Surface Book 2 audio - Crackling sound in Zoom meetings

Glad another person had the same idea too!

I tried running SDT and SFC as recommended by Marrion_Y but it didn't find any issues with my SB2, nor had any different outcome to my Zoom sound issue.

I was thinking along the same line as LarryB99, that there must be something on the signal processing side causing it - because it usually happened to me when there are large number of participants in the call.

When I tried to reproduce the issue with just two participants, it didn't happen even after an hour. This experiment was immediately following a rather embarrassing Zoom meeting where I gave all attendees a very unpleasant shock to their ears - so I thought I could reproduce it but no.

So maybe it is CPU trying to do some smart signal processing when there are large number of sound input coming through?

Anyway the best candidate for possible 'excessive signal processing' I could find was Noise Suppression in

• Settings -> Sound -> Input | Device Properties -> Device Properties -> Additional Device Properties -> Enhancements -> Noise Suppression.

Every since I unticked the checkbox for Noise Suppression, I haven't had this issue reoccur (YET).

Not sure if it is a permanent solution or I am just fortunate enough not to experience the problem again.

Would love to hear others' experience after trying out this setting?

I believe these are the fixes i did and finally found they worked. I hope others on this thread find that they have the same result. Would like to know since i was one of the original posters on this issue and went on for months with even Microsoft replacing my Surface...to no avail. I do alot of meetings with zoom - one on one, classes and workshops - and haven’t had any complaints for some time now.

Think I may have solved this.

In Zoom, there is a setting for allowing the computer to adjust the mic level.

When I turn this off, I no longer have the problem.

I am guessing the mic is quite sensitive and starts pickling up more and more souind if you quiet for a period, then when you speak it's way too loud and distorts terribly.

You will find this in Zoom settings, audio, under mic level.

Hi australiasquare,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Community.

Try to access the Audio Enhancements through Control Panel. While your Headset or Mic is plugged in, open Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound. Select your headset and choose Properties, check if you have the Enhancements tab.

If none or still issue persist, please try these steps first:

1: Run Surface Diagnostic Toolkit and check Windows Update

2: Run System File Checker Tool in Windows 10

If this answer your question, we highly encourage you to inform our Community by clicking on Yes or marking my post as an answer. This will help other members who may have the same issue as you. Otherwise, don't hesitate to update us so we can further assist you.

Kind Regards,

Marrion Y .

Same issue with a Surface Book 2 and Zoom. 

I have to close/cancel all other applications and not touch the computer for the sound not to crack up. If I touch the computer (move the mouse) or try to do anything else while in a Zoom meeting the sound will eventually crack up and I will get a low resources error.

I am running Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview 19619.

I have tried the Noise suppression trick suggested by australiasquareand it seems to help a little. However, this is not available when I am using for BT headphones. 

I also notice a slight improvement if I am not docked.

I have also tried re-installing Zoom and all of the surface diagnostics, re-installing the drivers, all different type of Zoom setting, and even forcing  Zoom to run on the nVidia GPU, etc. nothing seems to resolve this and unfortunately Zoom is being used by more and more people.

Have completely run out of ideas other than format C: