Audio From Laptop Via HeadPhones Sounding Muffled And Quiet?

[bingbongbangbung]

It literally happened a few hours ago all of a sudden and I don't know why or how it occured. I took a nap for an hour and then when I opened my laptop to listen to some YouTube, I immediately noticed the audio was so off. At first I assumed it was a typical Windows glitch, so I put my laptop back to sleep and then woke it up, but that didn't do shit. Then, I tried rebooting Windows and that didn't fix anything either.

I started getting desperate and I updated my Nvidia drivers (which does include audio by the way), which while did kind of make things better, still the sound was way off. So I decided to eventually try to find drivers unique to my laptop for RealTek (audio drivers) and WaveMaxx (equaliser) from the vendor website. Opening up device manager revealed the ones I have are the latest versions, so I decided to reinstall them.

Seems that after rebooting Windows again due to my paranoia, the sound got much more clear now yet the loudness was still a joke. I'm all out of options and I don't know what to do. I do suspect partially it may be my ears having earwax clogged inside again which I tried to force it out using syringe and warm water in the bathroom. Too bad that didn't do much at all so either I'm going insane or maybe it's the headphones.

Laptop Specs (Acer Nitro 5 2019):
Core i5 9300H 4C/8T @ 2.4GHZ
Nvidia GTX 1050 3GB GDDR5
Intel UHD Graphics 630 1GB
16GB DDR4 SDRAM @ 2666MHZ
500GB SSD (M2 2280 + 2.5" SATA)
DirectX12 (12_1)/Vulkan V1.2 API
Wave MaxxAudio Sound Card
FHD 15.6" 60HZ LED IPS 20ms
USB 3.1 + C, HDMI 2, 3.5mm, LAN

Updates

+1 y

My headphones are the culprit cause my Sony earbuds worked fine when I tested those.

[silkjames]

Are u using wireless Bluetooth headphones or u plugging it in to the laptop if u are using plug in headphones the headphones might be defective get new ones or check your audio options and make sure audio adjustments are all line up in the the center and I use the mono dialogue it helps a little unless the laptop is old speaker could be blown out easy to on some laptops if u always have the volume High or have it on for long period of time... Just get a Bluetooth iHome speaker u can always turn it up louds as u want always loud Bluetooth speaker and headphones your good but plug in ones messes up any devices tablet, laptop, cellphones over long periods of time I don't know that's my opinion lol!

[bingbongbangbung]

I am currently used wired over ear headphones from Pioneer. Been using them since July 2021 and they don't seem defective to me. I'll try listening to stuff on my phone to see if it really is indeed them or my computer. My laptop is from 2019, it's not that old.

[bingbongbangbung]

Here's an update, the culprit was sadly my Pioneer headphones. Tested with my spare Sony earbuds and those were fine with the audio, aside from an audio imbalance it had before.