Asus z170 - AR, recognises my headphones as speakers?

[LordRascus]

So I just got the Asus z170 - AR motherboard for my new pc, whenever I plug my head phones into the front panel audio jack on the case, the Asus RealTek HD Audio Manager recognises them as speakers. This is super annoying as the audio sounds significantly worse, and also much quieter.

Headphones: Audio Technica ATH M50X
Case: NZXT s340

Please help!

 

[Victorion]

Its a common problem with the RealTek drivers. The short version is that onboard sound is very low priority at many gamers and the ones that do care about sound, usually invest in a soundcard. Don´t trust "premium labeled" onboard sound, they are just wrapped in nicely, but don´t expect premium quality.

I would recommend Asus Xonar soundcards.

 

[LordRascus]

Its a common problem with the RealTek drivers. The short version is that onboard sound is very low priority at many gamers and the ones that do care about sound, usually invest in a soundcard. Don´t trust "premium labeled" onboard sound, they are just wrapped in nicely, but don´t expect premium quality.

I would recommend Asus Xonar soundcards.

I had much better sound quality with my 6 year old laptop, is there anyway I can just get RealTek to recognize my headphones properly. Or am I forced to buy a soundcard.

 

[smorizio]

make sure in windows sound devices realtek speakers are the default output. in the realtech sound control panel. there a box that makes the front and rear sound one device or two. make sure it check to make the sound devices two. in windows sound setting check to see if it set to stereo or 5.1

 

[Victorion]

Its a common problem with the RealTek drivers. The short version is that onboard sound is very low priority at many gamers and the ones that do care about sound, usually invest in a soundcard. Don´t trust "premium labeled" onboard sound, they are just wrapped in nicely, but don´t expect premium quality.

I would recommend Asus Xonar soundcards.

I had much better sound quality with my 6 year old laptop, is there anyway I can just get RealTek to recognize my headphones properly. Or am I forced to buy a soundcard.

First off all, you should try the different ports you have, then make sure you updated drivers (through mobo website, not realtek)

There are some sloppy workarounds, like trying to install an audio sandbox and let it override the realtek drivers.
I´d prefer buying a soundcard though, you could get a cheap one and still get much better sound than from your onboard sound.