Crackling audio only on Zoom meeting

[Nuke]

I've been having a devil of a time getting Zoom meeting to work without crackling audio.  I believe this is only sound out and not the microphone as I haven't had a complaint as of now.

I've read a number of posts and there is something about reducing the buffer but after Googling how to do this I'm stumped.

Hardware/Software

Windows 11; HP laptop; Bluetooth headset; Zoom 5.16.2 (22807)

Sound and microphone are OK on all other applications.  There is no crackling.

Bluetooth headset audio and microphone OK on other applications.

If I use the laptop speakers there is no crackle on Zoom.  

Test various audio and video applications and no problem on sound or input.

Steps to reproduce

Connect bluetooth headphone. 

Listen to music and test.  No crackle.

Open or join a meeting in Zoom and there is a crackle.

Attempted Solutions so far

Turn off all audio enhancement on Windows 11.  Sound still good on other apps but crackle on Zoom.

Forget bluetooth headset and reconnect multiple times.  Still crackle only on Zoom.

So finally attempted to change Zoom settings.

Open Zoom Settings and as soon as I click on the Audio, the sound starts crackling.

Select other Zoom setting and after a short delay, sound is OK.

Tried every Audio Profile and still crackling in Zoom.  Personalized audio isolation is better but still has crackle.

Turn off Signal processing by Windows audio device drivers.  Still crackling.  Set back to "auto".

Echo cancellation set to auto.  Still crackling

OK, so what do I do now?  How do I fix and remove this crackling?

Thanks in advance.

[sueyoga]

I teach fitness classes and I had changed to Firefox months ago as a solution which was suggested to me...which worked.  But the crackling is back as of this week.

[tsquilanti]

i have exact same issue -- crackling audio on zoom with external speaker. Other audio sources sound crisp and clear.   No crackling on zoom audio through weak computer speakers.  Any solutions out there? 

[Nuke]

Hi, I fixed this issue at somepoint about a year ago and unfortunately can't remember what I did.  Sorry.  I didn't think to circle back to post what I did to fix it.  I was just glad it stopped.

I know that I one change that I made during that time was to use "Original sound for musicians".  When you get in a meeting you have to toggle it on but something else that I did has fixed the underlying issue. 

In addition, I removed all bluetooth connections and am using only the native sound from my work HP laptop.  I find Win11 does a crappy job of switching sources and output for sound.  It defeats the purpose of using a bluetooth headset. 

I may have also tried using a wired headset.  I can't remember if it worked OK and that is why I deleted all the bluetooth devices.

Perhaps try if you plug in a wired headset and see if the sound is OK.  If it is, then whatever is causing the crackling is your output device.  And also try the Sound for musicians.  When you select that and turn off, all the Zoom sound process ie. echo, noise filter etc. are disabled.  So with that off, you have no other Zoom app infuence.

This was soooo frustrating at the time so I understand your pain.  I hope this helps at least a little???