I think the issue may be in the calipers with a piston sticking and dragging the brakes, since you're noticing a brake smell after a normal drive.
If you have an infrared thermometer to check brake temps after a normal drive, you can narrow it down if one side is significantly hotter than the other. If it's really bad, putting your hand CLOSE will allow you to feel the heat difference (don't touch recently used brakes unless you really want to burn yourself!
)
When you replaced the pads and compressed the calipers, did any of them fight you being pushed in? Luckily, the calipers are an easy rebuild if necessarily! If you do need to rebuild them, be sure to replace the rubber bushings for the sliding pins as well.