I wonder if it might be the sound card or speakers or something else doing this then.

I've noticed on a number of devices I own (like my car stereo, home theater receiver, etc) that they have something of a noise gate - for example my Onkyo receiver cuts the first dozen-odd milliseconds off a song when I start playing something the first time around, and my friends Harmon Kardon receiver cuts off the first half second of every song, no matter how short of a delay between songs there is. My car stereo even gates out quiet sections of songs - it's absolutely infuriating to say the least, especially if I'm listening to music that actually has some dynamic range.


I work here