Trouble with realtek hd audio drivers 6.0.8746.1

I have the Asus motherboard ROG Maximus X Hero (Intel Z370 chipset) with integrated S1220 Audio Codec. The OS is Windows 11 23H2 x64. The audio driver is a HDA, an Asus integration of Realtek 6.0.8746.1, the latest one on the Asus site for this mobo at the moment. It has the Realtek HD Audio Manager skinned as Asus SupremeFX.

Recently I found some problems when using headphones plugged into the 3.5 mm front panel audio jack on my PC case. The troubles are the following:

1. There is no sound output to headphones plugged in front panel audio jack of PC case until SupremeFX is switched from HD Audio to AC97 in settings.
2. Plugging the headphones in front panel audio jack (a green one) should mute the rear output audio. However, this does not occur. Instead, I must mute the hi-fi amp connected to the line out audio of the sound card.
3. When SupremeFX is set to HD Audio, the Analog Front icons are disabled (grayed). Hence the green (front out) icon is not clickable to enable pop up window asking whether the speakers or headphones are plugged.

Is this a software problem due to audio driver or the hardware problem with front panel audio jacks or wiring?
The headphones are Grado SR/125, not a headset with a microphone.

Some pictures are attached to clarify the description.

I have a couple of ASUS Z390 boards and found that switching from Realtek HD to Microsoft audio drivers solved some problems I was having. That's what I'm running on both systems now. If nothing else, that should indicate whether the problem is in the Realtek driver or your hardware. To switch to the Microsoft driver, open properties for Realtek in Device Manager. Select the Driver tab and Update Driver. Click on "Browse my computer for drivers" and then "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer." Select High Definition Audio Device, then Next to install. You can get the Realtek driver back by opening the Driver tab > Update Driver > Search automatically for drivers. If you decide to try the Microsoft driver, suggest you set it up in Control Panel > Sound > Properties for your default output source. Controls for headphones will appear when they are plugged in.