[yoonie]

I recently got a nice new set of cans (ath ad500x) and figured they'd be wasted without a sound card with an amp, so I picked a xonar dg.  I currently also have a set of crappy logitechs hooked up, and I'd like the option of switching between them at a key press.
 
At the moment, I have my speakers (5.1) hooked up my onboard sound, and am using soundswitch to switch playback devices (from xonar to realtek onboard and vice versa).
 
It works fine, but here's the thing- I think my speakers would sound better hooked up to my sound card, and I'm willing to use 2.1 with speaker fill if that's possible.  I can't use 5.1, since the front speaker out jack is also the amped headphone jack, and I'd like to leave that hooked up to my headphones.
 
I was thinking, is it possible to output regular, 2.1 stereo sound to, for example, the blue jack which is normally used for side channels?  I tried to look for something like that in the unified xonar control panel but couldn't find anything.  It seems very simple in theory, but I can't find the proper utility.  I vaguely remember finding something that answered my question almost exactly, with diagrams and everything, but I found it when I was researching DACs ages ago and I can't find it again.  iirc it used xonar control panel, but I can't find anything like that on the asus website (am using unified drivers right now, running windows 8.1).

 

[PurpleAngel]

I'm guessing your idea will not work.
 
You could plug the headphones into the computer case's front panel audio jack and leave the 5.1 speakers plugged into the back panel jacks.
 
Might consider replacing the Xonar DG with the Creative Sound Blaster Z sound card ($60-$80)

 

[yoonie]

The front jacks are not amped, and I'd rather not have speakers plugged in to the front.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  The front jacks are not amped, and I'd rather not have speakers plugged in to the front.

 
The Xonar DG's front panel headphone jack (10 pin internal connector) is amplified.
Have you tried plugging your computer case's front panel cable (headphone/mic) into the Xonar DG internal connector?
(better to disable the motherboard's on-board audio, in the BIOS and just use the Xonar DG)

 

[yoonie]

Oh cool, I didn't know the internal connector also gave power.  Still, I think I'm just gonna hook up my speakers to the onboard for now so I can keep the front clean and not fiddle with any wires.  Thanks for the help!