Headphones L/R Balance Muting Audio?

[soakka]

Hi!

I have three pairs of headphones (Sony MDR-1A which I'm currently using, Sony MDR-10R and some random earphones). I plug them into my computer's headphone jack at the front of my computer case. I'm using the latest version of Windows 10.

The problem: After around 5-10 minutes of using the headphones, the audio of whatever is playing (Twitch, YouTube, video games) starts to fade away and after about 10 seconds the sound is completely messed up. It stays like this for a while, sometimes fixing itself for a few seconds but then breaking again. When the audio is messed up, the background audio (background music or sfx) seems to get much louder and the main part of the audio (dialog, for example) is almost inaudible. This happens with all three pairs of headphones and has been happening for many months.

After a bit of experimenting I found that this audio glitch happens when the Left/Right balance of the headphones are equal to each other. As in, if the Left Balance is set to 10, and the Right Balance is set to 10, this glitch happens. If one of them is at least slightly offset from the other (For example if L is at 10, R is at 12) this glitch goes away. If they are very offset (L at 10, R at 40), the glitch also goes away. I change the balance by going to Sounds --> Headphones --> Levels --> Balance.

This wouldn't be a problem if I could simply set them at a certain offset value and leave them, but depending on the game or audio the LR balance is constantly changing.

Drivers: I had Realtek audio (the audio driver for my motherboard) installed on my computer. The issue was present when that was installed, and so I uninstalled it but the audio still ends up breaking. I also tried reinstalling Realtek but the issue persisted. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Realtek at least five times by now so I don't think that's the issue.  

 

I've tried plugging my headphones directly into the back of my PC case (straight into the motherboard), but for some reason I can't get any sound to come out no matter which port I plug it into. I'm pretty sure the lime green one is meant for headphones, but like I mentioned it doesn't work (nor any of the others). It doesn't seem like an audio device is detected.

When the headphones are plugged into the back, the detected sound devices are:
1. Realtek Digital Output
2. 6 - ASUS VS228 with subtext "AMD High Definition Audio Device". This is my monitor.
3. Realtek Digital Output (Optical)

When I plug in the headphones on the front port, the option for "Speakers" with subtext "Realtek High Definition Audio Device" pops up in addition to the previous ones listed and that's the one where I can hear things normally (until they break). 

I've been trying to fix this issue for a really long time and haven't had any luck, so if anybody has had a similar issue or has any advice it would be greatly appreciated!

 

(Also as a side note, I can plug my headphones into my monitor, but the sound is pretty bad and there's a loud static sound that constantly plays when I do that. It's an issue for another time, but just letting you know that the monitor isn't a great solution)

These are my computer specs: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/v4qPwP

 

EDIT: Somebody mentioned to me that an external sound DAC (not really sure what they're called) might fix the issue. Any idea if something like this (https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-70SB173000000-Sound-Blaster/dp/B06XBZ38ZJ/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=usb+external+dac&qid=1623878925&sr=8-3) would function as a work-around?