Hey, yeah I managed to fix it. None of the fixes mentioned here worked, but resetting the CMOS on my motherboard by taking out the battery, waiting for 2 minutes, and reinstalling seemed to fix my issue.
Audio quality suddenly awful in Windows 11
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(294.40000000000003, 73%, 38%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ESV%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Samuel Valdez
10
Reputation points
My audio quality was perfectly fine yesterday, but I booted up my computer today and the audio was extremely poor quality, sounding compressed and quiet like it was coming from far away. I have tried reinstalling drivers, updating drivers, uninstalling devices, disabling audio enhancements, checking headphone cables, running troubleshooters, but nothing is fixing the problem.
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Devices and drivers
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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(28.799999999999997, 61%, 12%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EM%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
mehdi 0 Reputation points2026-05-11T15:18:03.1733333+00:00 I was really disappointed today to figure out that Windows is ruining my sound quality, not my DAC. I spent time tweaking every setting and disabling audio enhancements. I tried WASAPI, expecting bit-perfect audio, but it sounded awful.
I honestly thought my hearing was getting worse or there was a problem with my headphone or DAC. I finally switched to ASIO and the music sounds great again. Why is there such a massive degradation of sound with Windows audio? It makes no sense.
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Answer recommended by moderator
Samuel Valdez
10
Reputation points
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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(73.60000000000001, 66%, 17%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EDR%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Delta Rhulain 0 Reputation points2026-04-10T18:00:40.6+00:00 Was this an issue only with other devices plugged in? I'm having a problem on my laptop with the audio cutting out in the speakers
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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(12.8, 57.00000000000001%, 11%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3ESC%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Solamillo Charity 20,375 Reputation points Independent Advisor2026-03-02T20:57:55.5266667+00:00 Hello there! I'm glad to help you today!
Are you using a bluetooth headset? May I ask what is the make and model of your computer? If you don't know the make and model or it's a custom, may I ask if you know the make and model of the motherboard?
Press Windows + R, type msinfo32, and hit Enter.
In the System Summary section, please provide me the three things below.
BaseBoard Manufacturer
BaseBoard Product
BaseBoard Version
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Samuel Valdez 10 Reputation points
2026-03-02T21:14:32.2533333+00:00 Hi, I am using a wired 3.5mm Sennheiser 58X headset. Attached is the model. https://www.bestbuy.com/product/ibuypower-slatemr-gaming-desktop-intel-core-i5-13600kf-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060ti-8gb-1tb-nvme-black/J3R75JL4W2. As for the motherboard, it is an Asrock B760M-C. I recently updated the BIOS to the latest version, but the problem didn't start until 3 days after that.
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