So, my new system is up and running, so far so good. Other than trying to figure out UAC stuff so that I can run what I want as what I want (I probalby should have said the hell with it and only made one account, but…) my main remaining issue is sound.
The sound is good quality, very nice via speakers or headphones. That’s not the issue. The issue is getting the system to act like my old system, specifically, switching between speakers and headphones when I plug the headset into the front audio panel.
By default I got sound from both the speakers and the headphones, which was not what I wanted; indeed, adjusting the volume on the speakers (which are hooked into the back panel outputs) also adjusted the volume on the headphones. After fiddling with the control panel for a bit I got it so I could get either the headphones or the speakers, most of the time. It seems though that I can’t just hot-swap the audio output devices–if I’m in LOTRO, for instance, and listening on the headphones, if I pull out the 'phone jack I get no sound–the speakers don’t cut back on. Likewise, if I start up with speakers on, and plug in the headphones, the headphones don’t work. I have to go into the control panel and swap the default device from speakers to headphones or vice versa.
I’m probably doing something odd but it’s a bit annoying. My old Realtek onboard audio (A8N-E) did find; this is on a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L, which otherwise has been a very good board so far. And again, the sound quality is very good.
Is this a Vista thing I’m just not getting? Or an audio chipset thing? I’ve never dealt with HD Audio before, it’s always been AC 97 stuff.