Yes, it's typical for audio to behave that way.
Yes, it's typical for audio to behave that way.
It's common for headphones to produce popping noises when you manipulate the microphone jack. The sound might be caused by loose connections or air pockets. Your setup with separate green and pink jacks on the motherboard suggests careful wiring, but any instability can lead to such issues. The difference in sound quality between the back and front amplifiers could indicate a power or ground issue. Recent upgrades like the new case and cooler might help, but checking the connections is key.
I noticed something unusual with the front microphone jack—it generated loud humming and echoes, almost causing discomfort when I turned on "Listen To This Device." A few friends mentioned similar issues in games. It might be a faulty jack. Switching to the back I/O ports seems more reliable and comfortable.
Based on the front audio quality, it might be worse than the rear panel. You can attempt to move the jack until the noise disappears.
Not necessarily that the front jack is defective, or unsafe to use, it's just that there is just more electronic interference when plugged into the front audio jack. That is why sounds cards even became a thing, when I first built my own PC, probably 8 years ago now built in audio cards were pretty much non-existent. So in order to get a better/more clear audio experience it was common to buy dedicated PCIe audio cards (like this ) or audio DACs (like this ), these cut out the distortion and provided a better experience. Now with built in sounds cards on pretty much every modern motherboard these solutions are not really needed, only audiophiles still resort to these solutions.