this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2023

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Echo on Headphone Mic (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I have a JBL Quantum 300 that has a boom flip up microphone that is extremely quiet so I have to preamp it by 20db to make my voice be heard. The problem is, when I do this the sound of the headphone can be clearly heard on the microphone. I have tried several different drivers, tried both the front panel and the back panel, multiple Windows installations, both 10 and 11 and multiple BIOS updates as well. The sound can also be heard if the microphone is flipped up (muted). The result is every time I'm in a call with someone, they can clearly hear everything on the computer even their own voices being played on my headphone. How can I mitigate this? I have EqAPO installed, is there any plugin/feature that can do Echo Cancellation?

My motherboard is an MSI Z370A-PRO

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I do not own this pair of headphones, nor do I use 2-in-1 headphones. But since no one has responded, I'll just throw whatever I can think of at you and see what sticks.

Low Likelihood Solutions

I am listing these to try and give answers. None of these should work, but they're easy to try and don't cost anything

Are you connected via jack? Try connecting via USB instead. The jack has a TRRS connector and PCs usually only have TRS. This shouldn't cause any problems normally, but idk what JBL or your PC is doing
Are you using Stereo Mix on your control panel > sound settings? Switch over to the actual mic and disable the Stereo Mix. That could be what's causing your audio doubling

Medium Likelihood Solutions

These might work

Have you tried this without EQ APO installed? Try fully uninstalling it and ensuring sound devices are set correctly. EQ APO could for whatever reason be mixing your output and input. It's been a while since I've used EQ APO, but I only used it for audio output
Is the mic not disabling correctly and picking up audio from the headphones' speakers? Try lowering audio output to a minimum and seeing if that changes the volume of your echo. Ask another person to help test
EDIT If possible, can you try a different cable? The cable could just be faulty. Wherever you got it from might have a spare to try

This requires additional spending to confirm

Is the USB or are drivers the problem? Get a TRRS splitter (3.5mm, 1 female to 2 male), and split the mic audio from the headphone audio

I hope one of these work, because...

The Nuclear Option

Get new headphones or claim warranty on them (if you have it). My cursory googling showed that this problem has cropped up with a reddit user, and they ended up buying new headphones. If you do end up buying new headphones, I highly recommend buying a solid pair of wired headphones and a mic separately. It'll be more cables, but much easier to swap out if things go wrong, and a good pair of headphones will last you a good 5+ years.

Best of luck, and let me know how it goes!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you for your long response. Here is the additional info:

Are you connected via jack? Try connecting via USB instead. The jack has a TRRS connector and PCs usually only have TRS. This shouldn’t cause any problems normally, but idk what JBL or your PC is doing

Yes, I'm using the green/pink cables but my headphone does not have USB so I can't test using the USB. I did not understand the TRRS and TRS so I guess I will have to do a little research to understand it.

Are you using Stereo Mix on your control panel > sound settings? Switch over to the actual mic and disable the Stereo Mix. That could be what’s causing your audio doubling

The Stereo Mix was one of my first tries. So I'm pretty sure it is not it that is causing this.

Have you tried this without EQ APO installed? Try fully uninstalling it and ensuring sound devices are set correctly. EQ APO could for whatever reason be mixing your output and input. It’s been a while since I’ve used EQ APO, but I only used it for audio output

I installed EQ APO recently to have a more global approach to Noise Reduction instead of having to enable it in every platform. Having 20db preamped does not come cheap. So the effect happens even without it.

Is the mic not disabling correctly and picking up audio from the headphones’ speakers? Try lowering audio output to a minimum and seeing if that changes the volume of your echo. Ask another person to help test

When I lower the audio using the headphone's built-in control the echo also lowers. So If I "Mute" the headphone using the slider there is no echo.

If possible, can you try a different cable? The cable could just be faulty. Wherever you got it from might have a spare to try

The headphones' cable is non-detachable so I'm not sure how I can test a different cable.

Is the USB or are drivers the problem? Get a TRRS splitter (3.5mm, 1 female to 2 male), and split the mic audio from the headphone audio

The headphone comes with a cable extension that has 1x 3.5mm female on one side where I connect the headphone and 2x 3.5mm males (green and pink) on the other side where I connect to the computer. Is this what you are referring?

Get new headphones or claim warranty on them (if you have it). My cursory googling showed that this problem has cropped up with a reddit user, and they ended up buying new headphones. If you do end up buying new headphones, I highly recommend buying a solid pair of wired headphones and a mic separately. It’ll be more cables, but much easier to swap out if things go wrong, and a good pair of headphones will last you a good 5+ years.

Unfortunately, no more warranty on this one. I'm planning, in the far future, to buy a cheap DAC to plug-in a headphone, a microphone and an electric guitar so I can use all of them on the computer at the same time that I can use the headphones as monitors for the microphone and the guitar. Is this possible?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Huh, strange. Everywhere I looked online indicated that this pair of headphones has a single TRRS 3.5mm jack that comes with a usb adapter.

TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) and TRRS (tip-ring-ring-sleeve) indicates the number of channels on the 3.5mm jack. TRS is usually dual channel balanced (one channel for ground) whereas TRRS includes an additional channel for a mic.

As for all the other cable stuff, everything you've told me means that the troubleshooting for jacks and cables can stop there (I'm also assuming the echo happens in both ears and not just one). If we can't replace the cable, we can't tell if the problem is the cable or the headphones. I doubt the USB adapter will help either, unless JBL has some weird thing going on with that.

The echo being affected by your headphones volume control makes me think the internal wiring is miswired somewhere along the signal chain. You should still be able to use the headphones without the mic, so that's what I'd do.

I'm planning, in the far future, to buy a cheap DAC to plug-in a headphone, a microphone and an electric guitar so I can use all of them on the computer at the same time that I can use the headphones as monitors for the microphone and the guitar. Is this possible?

You're looking for an Audio Interface, not a DAC (although audio interfaces have DACs in them). There's a lot of options out there, and you'll have to assess the options based on your budget and use case.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I develop acoustic echo cancellation algorithms for a living. if there is echo also when your mic is muted, that means that it is not really muted. This makes me think that probably your headphone is feeding back the headphones signal to the microphone, probably due to faulty circuits inside you headphones.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Since I don't have the money to buy new headphones. Is it possible to have something that does Echo Cancellation on Windows? Maybe something that creates a virtual microphone that hears for the output and "subtract" it from the mic's input?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

the realtek audio driver should have it as an option in sound settings, atleast it did for my last few motherboards

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