Friend's voice is extremely low most of the time. We have tried everything possible...

ASD34543 · Jan 3, 2024

My friend and I use Xbox One X, and we both use wired jack 3.5mm headsets plugged into the controller. We use the xbox party chat to talk.

My friend is extremely quiet for a few minutes after joining the party chat. Then the volume of his voice slowly increases over the period of 1-2 minutes, until his volume is normal and I can hear him clearly.

However, for the past 2-3 months, when he joins the party, there is a chance that his volume stays at very quiet and does not increase to normal volume. It stays at like 5%. Extremely quiet, I can only hear him talk, but not what he's saying. Even if I set the game to 5% volume, the game's sounds still suppress his voice. The chance of this happening is very high lately, like we can be 90% sure that his voice will be extremely quiet.

It's important that he is not talking in a low voice, he is not whispering or something. He talks in a normal voice, but the xbox just does not realize that it should increase his mic volume so that others can hear him clearly.

When this happens, his voice is also constantly being cut off mid sentence, like the xbox thinks he is not talking anymore and disables voice input. I can hear a few words but I have to constantly think about what he tried to say.

It's extremely annoying, and we can not play like this anymore.

What we tried:

setting the party chat mixer slider all the way to the right, meaning the voice of my friend is at max possible volume and the game is muted.

Increasing his volume to 200% in party settings.

Disabling/enabling noise suppression in party settings.

He tried to pull out the headset from the controller and plug it in again, many times. Does nothing.

Restarting the controller.

Leaving and rejoining the party.

Updating the controller firmware.

Updating the Xbox.

yelling into the mic, or brushing the mic with his hand so that it gets a loud input (a few years ago this worked for me to reduce teh sensitivity temporarily of my mic because it was picking up my breathing, my button presses, even the game...)

I tried playing on my Windows 11 PC, and using Xbox Game Bar app for party chat. I tried increasing his volume to 200%, reducing volume of all other programs to 5% and then increasing the Xbox Game Bar volume to 100% and also maxing out system volume output on Windows, and on my headset. He is still very quiet compared to the game. His volume is if it was set to 1%. I also tried to set party chat volume to 200%.

He tried buying a new headset, but the problem is the same.

We have not tried Discord, because I tried it and it still uses the same built in Xbox party chat interface for handling Input/Output... No option to change mic sensitivity or mic input volume manually (which all of the populat voice chat programs on PC can do, like Teamspeak or Discord). What's even the point of Discord integration then??? I really don't know...

Sometimes, we play like this: his volume is extremely low. But then, he has to go for a few minutes to do something, and when he comes back, suddenly his voice is normal. Or his volume is normal, he has to change batteries, and from then on, his voice is extremely quiet. We don't know what triggers the change???

We are out of ideas. This problem got so much worse in the past month, and we need some help, or we are gonna switch to a different platform, because this is absolutely unplayable.

:)

Jose tristesse

Same here! I tried everything and my mic still won't sense my voice unless I scream to loud. My friends won't here me unless I put the mic near my lips. Literally on my lips and speak like a maniac. Please suggest any solutions.

Yanyannnn

Hello ASD34543,

Thank you for your contribution to the Microsoft community.

I'm sorry to hear that you and your friend are experiencing this issue with the Xbox party chat. Based on the troubleshooting steps you have already tried, it seems like you have done everything possible to resolve the issue. Just a reminder, here on community we are not able to double check accounts and devices to check for the possible issue. What we can do here is provide/guide customers with possible troubleshooting steps for the issue.

Basing on the statement you provided above, here are some troubleshooting steps that you may try:

1. Check the microphone settings on your friend's Xbox One X. Go to Settings > Display & Sound > Volume > Party chat output and make sure it is set to Headset.

2. Try using a different controller. It's possible that the issue is with the controller's audio jack.

3.Try using a different Xbox Live account. It's possible that the issue is with your friend's account.

If none of these steps work, I recommend contacting Xbox support for further assistance. They may be able to provide additional troubleshooting steps or offer a solution to the issue. They have a better view than us here on community and they may escalate this case to our dedicated higher team if necessary.

Please follow the steps below to reach out to our live support team:

1. Please use this link: Contact us | Xbox Support
2. Scroll down and look at the lower left side if you can see the page matches the country/region you are currently located.
3. If not, please select the country/region it is showing and select the correct one among the lists.
4. Make sure to use to check the available contact times of the support.
5. Select the "Contact Us" button
6. Select the drop-down menu options that will match your concern.
7. The next window will provide you with support articles based on your request and we recommend reviewing the relevant articles before selecting the "See contact options" button.
8. On the final window, you will be presented with multiple options. We suggest selecting either the "Chat online" or the "Request a call" options to speak with someone. Be sure to provide as much detail as possible.
9. If you cannot get connected to the support, please use the Virtual Agent and enter this exact phrase, "Talk to an agent".
10. Should you be encountering issues contacting support, you may try InPrivate Window of your browser, other browser, different device/s or connect to different network.

Hope I helped!

YanYannn
Microsoft Community Moderator

Farscape247

that is the entire nature of cloud gaming, i have even tried on a gigabit connection with extremely low ping and you still get delay, basically it becomes unplayable on most games and is a waste of time.

TommasoAvati

that is the entire nature of cloud gaming, i have even tried on a gigabit connection with extremely low ping and you still get delay, basically it becomes unplayable on most games and is a waste of time.

very true

Czaple

Same issue with the Turtle Beach x41 - Chat volume is extremely low and I have to nearly turn game volume down all the way to hear people. My friends have reported poor quality voice coming from my headset.

Friend's voice is extremely low most of the time. We have tried everything possible...