a rule the Dell laptops that have a Realtek driver installed will only show "Speakers" or "Speakers/Headphones".

However, if you remove the Realtek driver and let Windows install its native audio driver, then you might see Speakers and Headphones listed as separate devices, or even see Speakers listed twice in which case one of them is the headphone jack. In one of those scenarios you can right click one of the devices and make it the default "Communication" device. Doing that will allow communication like game player chatter go to that device, while regular audio like game background sounds go to the other device. Usually the headphones/headset is the communication device and the speakers the regular audio.

But you can't have two separate streams of regular audio at once. For that kind of functionality you would need to get a usb audio interface that allows for multiple output streams.

there is no realtek audio manager program

Dell laptops with Realtek audio usually don't have the Realtek Audio Manager. It is replaced with either Dell Audio or Waves MaxxAudio controls.

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October 25th, 2017 06:00

daniel93choi,

You cannot perform this task. You can only use the headphone or the speakers separately.

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