OBS changes audio quality when I open it

[staffofsage]

Whenever I open OBS, it changes the audio quality of whatever I'm listening to--before I'm even streaming or recording. It never used to do this before updating to Windows 11. Is anyone else experiencing muffled audio quality as soon as OBS is open or know how to fix it?

 

[R1CH]

You are probably using a bluetooth mic, this causes all audio to run in handsfree profile which is much lower quality.

 

[Umlingo]

Hey, (in windows 11) you can fix this, by going to setting/system/sound/input/"BLUETOOTH_MICROPHONE" (Click The ">" in the right side) - Chose "Do NOT allow windows to use this microphone/input device" - After that OBS, wont change the quality - Only problem - You CAN NOT use the bluetooth microphone as your recording device.

Hope it helped :)

Much Love JP

 

[CandleType1a]

Hey, (in windows 11) you can fix this, by going to setting/system/sound/input/"BLUETOOTH_MICROPHONE" (Click The ">" in the right side) - Chose "Do NOT allow windows to use this microphone/input device" - After that OBS, wont change the quality - Only problem - You CAN NOT use the bluetooth microphone as your recording device.

Hope it helped :)

Much Love JP

Dude, I made an account just so I could I thank you for this advice. Worked like a charm. Thanks!

 

[itismo]

Hey, (in windows 11) you can fix this, by going to setting/system/sound/input/"BLUETOOTH_MICROPHONE" (Click The ">" in the right side) - Chose "Do NOT allow windows to use this microphone/input device" - After that OBS, wont change the quality - Only problem - You CAN NOT use the bluetooth microphone as your recording device.

Hope it helped :)

Much Love JP

I second that, I also registered an account so I could thank you for this @Umlingo ! Thank you!!!

 

[Bitflip]

Hey, (in windows 11) you can fix this, by going to setting/system/sound/input/"BLUETOOTH_MICROPHONE" (Click The ">" in the right side) - Chose "Do NOT allow windows to use this microphone/input device" - After that OBS, wont change the quality - Only problem - You CAN NOT use the bluetooth microphone as your recording device.

Hope it helped :)

Much Love JP

As the other comments are stating, I also made an account to thank you. This worked perfectly.

 

[VIXTORY0]

Hey, (in windows 11) you can fix this, by going to setting/system/sound/input/"BLUETOOTH_MICROPHONE" (Click The ">" in the right side) - Chose "Do NOT allow windows to use this microphone/input device" - After that OBS, wont change the quality - Only problem - You CAN NOT use the bluetooth microphone as your recording device.

Hope it helped :)

Much Love JP

To keep on with the trend, I also made an account to thank you. The sound was so killing me.

 

[Jaxx_Official]

Hey, (in windows 11) you can fix this, by going to setting/system/sound/input/"BLUETOOTH_MICROPHONE" (Click The ">" in the right side) - Chose "Do NOT allow windows to use this microphone/input device" - After that OBS, wont change the quality - Only problem - You CAN NOT use the bluetooth microphone as your recording device.

Hope it helped :)

Much Love JP

As this helped me very much i also created an account just to say thanks <3

 

[qingzhuoranguo]

Hey, (in windows 11) you can fix this, by going to setting/system/sound/input/"BLUETOOTH_MICROPHONE" (Click The ">" in the right side) - Chose "Do NOT allow windows to use this microphone/input device" - After that OBS, wont change the quality - Only problem - You CAN NOT use the bluetooth microphone as your recording device.

Hope it helped :)

Much Love JP

Just like the others, I registered an account just to say thank you not only for this obs problem, but also for other apps I used with the same problem. Thanks man.

 

[ClintF]

I found a workaround. Change the Mic/Aux to something else. Then I can still use my mic in Zoom, Teams, etc...just not for recording in OBS. Which I don't do anyway.

So if you use OBS to send video to a conferencing service using Virtual Camera, and you have this issue, make sure the conferencing system is using the proper mic and change OBS so it isn't trying to use a Bluetooth microphone. Best of both worlds, and you don't have to change any global Windows settings.

 

[thankyouobsman]

Hey, (in windows 11) you can fix this, by going to setting/system/sound/input/"BLUETOOTH_MICROPHONE" (Click The ">" in the right side) - Chose "Do NOT allow windows to use this microphone/input device" - After that OBS, wont change the quality - Only problem - You CAN NOT use the bluetooth microphone as your recording device.

Hope it helped :)

Much Love JP

I also made this account just to say thank you. Hope you are having a (vewy) good day!

 

[lumei]

Hey, (in windows 11) you can fix this, by going to setting/system/sound/input/"BLUETOOTH_MICROPHONE" (Click The ">" in the right side) - Chose "Do NOT allow windows to use this microphone/input device" - After that OBS, wont change the quality - Only problem - You CAN NOT use the bluetooth microphone as your recording device.

Hope it helped :)

Much Love JP

Alike all the others, I am also making this account to thank you ^^

 

[Navil_Juan]

You are probably using a bluetooth mic, this causes all audio to run in handsfree profile which is much lower quality.

Hello. I have the same problem even if I'm not using any Bluetooth mic. How can I solve this? Thanks for your help!

 

[AaronD]

Hello. I have the same problem even if I'm not using any Bluetooth mic. How can I solve this? Thanks for your help!

You might not use the signal from that mic, but if you simply have it configured, somewhere, anywhere, that's enough.

 

[Couchman]

Hey, (in windows 11) you can fix this, by going to setting/system/sound/input/"BLUETOOTH_MICROPHONE" (Click The ">" in the right side) - Chose "Do NOT allow windows to use this microphone/input device" - After that OBS, wont change the quality - Only problem - You CAN NOT use the bluetooth microphone as your recording device.

Hope it helped :)

Much Love JP

Absolutely worked, thanks JP. Made this account to hop on the praise train

 

[Videobuff]

Very useful to know this. Thank you. So just to be clear, this means using the mic on my AirPods with OBS is a bad idea, and will have the issues above, therefore rendering them useless for use with OBS?

 

[AaronD]

Very useful to know this. Thank you. So just to be clear, this means using the mic on my AirPods with OBS is a bad idea, and will have the issues above, therefore rendering them useless for use with OBS?

Correct.

Bluetooth *anything*, really, is often a bad idea.

And wireless in general is much more of a liability than a wire is, even if you get a "professional" wireless mic or in-ear monitor that runs at a different radio frequency. There's just no way to *guarantee* that something won't interfere with it.

 

[Videobuff]

Correct.

Bluetooth *anything*, really, is often a bad idea.

And wireless in general is much more of a liability than a wire is, even if you get a "professional" wireless mic or in-ear monitor that runs at a different radio frequency. There's just no way to *guarantee* that something won't interfere with it.

Great to know. I’ll avoid Bluetooth devices altogether now that I know this, and save myself a lot of bother and frustration later. Thank you.

 

[Navil_Juan]

You might not use the signal from that mic, but if you simply have it configured, somewhere, anywhere, that's enough.

I see. So how can I solve this? Please help. I've been trying to solve this for almost a month already but no luck until now.

 

[AaronD]

I see. So how can I solve this? Please help. I've been trying to solve this for almost a month already but no luck until now.

There's no single "off" button. You need to look through everything, including OBS, including Windows, including all the other apps, etc., and turn off or delete everything that might possibly want to use the Bluetooth mic. In some cases, like OBS, turning off isn't enough, and you do have to delete the source.

Once you have *everything* gone, it becomes possible to switch the headphones/speakers to the higher-quality mode. Whether that's automatic or manual probably depends on more specific details of your rig.

But also see my previous post in this thread. :-)