Thrustmaster TMX Constantly Freezing While Not Using Headphones

Hey,

Long story short, I got a Thrustmaster TMX recently. Pretty good entry-level racing wheel. But on my desktop, it seems to only want to work correctly while I have some audio going out to my headphones. If I try any of the following, the input from
the wheel keeps freezing up as though I'm not moving the wheel at all or as if I'm flooring it:

• Playing a game in surround sound without headphones plugged in
• Playing a game purely in surround sound with headphones plugged in
• Playing a VR racing game using my VR headphones for sound

But if I have any sort of audio coming in through my headphones it ends up working fine. Some examples are:

• Listening to the game purely through my headphones
• Having the game audio output through my surround sound while Discord is going through my headphones
• Using Voicemeeter to split audio between my headphones and anything else

I just don't get it. I've tested this with three games so far, Forza Horizon 4, Project Cars and Forza 6 Apex. All having the same issue. Most of the time it happens, it's when I step on the gas pedal all the way through. When I just gently apply pressure
to the pedal it's generally ok, but it still feels a little off. I'm using up-to-date USB, audio and Thrustmaster drivers as well, and after testing this issue on another computer it doesn't happen there so I'm at a loss for words. I've tried reinstalling
the drivers multiple times too, and Thrustmaster support is confused too so I figured the next best thing would be to come here.

I have footage comparing how the wheel behaves both ways if that helps at all.

:)