Echo and noise when using internal microphone and internal speakers

[schM0ggi]

Hi,

I rarely use the internal mic on Steam Deck, but when I do, me and my friend are communicating via Steam voice chat. He reported bad echo and things like UI and rumble sounds of my Deck coming through. I did a test with a second pc and I can acknowledge this. Situation gets worse when increasing the mic volume slider. It is, somehow, "usable" when setting to slider to ~ 15-20 %. But then, my voice is so quiet, it's hard to understand. So, question:

Is using internal microphone and internal speakers at the same time even supposed to work?

My initial thoughts are yes, because the mic is there to be used. So how can one make the situation better? Noise and Echo reduction are enabled in settings (can be only reached in Desktop Mode). I tested Game Mode and Desktop Mode.

[Taulo]

I've been having this problem as well. I had my latest Deck for a while now and only found out I had this problem when I used Steam's voice chat with a friend. Not sure if it's of any use or even worth it since I've owned it for such a long time at this point, but I'm still thinking about sending in a ticket about this to see if Valve can do something about it.

The lack of info on the web really sucks since I usually prefer to just fix it myself but I'm not even sure if it's a hardware issue or a software issue. Maybe you should just make a ticket and see what Valve can do about it, please do let people know what they say if you're gonna do that.

[Taulo]

Hey, I turned in a ticket to Valve a while ago and after some troubleshooting (and a whirlwind of trouble with delivery, which is not related) I received a new Deck. You should just get in touch with them.

They're awesome, but make sure you make photos of your box - inside and outside. Not doing that nearly screwed me over.

[schM0ggi]

Originally posted by Taulo:

Hey, I turned in a ticket to Valve a while ago and after some troubleshooting (and a whirlwind of trouble with delivery, which is not related) I received a new Deck. You should just get in touch with them.

They're awesome, but make sure you make photos of your box - inside and outside. Not doing that nearly screwed me over.

Hey,

so what are you actually saying? The new Deck you've received has not the described problem? I can observe this problem on my old LCD Deck and my new OLED Deck. I don't think it's a hardware problem.

[Taulo]

Looks like I kind of jumped the gun there. The new Steam Deck I got was factory fresh when I got it, so I assumed it couldn't have the same problem. Tested it just now and it has the exact same problem. Not even selecting the alternative inputs/outputs works, damn.

The only thing I threw on it was EmuDeck and another game from Steam before testing this. Now I'm really not sure if this is a thing in every Steam Deck or not. With the way Valve nailed the speaker quality and the fact no one else seems have an issue with it I'd say no, but that'd mean you and I are having a real bad stroke of luck.

Not sure if I want to push my luck with Valve's support again. Do you happen to know people with Steam Decks that can test this? I used Steam's settings page on desktop mode, with the mic test option. Turn up your speaker volume and it should start echoing very easily. If that doesn't happen, we've got defects.

[schM0ggi]

Hey,

yes, a friend of mine has a Steam Deck LCD 512 GB model and he has the exact problem I have with echo and noise.

Well, I assume not many people use the internal microphone and speakers to play multiplayer in the first place. Probably a Headset is in the use so not many people try it out in the first place.


---

Actually, now that I remember, I got the recommendation to try out this
https://github.com/noisetorch/NoiseTorch

But didn't have time yet, maybe in the next days.

[Taulo]

I've asked my friend to test with their Steam Deck as well, and... it's the same thing.

I'm guessing this is indeed supposed be fixed via software at this point, either that or something going very wrong on the assembly line. I still can't really fathom how Valve hasn't pre-installed something like NoiseTorch (I didn't try it yet, have been busy with other things this week) on the Decks since it's a pretty big issue from my point of view.

Really not looking forwards to wrestling with Linux in order to make sure NoiseTorch starts up when I boot up my Steam Deck each time, but it's better than trying my luck with Steam support again on trying to fix an issue that might not even be a factory defect to begin with.

[MandoSlayer]

I still get this horribly. Sometimes no audio can be heard on either my friends or my own steamdeck speakers.