The Re-Volt Hideout

I have a surround sound 5.1 setup and after some testing it turns out that the sounds that are made in stereo will only output the stereo speakers and not the rear speakers behind me when I look away. Is this intrinsic to the game engine design or can it be fixed?

I also just discovered I have this issue with my headphones. It's been causing some grief when trying to do sound design for my WIP tracks.
It happens with all the stock game sounds too. I'm pretty sure it wasn't always like this.