Windows 10: Audio mixing is very off only through headphone jack

Hi - this morning I've started having issues with my computer's audio drivers on Windows 11 - I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling Realtek audio drivers. I got an error upon doing so after rebooting. Audio sounds normal and as it should be if I connect my headphones via Bluetooth, but the audio mixing issue comes up if I connect my headphones via the front headphone jack on my desktop. I know that it is not an issue with my headphones, because connecting it to another device via aux produces normal results.The faulty mixing is particularly bad with MP3 music files, instruments and vocals s

:)

 

Realtek HD audio headphone jack

Realtek HD audio headphone jack not listed separately in device manager, headphones don't

 

Stereo mix showing but not showing audio

A potential solution for those who use digital outputs to a separate sound system for your sounds (rather than speakers or headphones), and have tried all the normal suggestions when Stereo Mix shows up on the recording tab, but shows no audio, and programs
such as Audacity won't record a signal.

I use digital optical out from my sound card (Realtek High Definition Audio) to my sound system. There are therefore no speakers connected, and no speakers show in the sound settings. And no audio showing in Stereo Mix.

However, connecting headphones instantly solves the problem - stereo mix shows audio, programs like Audacity can record again (plugging headphones in the headphones jack makes no difference to the digital optical output signal = does not mute it).

I would be really interested to know why Stereo Mix will not show audio if there are no speakers or headphones connected.

 

Playback through headphones in jack on Windows 10 not working

Currently, on my Windows 10 PC I have the following strange behavior: my speakers and my USB headphones both will play sound fine, but my headphones in the headphone jack do not play sound. Additionally, my headphones are not listed under playback devices when they are plugged in.

What I have tried so far:

1. Restarting Computer
   
2. Double-checking volume mixer to make sure I did not accidentally mute my computer
   
3. Right-clicking sound icon and following all steps in “Troubleshoot Sound Problems” and restarting
   
4. Troubleshoot Settings → additional troubleshooters → playing audio and following all the steps
   
5. Going to Device Manager → Sound, video and game controllers and uninstalling either Realtek Audio Device or High Definition Audio Device and restarting
   
6. Going to Device Manager → Sound, video and game controllers and selecting “update driver” on High Definition Audio Device
   
7. Updating OS
   
8. Downloading drivers from the manufacturer of my computer and restarting
   
9. Going to Realtek Audio Console → Device Advanced Settings → toggling “Disable front panel jack detection” on and off and testing
   

Edit: The headphones work when plugged in to another Windows 10 PC and plugging in different headphones to my headphone jack did not seem to fix the issue.

Edit 2: When I put my headphones in the jack, sound stops coming through the speakers. When I installed a different driver (the one installed by the sound troubleshooter, not the one from the computer manufacturer), my headphones appeared in the list of devices, but no sound comes out.

Does anyone have any suggestions of anything else I could try? Any help or tips are very much appreciated.