Gaming headset sound not working right

[Ziva]

I have had this headset for almost a year now and the sound has been 100%. It works via USB and is plug and play. I was busy watching a movie when all of a sudden the voices of people talking went all soft. Other sounds are playing fine and on both sides. If I go into control panel to sounds and I turn one side down on the balance the peoples voices come back fine. (It doesnt matter what side i do, both sides will work fine when I do this..This wouldnt be a problem to keep this way except it doesnt help for playing games). I have wiggled the usb jack and tested the headset on other pc's but the problem still persists. Nothing is muted. This is very strange and I cant find any solution on the internet to this problem.

Please can someone try and help. I run windows 7 32 bit..

 

[makkem]

Hi
Can I ask what headset are you using,is it stereo or 5.1.

 

[Ziva]

It is a pair of somic earphones..they are stereo..

 

[makkem]

Try going into the realtek sound manager and make sure it is set for stereo,in 5.1 the speech is directed to the centre speaker and may be causing this.
Also click on the sound icon on your taskbar,then select mixer,under device click on the speaker icon then click on levels then ensure centre is at 100

 

[Ziva]

Hi
I have checked that everything is still on stereo..thats actually the first thing I did. It is when the levels are set exactly in the middle that this is happening. Like I said I have to set either the right or left down for it to work right...It doesnt matter what side. This headset has been working fine. It just all of a sudden went wrong last night. I checked it on other pc's as well and the problem is still there...Other headsets are working fine...I think there is a problem in the headset and need to know if someone knows what it might be...I have opened them and cant find anything wires off...Both sides are working fine except for the voices...Thanks for the help so far..I appreciate it very much..

 

[makkem]

Its strange if they had been analogue and not usb I would have said that it was a phase problem and that one earphone had been wired in reverse,this would mean that an equal signal on both earphones ie the voice which is centre panned would cancel out leading to a much reduced volume on voice but leaving the music etc ok.Also when you pan to one side you remove the antiphase effect and things go back to normal.
However these are usb.
You could try reloading the driver.
Are there any plugs on the cable apart from the usb plug,such as into a small box with a volume slider,if so try cleaning the plug.
Try moving the cable near the earphones to see if anything happens as a lot of modern earphones use a lacquer to insulate the bare wires inside the cable instead of plastic and this is not very durable when bent and can cause some strange faults .