RealTek ALC888 - Low volume issue

First off here is what I am using

Hardware:
Windows 7 x64
RealTek ALC888 -> R2.70 drivers for Windows 7 64 bit.
Headphones: Creative Fatal1ty

Audio settings:
Loudness Equalization enabled,
16bit 48000 Hz DVD Quality.
Mixer Volume 100%

Issue:


Recently I noticed my volume has significantly decreased especially in games (L4D2 being one) I hadn't changed any hardware, installed new drivers or updated windows.
Whatever caused this is lost on me. However I have noticed one thing..

I plug-in my headphones, jack is set as Headphones. In RealTek HD Audio Manager
Speaker configuration is "stereo". I then click "test" and it shows it playing the left speaker - I hear a very faint DOO (pause) DOO a bass sound, it plays the second speaker and I hear that midi scale thingy.

It seems like my headphones aren't playing in stereo at all, rather mono and one of them thinks it's a sub woofer or something. For some reason I have a feeling this is what is also responsible for my loudness issue.

Any help would be appreciate, thank you!

Also tested headphones on other computers and they work fine. Strange.

Try uninstalling and reinstalling all sound drivers, just to make sure it is not a driver issue.
AND LOL your name

lol you should see my Steam name....I actually did this but I might use a driver cleaner and check the registry for issues as well.

haha:P
After uninstalling them, use this : Drivers - Clean Left over Files after Uninstalling
For reg checks. Open and elevated cmd and type in : sfc /scannow . Do it 3-4 times with reboots in between if it finds and tries repairing files.
I doubt either of these will fix the problem, but it could.

Done, done and done. Uninstalled drivers, removed what was left with Driver Sweeper and updated chipset and everything else, sadly the issue persists. It's so bizarre, these headphones are louder on my crappy old laptop, which are notorious for having low sound. I am at a loss.

I am as well, it can't be a power issue. The drivers are fine.. what else..:/
Hmm let's think

Is there any change if you disable "loudness equalization"?

Also, what items are you offered in "playback devices", and which item is green-checked as "default"?

Loudness Equalization doesn't seem to do anything at all and default playback is Speakers on Realtek HD Audio.

It's weird, I used to play games and my ears would almost bleed because the audio was so loud and now it's so very bad, even when I turn the speakers on it sounds like crap. These are good speakers too, FLAC used to sound amazing and now...crap!

Trisomy21 said:

Loudness Equalization doesn't seem to do anything at all and default playback is Speakers on Realtek HD Audio.

It's weird, I used to play games and my ears would almost bleed because the audio was so loud and now it's so very bad, even when I turn the speakers on it sounds like crap. These are good speakers too, FLAC used to sound amazing and now...crap!

Do you have regular stereo speakers (plugged into same the "lime green" L/R-front speaker jack on the back panel or front panel of your case), for ordinary external stereo sound use when you don't want to use your headphones? How do they sound? Does the "test" from Realtek HD Audio Manager produce clean sound from the two real speakers, or is it poor?

If the speakers sound good, it seems like you probably have a hardware problem in headphones... perhaps in the cable, or the connector.

If the speakers also sound bad, you probably have a hardware problem on the motherboard re:ALC888, and/or that lime green connector may be bad from use.

If "playback devices" shows SPEAKERS, then the ALC88 thinks it's feeding speakers. The sound through either true speakers or your headphones (plugged into the same lime green jack) should sound identical.