Poly Voyager Free 60 -- Really bad problem with microphone noise cancellation

[PolyFan]

I'm having a really big issue with the Voyager Free 60's microphone noise cancellation.

I've done some testing and found out that
- your own voice is not reproduced properly even if you hold one of the ear buds directly in front of your mouth,
- the 3 headset microphones are only 1 cm away from the speaker in this situation.
- and even in this situation, the background noises such as passing cars and even other voices of people walking by are recorded loud and clear,
- while one's own voice can only be heard very quietly and incomprehensibly.

This speaks for me for a serious bug in the current firmware V5037
- because above all other sounds one's own voice should preferably be reproduced to the caller,
- completely independent of how good the suppression of background noises is.

With the firmware V5032 the problem was not so serious. In order for me to be able to use the headset halfway on the street, I have a request for the support team:

Would it be possible to provide me with the old firmwares V5032 or V5035? -- last one with improved suppression of wind noise.

Thank you.

[PolyFan]

And maybe one more thing to add: I've really never experienced such a strange behavior with a headset - and I've had many headsets before.

What you may be familiar with is that the background noise is played back to the caller just as loudly as your own voice. But the fact that the background noise is louder and clearer than your voice itself is really strange. As if the background noises are the audio that should be transmitted.

I believe there is really a serious bug in the microphone noise cancellation algorithm of current firmware V5037.

[Meghana_10]

Hello PolyFan, welcome to the HP Poly community.
Please connect the earbuds to the PC and restore the earbuds settings to default and switch it off and switch back on to save the changed settings.
I request you to please reach out to Poly customer support at 800-985-9815 for further warranty and replacement related queries. 


Regards,
Meghana  

[PolyFan]

Hello Meghana,

thank you for your answer.

I have already received a replacement device and I have the same problems with the replacement device.

Here is a summary of my test results:
1. If you are walking as a pedestrian next to a busy street in the city (speed limit at max. 40 h/km // 25 MPH), your own voice can only be heard very softly, almost inaudibly in the background, while the passing cars and even voices of passing people can be heard very loudly and clearly.
2. The traffic noise can even be heard so loudly by the person you are talking to that it becomes very uncomfortable for the person and they cannot stand it for long and ask you to cancel the call.
3. It gives me the impression that the street noise is even amplified, so it is in no way suppressed in any way.
4. Only your own voice is suppressed -- which is the opposite of a background noise suppression expected of a headset. I have never experienced such behavior with a headset.
5. What you know from many headsets is that background noise such as traffic noise is just as loud as your own voice, so all audio sources are reproduced with the same volume.
6. However, I have never experienced a reduction in the volume of my own voice with a headset.
7. I believe this behavior is a bug in the Poly Voyager Free 60's mic noise cancellation algorithm. Here's why:
8. In the situations described above, the first few words of your own voice are initially played back at normal volume for a few seconds, i.e. they can still be heard by the person you are talking to, and then your own voice suddenly is faded out and the person you are talking to hears the traffic noise at high volume.
9. So it works for a few seconds, but then the algorithm somehow re-configures itself and then only the background noise is reproduced and your own voice is hidden.
10. The very low volume of your own voice is cept even if you move away from the traffic noise while making a call and after a while the street noise is only very quiet and far away but your voice is still inaudible.
11. And by very quietly, I mean that the person you are talking to is not sure whether you are still speaking. In other words, it's so quiet that it's basically inaudible.
12. Of course, it is also strange why the voices of other people who are passing about 1-2 m // 3.28-6.56 feet away on the street are reproduced at normal volume, together with the street noise, while at the same time your own voice is suppressed.
13. The headset is therefore not usable in these situations.
14. And from my point of view, the most important use case for such a small in-ear headset is making calls out on the street.
15. For calls in the office you have a larger headset anyway, like the Poly Voyager Focus 2, which by the way has a fantastic noise canceling.
16. I also tested my Voyager Focus 2 on a street with traffic noise: my own voice always remained clear, while the noise from passing cars was significantly reduced.
17. So, on the Voyager Focus 2, the background noise reduction works as you would expect.

So, in summary, the Poly Voyager Free 60 isn't usable for making phone calls on the street.
As a Poly fan, this is a very disappointing experience with a Poly device for me.

Best regards,
PolyFan

[SteffenBaierUK]

Hello @PolyFan ,

welcome to the HP Poly community.

I suggest you contact our Support organization in your region so this can be escalated to our hardware engineering and/or as a workaround provide you with the older firmware if possible. Details are in my Signature.

Best Regards

Steffen Baier

[PolyFan]

Hello UK HP Support Team,

Thank you for the great support from UK Poly/HP Engineering!

Meanwhile I've had a really good call with a Poly/HP engineer from UK team and also tested the Poly Voyager Free 60 with the old firmware versions.

You were correct when you pointed out that the Samsung Sound Recorder app does not use the Poly Voyager Free 60’s microphone for my recordings. However, I was able to easily change this setting in the Sound Recorder app and set up the use of the Poly Voyager Free 60 microphone. I have now created 20 new test recordings with the app using the Free 60 microphone. And I also had some phone calls (using the Free 60) with a few people.

These are settings and new test results:

• Poly Voyager Free 60 inserted into the ears with a slight downward angle and the tip pointing towards the mouth (your suggestion).
• After testing with old firmware versions V5032 and V5035 (no improvement), I've upgraded to the current firmware V5037.
• When starting recording, Samsung Sound Recorder app shows that it is recording with the Poly Voyager Free 60 microphone.
• Tests carried out again as a pedestrian on a busy city street (speed limit of max. 40 h/km).
• Difference to previous recordings: your own voice can be heard loud enough sometimes and can be understood by the person you have the phone call.
• But: street noise such as passing cars or trams are always at least as loud and sometimes louder than your own voice.
• However, after a while your voice is almost always overshadowed by the background noise and can then no longer be heard.
• As soon as the background noise stops, your voice can be heard again.
• In some situations, however, the background noise, such as cars passing by, is so loud that the noise sounds like an explosion, a jet taking off, or a terrible sound from a horror movie.
• The person you're talking to doesn't last long on such a phone call and quickly asks you to end the call.
• I'm still sure the Poly Voyager Free 60's noise cancellation algorithm has a serious bug.
• The background noise is passed on loudly and unfiltered to the person you are talking to, without your own voice being recognized as the main audio source and reproduced in isolation.
• The result is therefore still the same even after the above correction in the test setup: the Poly Voyager Free 60 is not suitable for making phone calls on the street with loud background noise.

I'm still hoping a new firmware will solve the problem.

Best regards

PolyFan

[Meghana_10]

Hello, welcome to the HP Poly community.
I am extremely sorry for the trouble caused to you with Poly Voyager Free 60 earbuds.
I request you to please reach out to Poly customer support at +44 1753 723020 for further warranty and 

Regards,
Meghana

[Jroback]

I think this may be related to the bug I'm seeing where you lose bass frequencies when you turn ANC off.   There's something funky going on with ANC.  The reviews I've seen have also pointed out that the ANC is not up to the quality of other brands.   I'm really hoping the fix it soon.   More info here:  https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Bluetooth-Headsets-Earbuds/Voyager-Free-60-s-sounds-horrible-with-ANC-...

[PolyFan]

I am now also in contact with an HP/Poly support engineer and have carried out a longer series of tests. It's clear to me, the firmware has some bugs that have fatal consequences for microphone noise cancellation:
The headset somehow alteres the background noise technically (this is how noise cancellation should work), but the Poly Free 60 does this in a bad way: the background noise suddenly sounds completely terrible to the person you are talking to and the volume of the background noise is increased instead of reduced.

@Jroback: My impression is also that this ANC problem is related to the microphone noise cancellation bug. However, I haven't tested ANC while listening to music, only while making calls. ANC works somewhat during calls. But ANC reduces the volume of background noise only for you, not for the person you're talking to. Longer phone calls are not possible in such a situation because the person you are talking to simply can't stand it anymore.

I don't want to give up hope completely that this problem can be solved with a firmware update. If not, the Poly Free 60 are simply far too expensive for such poor performance.

[Meghana_10]

Thank you for the update.
Please check for firmware updates and update them as it will help in resolving the issue.

Regards,
Meghana