It seems like a simple question, right? But the issue is that there is usually only one speaker out port on the audio card I/O panel. Unless you have a high-end audio card, you won't find a dedicated headset port in there. There isn't one on the on-board audio solution of my Maximus VI Hero motherboard; not even on the X-Fi Titanium PCI-E card that I don't use anymore. What?!
Only the high-end audio cards have a dedicated headset port. Not only they come with the dedicated port, but the port is usually amped. Well, you don't really need an amped headphone port unless the headset has a high impedance.
The headset I bought recently, the AudioTechnica AD500X, doesn't need one. It's so loud even with the system volume set to about 20%. Getting an audio card just for the dedicated headphone port doesn't sound like the best way to spend the bucks. Besides, the audio cards that support dedicated headset ports are pretty expensive too. And, an audio card would block the airflow to the video card from the back intake fan. (Of course it will still be fed with cool air from the bottom intake fans.)
Anyways, so if you don't have an audio card that has a dedicated headset port, how do you plug your headset and the speakers at the same time? Well, you could simply plug the headset to the front audio ports and speakers to the back. That would work just fine. In fact, that's how most onboard solutions or low-end (<$100) sound cards are designed to be used as. The issue is that when you have a long cable on the headset, it gets in the way. And it kills the looks of your setup depending on how you care about aesthetics.
It makes you wonder if there isn't a better way to do it. Perhaps there are connectors that plug to the front audio on the sound card, that installs to the back of the case. Just like the cables that connect to the motherboard USB headers. That would actually fix my issue.
