bad quality audio

[RodrigoZ930]

When I'm using Microsoft teams for Mac the audio quality is very poor, but not only in teams, everything I listen from the computer is in bad quality, like, if I reproduce a youtube video while in a meeting the sound is cracked and difficult to listen to, is this a Mac problem or a teams problem

[#2]

Hi!
If this is isolated to your computer and not Teams alone, this is not a Teams issue!

Check your audio settings/drivers and your devices! Is this for both internal speakers and headset / external speaker??

[#3]

@adam deltinger I think is only when I use headphones, in the computer speakers it sounds fine

[#4]

Tried with other Headphones? In that case its probably the jack or any circuit in the sound card! Try updating the drivers

[#5]

@adam deltinger 

I have the same issue, I am on Mac OS Sierra 10.12.6.

Teams call sound quality is very poor, internal speakers of Mac buzz if I am in a call on Teams.

I started to think that speakers have issues but that's not the issue.

Let me give you an example

I can clearly listen music on Spotify while there is no call on Teams.

When I start a call on Teams,  quality of ALL audio played from MAC is downgraded somehow. Music playing on spotify starts buzzing and quailty of the music is very poor.

As soon as the Teams call is ended, sound quality for ALL APPLICATIONS turns to normal.

My original problem was "Teams call quality is bad", but problem is Teams is downgrading sound quality played from any source not only from Teams.

Let me tell you about my another test. I connected my bluetooth earphone and started to listen music. Again sound quality was as normal as expected. After I started the call from Teams while speaker & microphone is set to use my bluetooth earphones for calls, again music quality is also downgraded. But if I use internal speaker/microphone on Teams while listening music on bluetooth earphones, there is no sound quality issue on the music played on BT earphones, just the Teams call sound on the speaker buzzes.

So clearly Teams is downgrading sound quality for all audio (not only the Teams call) played on the same output device as Teams using.

By the way there is no issue while using other conferencing tools, this audio quality issue is only happening on Teams.

[#6]

@alierol 

Same issue here. Other Web Meeting Apps (Ex: Cisco) have good audio quality. Teams not good. Speakers buzz and other participants indicate broken audio.

I'm on Windows 10. Office 365 but use Teams Desktop App.

[#7]

@RodrigoZ930 

I am having the same issue. I think it might be Teams trying to isolate the voices in the audio.

When listening to music through headphones and starting a Teams call, the audio quality drops dramatically. I can "fix it" by changing the audio output of the call to my laptop's internal speaker in device settings and leaving the music playing through my headphones.

[#8]

@Kieran1425 

I'm having the same issue when listening to music through headphones both from Spotify and Youtube Music. When teams is open I get a very bad music quality. I close teams and the quality is back to high quality. Seems to be a teams problem.

[#9]

Seeing the same issue here.

I have macOS - and currently am running Big Sur beta 3 (I know...) . I have a USB attached Rode NT-USB mini - good quality mic with zero latency monitoring.

I regularly use Cisco WebEx and Zoom. In both cases I tend to monitor my audio through HW monitoring and it's clear. Also remote parties hear it clearly. The audio level can be controlled in the macOS settings and remains as set.

With Microsoft teams the audio I hear is distorted. I also note the mic volume rises to 100%. I can reduce back down to 25% (normal) but the audio feedback remains distorted. That being said the remote parties aren't saying I'm distorted, but perhaps they are less fussy given typical audio quality!

I've also used a few other conferencing tools including skype (ages ago), jitsu (? or similar), google meet, and again never had anything like this - it is only teams. It's doing something funny with audio level management.

Thinking I should try the browser interface instead. something very wrong with teams for USB mics.

[#10]

I also have to chime in here. I'm a music teacher and I need to be able to do some streaming during my classes. It seems any time I am on a "meeting" that my audio craps out. I have everything set up correctly on my end but I can't meet and stream at the same time whether it's youtube, spotify or anything else. This is a MAJOR problem that I need to solve. Is it a bandwidth issue or what?

[#11]

I also have to chime in here, I have an external high gain mic with external headphones.  I use a separate mixer app to manage in audio input and output to get the best experience.  Every Teams meeting I join MS Teams undoes every setting I have set and I go from clear crisp audio to being in a wind tunnel.  I do not have this issue with Google Meet or Zoom meetings, this is only an issue on MS Teams meetings on my Mac.  I would be fine with garbage output audio if Teams would leave my mic settings alone, I do not understand why Teams hijacks system audio settings and there is not a way to disable this functionality.

[#12]

@RodrigoZ930 

I'm having the same issue on Windows 10 using my bluetooth headphones. My coworkers tell me my audio sounds bad too. Any time I'm in a Teams call, my audio becomes very muffled and "tinny", but when I'm not in a call, the audio is perfect. Not sure what is going on, but it's driving me crazy

[#13 · Accepted solution]

@Kieran1425 

You can fix it by changing the device properties of you headphone. You have to disable "signal improvement". Sorry, i use the german version, so i am not sure if the names are right I added a screenshot, perhaps this helps more.

[#14]

@Micha1121

Thanks, this has been bothering me for months!  The checkbox in English is labeled "Enable audio enhancements" - I've attached a screenshot in English, just to make things a big easier for people.

[#15]

@Micha1121 

Hi!

This is the first workaround I have seen on this very annoying problem.

Would someone know an equivalent for macs?

(Since the original question is about that)

Thanks

[#16]

Would love to know if there is an equivalent setting for the OSX.

[#17]

@Dimitry Izotov and all respondents:  I hate to pass the buck but if this is really a recurring issue for the Mac version, someone should open a ticket on the Uservoice feedback forum and everyone vote on it.  I did a search and nothing yet shows up for iOS bad audio quality.

[#18]

@ThereseSolimeno 

in case someone is interested: i have the same issue on linux mint. annoying is an understatement ...

[#19]

I have the same issue (Behringer U-phoria UM2 + Behringer C-1 mic).

[#20]

@RodrigoZ930 

I had the same issue today, which is why I checked out your forum. I don't know if you found the solution to your problem, but I'm using Apple Music and when I quit the application (Apple Music) completely, I'm able to restart it with the Teams call active without losing sound quality. 

I haven't tried with Spotify but I hope you've already solved this!

However, if you haven't found the solution, I hope this helps.