Audio files (autoplay) clipping first ~0.5 seconds on all external audio devices

My laptop is a Razer Blade 15 Advanced 2021 i7-11800H, GeForce RTX 3080, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD I'm using a website for language learning that automatically plays audio recordings of native speakers when you correctly enter the pronunciation of words. When I'm using the internal speakers, the audio plays fine. When I use headphones in the 3.5mm port or built-in speakers on my monitor (over HDMI), the first half-second of the audio file is clipped and does not play, so I miss the first syllable of the word being read. I've used this site on my old Razer Blade Stealth 13" (2017), as well as a custom-built Windows desktop, and my work Dell. None of these systems have this issue...All using Chrome browser. I've noticed that if I'm playing music (e.g. streaming) in the background, the audio doesn't have this issue, so it's almost like the laptop powers down the external device until needed, and then it takes too long to power back up and the file has already started playing. Does this sound familiar to anyone?