Poor audio quality for other apps when in a Zoom meeting

[bohmanc]

Why does the sound quality of other apps get impacted when participating in a Zoom meeting (even when muted)?  Is there a way to fix this or work around it?

Background

I regularly host drop-in Zoom meetings (e.g., office hours for an instructor).  Often, the Zoom meeting will be empty unless someone drops in to get help.  While waiting for someone to join, I am often doing other things including listening to music, watching a video, or similar (which I pause/stop when someone joins).  I am always muted when doing this.

The audio is great when Zoom is not in a meeting.  However, as soon as I join a Zoom meeting, the audio quality of the non-Zoom apps drop significantly.  As soon as I close the Zoom meeting, the audio quality returns to normal.

I have tried changing audio settings in various ways (including selecting all of the various options in the "Audio Profile" section of the Audion settings) and have not seen any specific improvements.  The other apps are always impacted.  Perhaps I'm not setting them correctly, so any tips would be helpful.