Audio changes if I restart or stop video

[concord72]

Running Windows 10, main audio interface is a Micca Origen+, headphones are the Sennheiser HD 598Cs.

Pretty weird issue, gonna try to explain it as best as possible. When I open a video file for the first time, everything works fine, the audio sounds ok. But if I STOP [press s] and then restart it, or if I press N for next, the video will start replaying normally but the audio will be "different". I don't really know how to properly describe it, but it sounds like the audio is being played through some sort of filter, it just sounds wrong, like its too high and sorta in the background. The only way I've found to fix the issue is to quit VLC completely and then start it up again. Also, if I'm watching a movie or show with multiple audio streams and I change from the primary stream and go back to it, it will also be affected and give me the weird sounding one. I had recently upgraded to v2.2.6 and figured that was the issue but I went back to 2.2.5.1 and even all the way to 2.1.5 and still encountered it. I also plugged in my headphones straight to my PC, bypassing the Micca Origen+ and still had the issue. Any ideas?