Headphones in iMac still allows sound from internal speakers?

I have a pair of headphones that I like to use for night time so I don't disturb other, they're AMGs and pretty good, so even during the day time I sometimes like to use them on well produced Vimeo productions for example as they reproduce better sound and you easily pic a lot more things up that standard iMac speakers miss.
But, it's a hassle. I have to plug them in round the back every time, and of course un-plug them to get sound again. It seems like it's a hardware thing. I would like to leave them plugged it but either have some software that will auto route e.g. YouTube video to the headphone and have everything else play from the iMac's internal speakers, or have it manual configurable from software, or even a physical splitter, but my feelings are that once the 3.5mm jack is inserted then the Mac automatically stops any sound from ever coming through.
Is there anything could do to make this happen please?    

Okay, I found the solution: simply put, whenever a 3.5mm male connector is inserted into the socket (assuming it has some headphones at the end of the chord) the iMac will automatically cut the internal sound, it's a hardware thing. So the solution lies in importing/exporting sound via another system and the cheapest way is a simple in/out audio USB connector that can be had for about £2.
This then allows one to use the built in option-click action on the sound icon on the task bar at the top of the screen (if made visible in System Preferences) to toggle between the internal speakers or headphones from the OS.
ref: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=19457966#post19457966

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