Quest 3’s microphone has the identical popping downside as Quest Professional – a difficulty that is not current in Quest 2.

Quest 3 and Quest Professional have a a lot thinner visor than Quest 2, because of the usage of pancake lenses which require a shorter hole between them and the show panels. That is advantageous for design and ergonomics, however could also be contributing to a microphone high quality concern.

The thinness means your mouth is way nearer to the headset, and thus the microphones, in comparison with Quest 2. On Quest 3, there appears to be a bassy distorted sound when air blasts out of your mouth hit its microphone. The proximity impact means the nearer you’re to the microphone the extra low frequencies can be amplified, and this impact appears to be leaving Meta’s newest VR headsets with a “plosives” downside.

P sounds are the most typical plosive, generally known as “p-pops”, however this jarring additionally occurs with T, Ok, D, G, and B noises to a lesser diploma.

We initially observed this concern in Quest Professional on our weekly VR Obtain podcast a yr in the past, and it was distracting sufficient for our listeners that I reverted to utilizing Quest 2.

In final week’s episode, I began utilizing Quest 3 on its launch day, hoping that the problem wouldn’t be current. As an alternative, we have been disillusioned to find one other new Meta headset has precisely the identical concern. Take heed to the above comparability of the microphone on Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest Professional.

We aren’t the one ones to note Quest 3’s microphone high quality. YouTuber Mike Cussell, often called VROasis, posted his personal comparability to X, displaying that this concern really is not current on different slim pancake lens headsets resembling HTC’s Vive XR Elite and Bigscreen Past.