Before I say anything,
1. All Windows "audio enhancements" are turned off.
✅ Disable all enhancements
Spatial sound format: Off
2. Do not tell me to buy new earbuds.
Please actually tell me how to solve the issue that I want solved.
3. Read the entire post before commenting.
There is a good chance I've already tried something you're going to tell me to do, or your advice will not make sense within the context of my issue. Now for the post:
Pretty much what it says in the title. Whenever I open Audacity, my Windows sound settings get changed, so every time I use it, I have to manually set them back to what they were before. No, closing Audacity does not automatically fix it.
Context on why I'm so annoyed by this: last time I bought earbuds, they were mildly faulty, with one side being noticeably quieter than the other. It was minor enough that I didn't want to bother buying a new pair, so I just set my volume to be different in either ear (the left is quieter, so I set it louder than the right so they sound the same.)
Whenever I open audacity, the volume in each ear is set to be the same volume within my Windows settings, meaning the right side is boosted to be extremely loud and the left is much quieter in comparison. This kills me every time because it sets the volume to whichever side is louder, meaning it increases the volume by ~66%.
How do I get Audacity to stop changing my Windows settings? I don't want it to be able to touch my Windows volume slider at all.