Can't turn noise suppression OFF, despite software settings

Windows Version: 20H2 (OS Build 19042.1348)

I have a brand new Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-54-731M gaming laptop.

I am a music professional and have been teaching Skype & Zoom lessons online for years. Noise cancellation must be turned OFF in order for music to be heard. Otherwise, all music is filtered out and we can only hear speech.

My new laptop will not allow music through either way (I can't hear my students play, and they can't hear me) despite adjusting all the settings in the software. (For Skype, this is changing noise suppression to "Low" or "Off." For Zoom, this is "Enable Original Sound" and "High Fidelity Audio," i.e. Music Mode)

I have checked with both the laptop mic and my external mic (a Blue Yeti USB mic), with laptop speakers, headphones, and an external Bose speaker. No combination affects how music is received or sent.

I am convinced there is something else on the new laptop itself that is interfering with settings.

What else can I check specifically on my machine?

With the exact same settings and equipment and updated Windows 10 on my old Asus ROG GL502VM everything is working.

I also tried to follow this "Disable Audio Enhancements" for Windows guide: How to Disable Audio Enhancements in Windows 10 • Technically Easy

Below is how it appeared for my laptop mic. I unchecked "Enable Audio Enhancements" but it did not change the problem on Skype or Zoom.

dalchina said:

Hi, if you record music and play back on the laptop- setting Zoom & Skype aside- is all well?

I opened Audacity to record and played a sample of Beethoven piano sonata from Spotify off of my phone. The music recorded and played back okay with the laptop mic and speakers.

dalchina, I found that dialogue and changed it to "Do Nothing." I will test it out with one of my students via Zoom soon and report back!

You are over-estimating Realtek's audio driver ability.

Realtek's audio driver only does 3 minor things, none of which are applicable to your problems.

1) noise suppression for pc fan noise, that's it. It won't even suppress your dog's barking.
2) acoustic echo cancellation --- if you use speakers and mic at the same time, you get massive feedback, this feature kill the feedback.



3) karaoke mode and pitch shift the background music --- you play a song and it strips Taylor Swift's singing out of the song and you get pure background music for you to sing.



Realtek's driver only governs laptop's internal speakers/mic and 3.5mm stuff --- nothing to do with USB mic.


You have a virtual mic --- which is likely your problem.

I don't know the exact setup you are trying to do. But you seem to be using 2 mics (laptop mic for your voice and usb mic for the piano) at the same time --- using some kind of virtual audio mixer. That's super complicated.

Use 1 mic --- your USB mic for both your voice and piano --- your voice quality is going to suffer. And no ManyCam or other virtual audio mixers. Kiss --- keep it simple stupid. At least it is going to work.

Hey all, I appreciate the help, thank you!

dalchina - Changing that setting to "Do Nothing" seems to have helped some. I can hear a lot more music with some occasional filtering. I am going to continue doing some tests with different students.

sandyt - I have an external USB mic (Blue Yeti) that has its own aux line to connect to an external speaker. I am not trying to use 2 microphones simultaneously; I was simply switching back and forth between the Yeti and the laptop's Realtek mic inside of Skype/Zoom to troubleshoot. The microphone is essentially acting as a "room mic"---it needs to capture all sound, including singing and piano.

I do use ManyCam for a multi-cam setup (I have 2 camera angles and an iPad screen mirror), but I am not routing my sound through the ManyCam virtual mic (that comes up as a completely separate microphone option that you can select).

I'm definitely trying to figure out why the same setup with the same equipment and software I've been using on the Asus ROG for that last two years didn't work flawlessly on the new Acer Predator.

The Blue Yeti has a headphone jack for direct low latency monitoring --- it is not for speakers. In fact if you get the speakers to work, you would have massive feedback anyway --- which Realtek can't do a thing about it because Realtek only controls 3.5mm stuff.

Kill the ManyCam first in order to solve your problem.

You are juggling with too many balls in the air. You will never solve your problems this way.

Start at the beginning, re-enable the audio enhancements back to its default position.

1 camera, 1 Yeti mic, 1 headphone into the Yeti mic.