I figured it was about time that I reinstalled Windows 7, as I was starting to get some really bad windows bog.
Today I finally got around to it, and I installed all my drivers I had saved to my non-OS drive pre-reinstall from Gigabyte's website, and started reinstalling everything else.
Finally I got around to watching a youtube video and noticed the sound was really quiet, at 100% it was about the same as ~30% before. Along with being quiet, the quality itself is really bad, with clicks, muddiness, and the likes.
It's not only youtube, it is the exact same in everything; foobar, mpc-hc, and VLC.
I went and made sure I had the latest drivers, it turns out there was a version newer, so I got it and now it's muddier.
I checked the format in Realtek's Audio Manager and set it to 24 Bit 192k Hz, the same setting I had before, and that didn't help.
It's 4 AM and I have no idea what to do any more. Please help. :|
I completely uninstalled the sound drivers I had and let Windows put it's one in automatically. The one Windows put on isn't muddy, but it is still really quiet and sounds bad. Nowhere near as bad as before, it's just slightly noticeable now.
If you have a external hard drive load a OS of any kind on it, I would use something free like Linux, test the audio on that. I it is still bad it is probably a hardware problem. You could buy a sound card, a dac, or an amp to try and fix that. If it isn't bad audio I would try a fresh install of windows. If that doesn't work using a different OS or new version of windows, like Windows 8. If that doesn't work you could still try a sound card, a dac, or an amp. Btw all the links go to companys I would recomend for the product.
Good idea about trying Linux, I'm sure it'll be fine on it though.
I reeeaallly don't want to do a fresh install again, I had just gotten Windows 7 almost configured the way I had it before, but I guess I might have to do it as a last resort.
I haven't been using windows for a while but you might be able to back up settings and maybe programs. Also it helps make the setup for windows easy by using services like ninite. Also try the sound on your monitor and check the sound settings in Windows control panel are configured correctly.
Thankfully I have all my (main) installers on a separate drive so it isn't TOO much of a pain to do a fresh install.
None of my monitors have speakers, and I'm sure it isn't my headphones.
I did find a setting in my sound settings (Loudness Equalization) that boosted my volume about 5x. Although that doesn't help much still, with the generic Windows audio drivers that don't sound too bad at 100% volume WITH the 5x boost it still is only ~50% what it should be.
The Realtek drivers were a bit louder, but they sounded awful, even though they were literally the same ones I had been using before I reinstalled Windows.
Do any of your monitors have speaker jacks?
Nope.
I just threw ubuntu on a flashdrive, so I'm going to boot into that and see if it'll work. I've never had luck using Universal USB Installer to put any Linux into a flashdrive, but I have no spare disks. I'll just do the "try Ubuntu" option to save time.
Linux Edit
Just booted into Ubuntu, it sounds great, loud, and full. No crackles, compressiony sounds, or anything. It sounds exactly as it used to. :(? :)?
I guess you could try windows one more time and if it still doesn't work try backing up and doing a re install of Windows.
Back in Windows, it's still the same. I have the volume set to 100% but it is way quieter than in Linux, and Linux was even a bit quieter than Windows 7 used to be before I did a fresh install.
I'm not sure what to do at this point other than another fresh install, maybe try the Realtek drivers again...
In sound settings make sure that gain is at 100
These sound settings? https://i.imgur.com/pzP64Qe.png
I think I'm forgetting some sound settings area or something.
Edit
Installing the Realtek drivers for the 12th or so time seems to have helped. It's still a tad quiet, but 100% is aprox. 75-80% now.
