Microsoft Teams is adding a high-fidelity Music Mode that should help improve audio streaming quality during Teems meetings. The feature is currently marked as “in development” on the Microsoft 365 roadmap, and it is scheduled for release later this month.
As of today, the Microsoft Teams desktop app enables users to share sound from their computer in a meeting or live event. However, the existing audio experience isn’t great, and the app filters out additional noises and reduces variations in sound level. This will change this month with the addition of an intelligent Music Mode, which will automatically optimize the settings to preserve the quality of the original sound of an audio or video clip played in a meeting.
“In music mode, we support up to 32 kHz sampling rate mono audio at 128 kbps, and optimize our internal audio processing settings for reproducing music with high fidelity. Teams will automatically adjust the audio bitrate based on the available bandwidth, going down to 48 kbps while still delivering good music quality. We also provide users the option to turn off components such as echo cancellation, noise suppression, and gain control if needed,” the company explained on the Microsoft 365 roadmap.
As a part of this change, Microsoft is advising presenters to avoid Bluetooth headsets and opt for high-quality external speakers or professional microphones/headphones to take full advantage of this enhanced audio experience in Teams. “Built-in microphones and speakers on laptops such as the Surface Book will also deliver good experience,” the company added.
The new high-fidelity Music Mode will bring the Teams collaboration service up to par with the competition (Zoom and Webex), which already support this option. Let us know in the comments below if you think this feature can be handy for streaming remote presentations and live events over Teams.
