Windows 10: Poor audio quality disrupting video calls.

I have a new 4 months old Acer SWIFT SF314-57G, i7 processor, 16 GB RAM, Windows 10 home. Since the pandemic I am making regular video calls using a variety of platforms Skype, Zoom, Jitsi, Cisco and others. I have noticed that the sound quality is often very poor - a lot of crackling and cut-outs in the sound stream. This is true using several different locations and different wireless networks, i.e. this is not a connection issue. Recently the issues have become so severe that it is hard to follow some meetings. In addition, I notice that the computer slows dramatically concurrently with the poor sound quality, becomes very hot and all applications running start to freeze. Sometimes this leads to the video call freezing or in one case, blue screen of death. The problems are the same whether I use the laptop speakers, or my own headphones. The problems persist even if I switch off the video stream. I have tried a few things - reinstalling the audio driver via the Windows Audio Troubleshooting function, disabling Audio Enahncements, and disabling 'Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device' and reducing the sound encoding to 16 bit. I have also tried reinstalling the Audio Driver supplied on the Acer website. I have the latest Windows updates installed 2020-01 Windows 10 Version 1909 KB4497165. I have also tried running the LatencyMon application https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon suggested in a few posts related to audio issues - this identified long latencies in Wdf01000.sys and acpi.sys. Does anyone else have this problem? I'm not sure if this is a windows 10 issue or an Acer issue or how to troubleshoot it further?

:)

 

Poor audio quality from Bluetooth headphones

Hello Caleb,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

1. Since when are you facing this issue?
   
2. Are you aware of any changes being made on the PC?
   
3. What is the make and model of the PC?
   

I suggest you to follow the steps mentioned below and check if that helps.



Method 1:



Run the troubleshooter for Bluetooth.

1. Go to Settings > Updates & Security > Troubleshoot.
   
2. Under Find and fix other problems click on
   Bluetooth.
   
3. Follow the instructions on the troubleshooter.
   

Method 2:



Try updating the Bluetooth drivers. Refer the article to

update drivers in Windows 10.



Also, you can refer the article by Bose on
poor sound quality from a Bluetooth device and

optimizing audio.



Hope it helps.

Let us know if you got the help you needed by clicking ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.



Regards,

Prakhar Khare

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

Poor On Call Audio Quality issue

Hi guys,



Im aware everyone has issues while listening to music via the headphones as i have that too. Thats something i can live with.



However, what i cant live it is poor on call quality issues without the headphones. The other person on the call doesnt sound all that loud, clear n crisp to me. I keep having to press the phone more towards my ear to hear them louder and better.
Its sub par. Its worse than any phone ive used.



I just switched from an iPhone to this and im very dissappointed.



NOKIA PLEASE FIX THESE AUDIO QUALITY ISSUES!!! This needs more addressing than the battery issues..

 

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.