Headphones got way quieter

[andrej]

I've found today that my headphones output about a third of the sound that they could yesterday;
I haven't done anything that could affect their operation on a software level, nor do I have reason to believe their hardware has sustained any damage. Help.
Update #1: No sound output. A pair of earbuds works fine and as loud as I would expect.
Update #2: There's a gear slider thing on the back of my headphones that was turned completely in one direction. Consider the issue resolved. Thank you for the replies.

[emoticorpse]

Is the volume thing at the same level? Try raising it?

[Agent]

Either could be the headphones, the headphone port, or amp on the motherboard.

First try plugging in the headphones into the back of the motherboard, if volume goes back to normal then you know your case port might be loose or damaged.

If the volume is still low try plugging in a dedicated amplifier if you have one. If it goes back to normal then it's the motherboard.

Still doesn't resolve it? Then it's the headphones, RMA.

[Agent]

Also, get up to date realtek audio drivers while you're at it.

[Baker]

Can you test them on another PC or mobile?
It might just be you accidentally changed some windows setting.
"Volume mixer", "Spatial sound" or something.

[_I_]

may also be drivers
ms default generic are never correct, and often have weird issues
get the correct drivers from the mobo mfg or oem site

[Andrius227]

Right click on the speaker icon (bottom right corner) > Sounds > Communication tab.

Make sure 'Do nothing' is selected. I think its set to reduce volume during calls by default and windows sometimes mistakes some programs as calls and reduces volume.

At some point i also had a bug where windows ignored the 'do nothing' option. It was selected but it still reduced volume. I had to change it to something else and then back to 'do nothing' and then it worked (had to do it every time i restarted my pc).

[andrej]

Originalmente postado por Stacked:

Either could be the headphones, the headphone port, or amp on the motherboard.

First try plugging in the headphones into the back of the motherboard, if volume goes back to normal then you know your case port might be loose or damaged.

If the volume is still low try plugging in a dedicated amplifier if you have one. If it goes back to normal then it's the motherboard.

Still doesn't resolve it? Then it's the headphones, RMA.

It's not the port, dk about the amp.

Originalmente postado por _I_:

may also be drivers
ms default generic are never correct, and often have weird issues
get the correct drivers from the mobo mfg or oem site

Yes. If it's of any importance, the playback device that I had selected (and was working) was my headphones.
Realtek digital output has stopped putting out sound since I got these newer headphones.

Originalmente postado por Andrius227:

Right click on the speaker icon (bottom right corner) > Sounds > Communication tab.

Make sure 'Do nothing' is selected. I think its set to reduce volume during calls by default and windows sometimes mistakes some programs as calls and reduces volume.

At some point i also had a bug where windows ignored the 'do nothing' option. It was selected but it still reduced volume. I had to change it to something else and then back to 'do nothing' and then it worked (had to do it every time i restarted my pc).

So I selected something then 'Do nothing' again, and now I get no sound at all (even after restarting). Just my luck.

[Andrius227]

Have a look in sounds>playback tab, see that your headphones are there, right click and hit “test” to see if they work, disable everything else that you dont need. There may be monitor speakers or other stuff in there causing problems.

[_I_]

even with incorrect drivers, windows will say its 'working' windows doesnt know what it really is or what it can do without the correct drivers