Many functions of our phones were affected negatively by the OLD OTA Gingerbread update from att. Volume control issues are a known issue.
The only way to unleash the power of these phones is to turn to a custom ROM. The Developers of said ROMS spend countless, sleepless hours perfecting software to take advantage of the amazing hardware these phones have.
It took me less than one month of stock ROM before i got pissed and decided to root and flash a custom. I would NEVER, EVER, EVER go back to being restricted like i was with a stock phone. In fact My phone runs the latest Android OS called Ice Cream Sandwich, and although HTC has not released official drivers for ICS for our phones yet, I "Daily Drive" ICS with minimal issues. On the other hand Most GingerBread ROMS have been perfected!
Even a De-Bloated Stock version is better than Stock...
IMO