Strange audio distortions, lack of voice, but only when headphones plugged into one jack?

dragearen

Honorable
Jan 30, 2013
24
0
10,510
I am running a Windows 10 laptop, and I had some audio level issues when I first upgraded to Windows 10 (unwillingly, everything was quieter than in Windows 8), though now I have another issue which I am not sure when it started. Basically, using my normal headphones (basic one-jack phone Panasonic headphones), I am experiencing some very bad audio distortions. Everything sounds staticky, and far quieter than it should, whether it is on games, youtube (with Chrome), or VLC. Voices in particular are bad, frequently being completely inaudible. The same happens with some, but not all, portable speakers.

I've checked the audio drivers, and for both my sound card and VIA HD Device Manager says that my drivers are up to date. All sound enhancements are off. Now, here's the really strange thing. If I plug my headphones into a splitter, which splits it into audio and mic jacks, then it works fine, and my audio comes out sounding for the most part quite clear. Internal speakers as well, while quieter than they were with Windows 8.1, are still undistorted. System sounds are also undistorted regardless of audio setup.

Does anyone know what's going on with this? It's kind of pesky to use the splitter, and I also am not sure if speakers will work through it.
 

dragearen

Honorable
Jan 30, 2013
24
0
10,510


Downloading that didn't seem to fix it, instead it says to run the 64-bit version of VIA on startup meaning that I can't run VIA at all anymore.

In control panel it says I am set up for stereo, but there may be another place where it is messed up or something?

Also I just tested something. When plugging my headphones into the splitter, but not plugging in the mic portion, it sounds distorted still. As soon as I plug in the mic, it sounds clear and fine. This distortion is happening with two different pairs of headphones and with a speaker.

EDIT: I followed the instructions here https://www.reddit.com/r/windows/comments/3ftdkj/windows_10_via_hd_audio_driver_fix/ and the good news is that it sounds much better and clearer (albeit a bit quieter). The bad news is that it now lists headphones and the internal speakers as separate devices, and does not automatically switch between them.

EDIT2: Changing the drivers from VIA HD Audio to Windows 10 Audio, or something like that, has fixed the issue!
 

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