Update: The issue has been fixed. After debugging the drivers in multiple ways (even doing a complete clean install of drivers) I was still unable to find the culprit. Completely wiping audio drivers and its additional audio software did not help, and the audio issue remained. I recently updated BIOS (1.19.0) and one of my suspicions was confirmed. When debugging I noticed only the BIOS was updated recently (1.18.0), before the audio issue popped up. After the update of BIOS to latest version the audio issue has been fixed completely and all its symptoms gone. The simplest conclusion could be that the BIOS was at fault, causing unexpected hardware/software conflict. Tip: keep your system up to date! Although, as we've seen, sometimes even the newest updates can cause issues, but then again, someone's got to test them.  Glad it's sorted out and hopefully it won't come back.
Good day folks, I've been at it for a few days now - trying to figure out what went wrong and what actually could be the cause of it (aside from questionable quality check and testing of software). Like I described here: [URL]#M151967 I'm facing issues with audio drivers that cause plenty of damage to my system, which for a mobile workstation of this magnitude is unacceptable (5550). Please let me know if you're facing similar issues regarding Waves MaxxAudio and Realtek drivers: The device is updated on a weekly basis, system in a mint condition without any previous issues. Currently all the latest versions of drivers for software and hardware are installed. I would be so grateful for any additional information - I've tried a lot of things to fix this, yet to try downgrading drivers other than audio. I'm hoping Dell can investigate and come up with a quick fix, as it seems they have some history with distributing buggy audio drivers and then patching it. Regards!
Issues caused by Waves MaxxAudio & Realtek drivers