Headset vs Soundcard

[Artenesse]

Hi

Backstory:

I purchased the following:

Asus Xonar DG 5.1 SoundCard & Headphone AMP as part of a full custom build (along with a Hyper x Cloud II headset) back in April 2015.

The Cloud II since died, after Hyper X twice replacing parts, and I have now purchased a Sennheiser PC 360 headset as a replacement.

IMPORTANT QUESTION HERE:

I realised after plugging in the Sennheiser headset that I'd had my headset plugged into the onboard sound, and not the sound card, however when I plug the head set into the sound card, it doesn't work.

After going through settings in the devices menu etc, it says next to the sound card under both playback and recording 'device unavailable'. (the 'enable' options is greyed out).

Summary:

So I'm mildly amused by my own ignorance that I've been under-utilising the full power of my PC's sound capabilities, but I also realise that I'm at a loss as to how to fix it?

Please help.

p.s. the rest of my build is as follows:

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z97P-D3: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
32GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W VS SERIES™ VS-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
1 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 SoundCard & Headphone AMP (Award Winner)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Monitor
BENQ GL2250HM LED 21.5" 1920 x 1080, 5MS, HDMI, D-SUB, DVI-D
2nd Monitor
BENQ GL2250HM LED 21.5" 1920 x 1080, 5MS, HDMI, D-SUB, DVI-D
Monitor Cables
2 x 2 METRE DVI-D CABLE
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Black Widow 2014 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Mouse
Razer® Naga Expert MMO Gaming Mouse
Gaming Mouse Pad
Razer Goliathus Small Control Mouse Mat
Headsets
Kingston Hyper X Cloud II Gaming Headset
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

 

[Scott]

You should be able to right click on the speaker icon in the bottom right and then click "Playback Devices". If you scroll through that list you should be able to select "Set Default" for addon card.

 

[Artenesse]

As I said: "After going through settings in the devices menu etc, it says next to the sound card under both playback and recording 'device unavailable'. (the 'enable' options is greyed out)." ??

 

[Scott]

As I said: "After going through settings in the devices menu etc, it says next to the sound card under both playback and recording 'device unavailable'. (the 'enable' options is greyed out)." ??

I'm not sure what you mean I'm afraid. What you are describing sounds different to what I described but best of luck with it regardless.

 

[Artenesse]

Basically we're looking at the same menu - just getting there in two different ways. I'm trying to figure out why the sound card option is greyed out. If it was active, I'd select it.