[nicholars]

Hi,
 
I currently have a Xonar STX which has the dual RCA > RCA on amplifier + also the headphone amp so that works good, I am buying a new motherboard and was wondering if it would be possible to downgrade my sound until I can afford another card > eg. buy a new motherboard with good onboard sound and sell the Xonar STX until I can afford to buy a new soundcard (as the STX won't fit very well due to the placement of the PCI express sockets etc.)
 
So using this motherboard http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4953#sp....
 
Is there any way I can use this onboard sound to power both my amplifier (RCA) and also headphones so they can both be plugged in and used without changing cables every time.... I was thinking maybe I could use a 3.5mm > dual RCA cable from the rear output of the card, and use the front panel audio header for my headphones, but I am not sure if that would work simultaneously. (by switching in windows from headphones > 2 speakers or similar? Or would it work simultaneously not sure.)
 
Just want to temporarily downgrade my sound and sell my Xonar as that has good onboard sound, but I need to have both my amplifier (RCA) and also headphones (soundcard headphone amp) connected at the same time so I can switch between them using windows (for watching films on TV with amplifier and listening to headphones through headphone jack).
 
Is there any way I can do that with the onboard sound? My xonar STX has dual RCA out + headphone jack and the motherboard has this....
 
http://cdn1.expertreviews.co.uk/sites/expertreviews/files/9/74//gigabyte_z97x-gaming_5_3.jpg
 
Do you know if this is possible? Thanks

 

[nicholars]

Also would using a decent quality 3.5mm > dual RCA cable from soundcard to amplifier degrade the sound quality?