It'd certainly be fast Except maybe the reinstalling of programs you use, but I doubt that can be that much for the average user

The other option is to force Windows to use different drivers for your sound card that you pick, that are still compatible with it, preferably signed drivers that came with Windows itself, since it does seem to be a driver problem.


EDIT: Also, the only safe way to downgrade DirectX is to reformat and reinstall, since it's so integrated with Windows