Sound Muffled/Distorted, need help.

[tomislavpuric]

Yesterday my sound was perfect. This morning everything screwed up for no apparent reason.

Hi, My computers sound is completely messed up. The sound is extremely muffled and reduced when it comes to voices, and the music is a bit distorted. My log in sound is perfect yet some songs are good but still a bit distorted. It varies and is completely weird as it happened over night.
Over night there were no updates and i hadn't installed anything.
My input (stuff i hear) is screwed up but my output (stuff i say in mic) is perfect (asked my mates on ventrilo).

MOBO: Intel ASUS P6T (Inbuilt Sound Card, using software: HD Realtek)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
CPU: Intel(R) Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz
GFX: GeForce GTX 285
RAM: 6144MB
(If you need more details ask)

What I've tried:
- Different headphones/speakers (no change)
- System recovery of 1 week back (it helped the sound but didn't fix it)
- Installed Latest Driver of sound card (screwed it up more)
- Reinstalled original Driver of the sound card where when i checked it, it said it was up to date (resulted to the sound being the same as before [after recovery])
- Tried to plug into a different port but it wouldn't recognise it
- Added a second sound card (CC-T850) (being second to the motherboards sound card)
- Installed the software to play the sound (PCI8738-Vista) (The sound is STILL the same asa before, nothing as changed).

So after testing two sound cards using two separate ports, multiple headphones/speakers, installing the latest drivers and performing a system recover, i have come to the conclusion that i have no fkn idea whats wrong with my computers sound .

ANY help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Whir]

Are you, by chance, using a 5.1 surround system? It sounds like perhaps the middle channel in surround mode (where most voice comes from) is not working.

[tomislavpuric]

Currently i am using headphones. I did test it with ear pieces from my mp3 player as well as a 5.1 system that i borrowed off my brother during my testing process. All 3 audio devices produced the same output.

However, each one did produce a unique muffled sound (5.1 was terrible, headphones better and earpieces around the same as headphones)

[Whir]

Can you check to see if your output is in 5.1 mode for some reason?

[tomislavpuric]

nope, it is set to headphones atm. and i am currently using headphones.

My inbuilt sound card produces a very muffled sound while my other sound card which i added earlier produces a echo'ing sound (but atleast i can hear all the sounds being made).

[Whir]

Hm. Try checking in the RealTek control panel to see if possible one of the environmental effects got turned on. Echo, underwater, etc.

[tomislavpuric]

Sigh. I honestly can't find my RealTek control panel, although i did find my other control panel for the other sound card, yes i indeed played around with the "effects" and i did get to a stage where you could say it was "normal" however, not perfect.

[Whir]

There should be a way to turn the effects off completely. Unfortunately, what it is in your case, I have no idea.

At least it's a start though.

[tomislavpuric]

Yes it has and thank you very much Whir for the help. It is appreciated. I shall try to investigate it further and maybe get someone to check it personally. If worse comes to worse, ill have to get a replacement i guess.

[Punkjack08]

well i fixed my problem which was similar to yours By;going to my sound audio control panel and changing the direction of the sound to either of ear buds just a tiny bit if that doesn't work adjust it more.

[idbohemia]

This worked for me:

Go to Control Panel.
Open Sound.
Click Speakers, and then Properties (at the lower right corner for my computer).
At the top, click the Enhancements tab.
There will be a window in the tab, with options like "Environment", "Voice Cancellation", "Pitch Shift", etc...
If "Voice Cancellation" is checked, uncheck it.

That's it. Good luck.