Xbox Live audio quality boosted in fall update

by Ludwig Kietzmann on Aug 26th 2010 3:20PM

Microsoft has said that it plans to improve the technical quality of voice communication across Xbox Live through a system update, set to arrive this fall. The update, which Eurogamer reports will coincide with the November launch of Kinect, will upgrade the audio codec that handles all of your online chatting, strategizing and your mothering. [Update: Major Nelson has also confirmed the change in codec with Joystiq.]

Speaking at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, Xbox Live Europe general manager Jerry Johnson explained that the basic codec had originally required just a 64k connection. "It's time for us to move on," he said. "Especially if we want to think about broadening - a crackly headset on the top of your head – not what people think of when they talk about popular entertainment."

Johnson's next statement, which suggested that general quality of Xbox Live communication would be improved by sending every subscriber a copy of "Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners)," was inaudible.

Source: Eurogamer

Tags: dashboard-update-fall-2010, kinect, microsoft, voip, xbox, xbox-live

Reader Comments (57)

Oh, baby! I spend basically all my time gaming in a party chat; this is like the best thing ever for me!

Same. It's pretty decent already to be honest.

I ain't complainin'

@Acosta02
Then you'll freak if you ever get a computer and use programs that let you pick your own codec. Just sayin'

@Themoreyouknow it's one thing for skype/vent/teamspeak/etc to have that kind of quality, it's another for something as stupid simple as Live's party chat to support it. May come as a shocking surprise, but there's a ton of people out there that can't get those PC options figured out, and even less that'll try to figure out a way to bring that VC capability to the living room.

that's some awesome and cool news :D

@182
Even better news would be if they added more A/V codec support.

@daytripper Here's wishing for 5.1 in Netflix, and Dolby TruHD in games.

Music to my ears, literally. I hope this also fixes the problem of having to put your headset on to listen to a voice message. Nothing worse than not having your headset on and getting a voice message, which then sounds like they yelled it into a can and mailed it to your house.

@Awesomaniac I can't agree more.

@Awesomaniac
I don't think you have to put on your headset to listen to a voice message. I play messages through my soundbar.

@daytripper When the VM audio comes through my television it sounds absolutely terrible and I need to find my headset just to listen to it.

Awesome! About time!

great, now we get to hear 12 year olds whine and scream in better audio quality sign me up

@kup3 I'm sure there are some older and more mature people on there. There's gotta be at least, like, two. XD

@kup3

dammit you beat me to it

@kup3
beat me to it.

@kup3 Once again, someone who fell short of mis-typing '8' for '12'.

Annoying members of that age happen to only be of North American origin. Some European 12-year-olds on the service are even more mature than sone adults on there, who curse every waking second of the day. Besides, I regularly chat to some of them in my spare time. By choice.

not sure if anyone can confirm this but could you use kinect as a headset fro talking?
seems unlikely but i was just curious.

@Colostomeboy
Yes you can.

The Microphone array in Kinect can also locate the source of your voice and filter out background noise to help with clarity.

"The Kinect sensor's microphone array enables the Xbox 360 to conduct acoustic source localization and ambient noise suppression, allowing for things such as headset-free party chat over Xbox Live."

A pleasant surprise!

Are those wireless headsets any good? I've heard complaints of interference, but its all been third hand information.

@The Tim My experience with the wireless one is that it's much clearer then the regular, it's also not going to fall apart and it's not uncomfortable.

@The Tim dont get the wireless headset. mine broke after 3 and a half months and microsoft refused to send me a new one. turtle beach ftw

@The Tim

My experience was worse. Quality wasn't as good as wired but worst of all is it's reliability. Mine lasted less than 6 months before it crapped out and stopped recharging and it wasn't because I was unlucky. Best treat it as a disposable but considering it's $40-50 I don't think it's worth it at all.

@The Tim; I got the wireless headset a little over half a year ago and haven't had a problem at all. The sound quality is a bit better/clearer, and I can go hours without it getting uncomfortable. It took me a while to get used to which button turns the volume up and which turns it down (you can't see the buttons because they're on the side of your head), but with a little time I got it down. The wireless headset also 'feels' well built and sturdy, unlike the rickety wired headsets.

@The Tim

My experience with the wireless one wasnt very good.. I really liked how comfortable it was and not having to deal with any wires. It sounded good on my end. However, my voice would not always come in on the other end, and people I was talking to in my parties kept complaining that I was breaking up or that they couldnt understand me very well. I exchanged it twice, and it kept having the same problem. I ended up having to switch back over to the ol' generic one, and it works fine. Another friend of mine that tried one out had a similar problem.

@McWilly Look for an old broken MP3 player around your house or order a cheap one off ebay. Remove the battery off the wireless headset and swap it with the MP3 player battery. It does require a lil bit of soldering but its a simple fix and gives your double your charge than the stock wireless headset.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Mod-An-Xbox-360-Wireless-Headset-To-Increas/

@The Tim

2 positive reviews and 3 less than positive reviews. If I could find one dirt cheap I'd be more inclined to take a chance. That's one thing I like about the PS3 is its bluetooth compatibility. I use one with my phone all the time. I could pair that one with my console to try it out first.

Thanks to everyone for the input. I've been curious. I think they look good but seem to have some issues.

Audio quality out of the headsets was already pretty good, but can't complain about an improvement.

Audio quality out of the speakers (not that anyone uses this for chatting, but it'd be nice not to have to throw a headset on to listen to a voice message) is horrendus though. If they can fix that, that would rock. That would also make it possible to record voice chat when recording gameplay. Previously, that wasn't even worth doing because it was barely audible.

@Vcize

Don't forget the volume is so freaking low it's inaudible, so when you get a message you have to get everyone in your room to shut up. You have to turn your ac off and mute everything else, put your tv's volume on full blast and then listen and hope you can hear it over your 360. OR just delete the message and pretend you never got it.

Since they turned off Xbox1 servers, to upgrade the service, this is the first thing I've seen..
.. all we need is somekind of age recognition system to keep squealers off Gears 2..

@Mazrael

I'm not a little kid. I just get excited sometimes and squeal.

Sorry.

@CapnKrafty

What the what?

Can we please make it so that when you play communications through your TV it's at an audible volume? Please? Through the headset it's fine but through the TV it comes through at whats seems like 12 decibels, even at maximum volume!

@WiNGSPANTT from TopTierTacticsco I like my speakers for my game sounds.. what they need to improve is the sound level on DVD playback.. games only need my HD to 10.. but DVD's would probably need 20 (out of 100), though I watched more DVD's on my old HD, it was rediculous when swapping back to a game.. and turning it from 50 to 12 on that one

One thing that bothers me is how low the volume settings are capped. Hopefully this will give us more play volume-wise so that I can hear my friends over the sound of my game.

I know most games give you an option to control volume levels for in-game sound, but there are games, like Dragon Age, where the lowest setting short of muted is still louder than the voice chat volume. An option to make voice chatting volume louder or more dominant would fix this for me.

Definitely great news. Nothing worse than being hung off the side of a building by a smoker, screaming for help until you die and hearing, "YOU'RE DEAD?! WHY DIDN'T YOU YELL FOR HELP?!"

Yay, people won't sound like robots anymore!

@ccc

What was the rush? there isn't anything wrong with chat quality now. they are only adding this for kinect since you can chat without a headset

Now if only they'd allow third parties to make the wireless headsets. I'm not paying $50 for something that could be done by the huge collection of Bluetooth headsets I already own.

About time. I can count the times I've actually been able to tell what someone is saying online on one hand. And that's for both 360 and PS3. All I hear is a mumbly mess of noise. I have absolutely no idea how people can actually understand each other on Live.

I certainly hope this will fix it, but I get the feeling it will still be a mumbly mess where you can occasionally make out a word or two.

Now if they can just fix the quality of the headset. Cheap piece's of poo that break for no reason!

Isn't the lack of quality voice communication the reason why they invented teabagging in FPSes?

I hope my tediously slow internet can handle this.
i can't even watch 360p YouTube videos without it buffering to 2 minutes for every 1 minute of video.

@Alex R
I hear ya..I got cheap connection here and its the only option right now..

@KingOfGods
Because the competition is way better. I'm not sure about PSN because I never hear anyone talk when I play online (they just like to play music), but on Steam, the voice quality is way better. It's clear and easy to understand other people.

i like how microsoft actually tells there customers when a firmware is coming unlike sony. FYI I own a ps3.

@killAA
Doesn't Microsoft only do one update a year?

@einhanderkiller yeah thats true

@einhanderkiller

1-2 updates a year from what I've seen so far (unless of course there's a problem with an update).

Sony on the other hand is constantly adding, changing, fixing, or just generally messing around with their firmware. I like how often Sony updates, I just don't like how huge their updates are.

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Xbox Live audio quality boosted in fall update

Reader Comments (57)

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 3:21PM Acosta02 said

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 5:24PM BlackedOut said

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 5:32PM Themoreyouknow said

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 5:47PM Muu said

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Posted: Aug 26th 2010 4:20PM daytripper said

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Posted: Aug 26th 2010 3:27PM Awesomaniac said

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Posted: Aug 26th 2010 4:57PM WMcPete said

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 7:05PM pibs said

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 7:31PM The Tim said

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 3:51PM Vcize said

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 4:06PM Tiptup300 said

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Posted: Aug 26th 2010 3:55PM Uncle Jesse said

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Posted: Aug 26th 2010 3:55PM WiNGSPANTT from TopTierTacticsco said

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 4:21PM Mazrael said

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