Windows 10: Audio quality is significantly worse on new Windows 11 laptop

I have bought a new laptop and the audio quality of my microphone HyperX Quadcast is much worse compared to my older laptop, which is a similar model. After fiddling around with various settings I can only assume that the issue is rooted in having different worse audio drivers on the newer machine. The previous laptop operated on Windows 10 and had Intel Smart Sound Technology driver installed whereas the new one is Intel Smart Sound Technology for Bluetooth Audio. The microphone is connected through a USB port. I'm just a bit lost as to what the problem actually is and if changing drivers

:)

 

Progressively Worse Audio Quality (Crackling)


Hello. Hoping someone can help me. Since upgrading my Windows 7 to Windows 10, I've had audio problems. At first the audio quality was terrible (hissing, crackling) so I uninstalled and reinstalled my NVIDIA drivers. This fixed the problem but now I find that the audio quality gets worse over time. Once I reboot it goes back to pristine quality and that lasts a day or two but slowly the quality gets worse with more crackling. It's very annoying.

Any idea what's going on? Is it somehow tied to my RAM or some kind of cache that builds up over time?

I'm a noob so bear with me!

 

Poor audio quality after upgrading to Windows 10

Hi Eugene,

As you are facing issues with sound quality after upgrading to Windows 10, do not worry we will help you with this issue.

Provide us additional information to assist you better:

• What is the make and model of your computer?
• Are you referring to sound quality from the computer/ speakers/ headphones?
• Have you installed all the pending updates and drivers updates after upgrading to Windows 10?
• What are the troubleshooting steps you have tried to resolve the issue?

This issue might have occurred due to outdated/ corrupted audio drivers. Let us try the below troubleshooting steps if not yet tried and check if it helps.

Method 1: I suggest you to run the Audio troubleshooter and check if it helps.

try the audio troubleshooter.

Method 2: I suggest you to change the properties of Windows Audio services and check if it helps.

Steps:

• 
  Click Start, type
  Services.msc in the Start Search box.
  
• 
  Scroll down the list of services, right-click
  Windows Audio and select Start.
  
• 
  Select Properties for
  Windows Audio and set its Startup Type to
  Automatic.
  

If the Windows Audio service does not start and you get the error
Error 1068: The dependency service or group failed to start, then make sure that the following services are started and their
Startup Type is set to Automatic.

Method 3: I recommend you to install all the pending updates on your device and check if it helps.

Steps:

• Connect to the internet.
• Press Windows key and type updates.
• Click on Check for updates.
• Under Windows Updates, click on Check for updates.
• Try to install the updates being shown.

Hope it helps. Try the above and update us the status of accessing sound after upgrading to Windows 10 for further assistance.

Thank you.

 

Headphones not showing up as separate playback device, bad quality audio

Hi Anna,

The bad quality audio that you are experiencing can occur due to several reasons, such as, an outdated audio driver, a missing audio driver, etc. To better assist you, kindly answer the following questions:

• What is the make and model of your computer?
• What are the exact troubleshooting steps that you've taken so far? This is for us to avoid providing the same steps.
• Have you tried updating your audio driver? If not, kindly do so by following the steps in this article:
  
  Update drivers in Windows 10.

We look forward to your response.