Workstation 16: Audio Delay and Distortion

[Ray_CJ]

All,

With a USB headset, guest audio is very distorted most of the time.  This applies to multi-media playback and even system sounds (notification beeps etc).  The problem gets much worse when windows are resized or scrolled.  With sound-card audio guest audio lags video sync by about 1 second but, is otherwise very clear.

I cannot find a clear solution to this but, a net search shows that it's a very common problem.  I have exhausted dozens of the most creative solutions I can think of...  Any/all help is appreciated.

System is:  Workstation Pro 16.1 (licensed version).  AMD 3900x (12/24 processing units), Host and Guest OS is Win10 Pro.  FWIW, GPU is Nvidia 1070-based.

Thanks

Ray C

[continuum]

> I have exhausted dozens of the most creative solutions I can think of... 

What was the result when you used the USB-headset connected to the VM directly ?

[Ray_CJ]

Thank you for replying.  I am new to vmWare and I do not understand your question.  My procedure is:

1) Start host.

2) Start Guest.

3) Plug USB headset into USB port.

4) Receive notification pop-up that USB device can be shared -and then I accept and share the USB with the guest.

After that, I can hear the audio but, it is very distorted.  I have the USB Hardware settings set to USB 3.1.

This is the only way I know how to operate this.  If there are other ways, please let me know.  

Thank you in-advance...

Ray C.

[continuum · Accepted solution]

> I have the USB Hardware settings set to USB 3.1.
Can you try with USB 2 ?

[Ray_CJ · Accepted solution]

I tried plugging the USB headset into a a USB 2.0 (physical) port but, did not try setting the hardware config to USB 2.   Please standby.  (I need to logoff this device, make change and try).   

Thank you for your assistance.  It is appreciated...

Ray

[Ray_CJ]

Continuum,

Please tell me your timecard number and I'll request that you get a pay raise!   Switching the USB compatibility to 2.0 (in the VM Settings for USB Controller) seems to correct the audio distortion.  I stressed the system with heavy math calculations bringing the CPU utilization to 60% and audio remained perfect instead of total distortion.

The solution makes sense.  USB 3.1 has (if I'm not mistaken) speeds up to 10Gbps.   I'm not sure if USB data is shared physically or logically over an out-of-band communications channel but either way, I can imagine the difficulty in writing drivers to handle those speeds.   Fortunately, my VMs have no need for such high USB transfer rates.

I'm satisfied with this this but can imagine there are VM users out there who need to utilize the full USB 3.x bandwidth.  I wonder if the VMware folks will be able to develop a solution for that.  It will be interesting to see how it progresses.

Thank your for your help!

Regards

Ray C

[continuum]

> Please tell me your timecard number and I'll request that you get a pay raise! 
I dont know what timecard numbers are - but I am always looking for volunteers  that help with shoveling snow in the winter 😎

[Zikki1981]

Hi,

On workstation PRO 16 with a host and guest on Windows 10, did you have any news for a fix? USB audio devices are crackling in 3.0 and fixed when switching the USB hardware support from 3 to 2 but USB 3.1 video devices are working perfectly in hardware 3 and, of course, not working at all in 2.

So I have perfect video but crappy sound or good sound (not perfect) and no video... That's very frustrating knowing that I'm using different VMS to handle different customers and Teams/Zoom/Webex are now a norm.

KR,

Greg

[Kaselite]

Hello, since 16.2.0 build-18760230 and Windows 11 22000.258 (i did not use the previews) - this issue as returned, but now, even with USB 2, audio does not work. 

[Kaselite]

VM -> USB Compat: 2.0

USB is plugged into hardware USB 2 port (Jabra USB device)

The device is showing in the VM... 

from Teams, when i want to use the device, the speaker does not work, microphone does work, 

then in Windows, if i goto: SETTING > SOUND > PROPERTIES > OUTPUT SETTINGS > Jabra device > then switch between "formats" i.e.  Telephone Quality or CD Quality.

When i switch between these it works for a while... but then to stops working after a while. 

[dchontzopoulos]

I'm having the exact same issue with VMWare Workstation v16.2.0.18760230. Luckily I had VMware Workstation v16.0.0.16894299, so I uninstalled 16.2 and installed 16.0.0.16894299 and now it's working fine.

Seems to me that 16.2.0.18760230 is "broken" in that part and someone needs to fix it...

[dchontzopoulos]

Tested with a Jabra 510 and with a Microsoft Lifechat LX300 USB Device - same issues with any USB Headset I tried. They were able to hear me, so my microphone was working, but I couldn't hear anything when they were talking. Happening through Teams and any other Application (like Zoom, Skype, Cisco Webex) that I tried (just to rule-out Teams). Definitely an issue with 16.2.0.18760230!

[svenso]

Exactly same problem here with 16.2.0 build-18760230. Worked fine with old version

[Orionar]

The same issue does not seem to be fixed with 16.2.1 either.  I am using a Plantronics BT600 USB Headset and the audio output works for about 10minutes and then becomes fuzzy and broken until it fades to nothing.  Reboot and it works for another 10min and does the same thing.  Regular system speaker audio works fine.  This all worked fine with versions less than 16.2.0

[Sam2555]

For me, not only output, but also input. I install Earmaster 7.5.0.74 and Overture 5.6.3.3 in a Windows 10 vm with VMware® Workstation 17 Pro (17.5.1 build-23298084), Earmaster's audio input/output and Overture's output have delay. Hardware settings set to USB 2.0 doesn't work.