Can I force my computer to stop converting everything to stereo?

This is going to sound weird, I know, but I’m throwing it out here anyway.

I used to have a computer with built-in 5.1 speakers. The effect was of course not great, but one of the great things about it was that, when I plugged in my earphones and then played 5.1 files, my earphones only produced the front channels, which was useful for karaoke and it helped me discover nice details in music.

Now, I have a computer with built-in stereo speakers and I cannot switch them to 5a .1 setup. This might sound obvious, but I have a Windows XP computer with built-in stereo speakers and have an option to switch to 5.1 as well; no idea why, but when I do so, my headphones produce the front channels as well.

The problem is, on my new Windows 8.1 computer with Realtek HD Audio Manager, even IF I play 5.1 files, everything is always converted back to stereo sound. I’ve tried everything like disabling the center channel in my ffdshow audio decoder that sometimes converts files to surround when I play them on my 5.1 external speakers, but nothing helps.

So my question is, does anyone know how/if I could somehw make my internal speakers/software stop converting everything to stereo regardless of the input? I just want to have an option to play files hearing only the front channels through my earphones. Any thoughts?

maybe virtual surround sound.
control panel sound, selecting speaker, opening for enhancement tab, having virtual surround option. if check, unchecked (or checking disable all sound effect)

This isn’t possible anymore on Vista and up.

virtual surround sound? it is showing for my win 7 and win 10 computers? meaning for xp?

It is possibleand it worked! Thanks!

glad helping 🙂