A:Answer I can't say whether or not the headphone jack will cut off the speakers when something is plugged into it (haven't tried it yet) but the optical out is totally independent of the TV's speaker system. Volume changes, muting, tone controls etc do NOT go out the optical jack. It is the same straight signal all the time. That's true with any TV. The analog jacks will behave differently across the various brands. Some TVs can be set to not cut off the speakers, and some can also be set so the headphone jack outputs a straight signal no matter what changes are made to the TV's audio, much like the optical jack behavior described above.