Computer / audio / headphone question...
 

I have an older Dell computer running Windows 7. I have a splitter plugged into the sound output. One side of the splitter goes to a Dell 5.1 system. The other side of the splitter goes to a Plantronics audio switch. The switch directs the sound to either a pair of headphones (Bose noise cancelling) or my stereo.

Sound to the Dell 5.1 system always works. Sound to the switch works on some things, but not others.

Sound from Netflix always works to everything - the 5.1, the headphones, or the stereo. Youtube seems to be hit or miss. The audio from some videos plays on all of my devices, while others will only play to the 5.1. I get no output to the headphone/stereo switch.

I was just listening to (streaming) an MP3 file. Plays on the 5.1, but not over the headphones or stereo.

Why is this? Seems like sound out is sound out, but obviously something changes from one source to another. Any ideas?

Have I stumped the computer/audio guys? :)

This sort of stuff is very tough to diagnose from a distance. Obviously it would help to rule-out each component, so perhaps try some tests without the splitter, and without the switch.

Are these pure passive devices (just jacks and wires), not a DAC or external sound card?

Are you outputting the audio in digital or analog format?

I think I've got it figured out. It seems to have to do with whether sound is 5.1 surround vs stereo. The headphones are only playing left + right channel. No center. So, if sound is all center. I get nothing to the headphones or stereo. I can manually turn off the 5.1 settings and change to stereo, and then I get output to headphones.

I think another option may be to plug the switch into the front panel jack instead of the splitter, with the front jack programmed to stereo mode only.