So I discovered a solution in case anyone else has my issue and stumbles across this. It's not super ideal since it's still pretty early on, but upgrading to Windows 11 fixed everything right away. I tried everything possible and that was the only real solution I could find. No more slow-to-start videos, sound working perfectly fine. Cheers 
Hello,I've been having this issue on and off for the past few months where my audio cuts out, and the volume mixer appears to freeze up, with no sound coming out of my speakers. When this happens I can't properly load youtube videos, vlc or any without endless loading. I went as far as reinstalling Windows, and the problem was gone for the first couple days and then randomly started again. I've reinstalled all of the audio drivers and done system restores as well to no avail.It seems when I connect bluetooth headphones to my device the issues immediately disappear, but this isn't an ideal solution. I've seen this issue with a few others with no proper solution as well. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
XPS 17 9700 Audio Issue and Videos (youtube/vlc etc) not playing, or slow to 
load