I recently switched to a USB condenser mic (Audio-Technica AT2020USB) for my Zoom meetings on my MacBook Air (M1, macOS Ventura). The mic sounds great in GarageBand and other recording apps with zero issues, but during Zoom calls, I get this annoying crackling/static noise that comes and goes randomly. I’ve tried toggling the mic input settings in Zoom, making sure no other apps are accessing the mic, and even reinstalling Zoom. The problem only happens on Zoom, not on other platforms like Teams or Skype, which is super confusing. My MacBook is fully updated, and I’m using the official USB-C hub from Apple to connect the mic. I also tested the mic directly plugged in without the hub and still got the crackling. It’s not background noise, it’s definitely some audio glitch. I’m hoping to fix this without buying new gear since the mic works perfectly elsewhere. Has anyone seen this specific crackling issue with USB mics on Zoom for Mac? Any settings or workarounds that helped you get rid of it? Could it be a Zoom bug or some weird macOS compatibility thing?

On 02/13/2026 at 1:40 PM, bp257 said:

I recently switched to a USB condenser mic (Audio-Technica AT2020USB) for my Zoom meetings on my MacBook Air (M1, macOS Ventura). The mic sounds great in GarageBand and other recording apps with zero issues, but during Zoom calls, I get this annoying crackling/static noise that comes and goes randomly. I’ve tried toggling the mic input settings in Zoom, making sure no other apps are accessing the mic, and even reinstalling Zoom. The problem only happens on Zoom, not on other platforms like Teams or Skype, which is super confusing. My MacBook is fully updated, and I’m using the official USB-C hub from Apple to connect the mic. I also tested the mic directly plugged in without the hub and still got the crackling. It’s not background noise, it’s definitely some audio glitch. I’m hoping to fix this without buying new gear since the mic works perfectly elsewhere. Has anyone seen this specific crackling issue with USB mics on Zoom for Mac? Any settings or workarounds that helped you get rid of it? Could it be a Zoom bug or some weird macOS compatibility thing?

That crackling on Zoom but not on other apps is super frustrating, especially since your mic sounds perfect elsewhere. One thing that helped me in a similar situation was disabling the “Use Original Sound” option in Zoom’s audio settings - sometimes Zoom’s audio processing can introduce glitches with certain USB mics, even if they work fine in other software.

Also, try lowering the mic input volume inside Zoom (not just macOS settings) to around 50-60% - too high an input level sometimes causes distortion or crackling. If that doesn’t help, I’d also check if any background processes or audio plugins are running that might interfere, even if they’re not actively using the mic.

Since you’ve tested both with and without the hub, it’s probably not hardware, so it could be a Zoom-specific bug or a macOS driver quirk. If you haven’t already, filing a bug report with Zoom might push them to fix it

On 02/23/2026 at 3:20 AM, hs161 said:

On 02/13/2026 at 1:40 PM, bp257 said:

I recently switched to a USB condenser mic (Audio-Technica AT2020USB) for my Zoom meetings on my MacBook Air (M1, macOS Ventura). The mic sounds great in GarageBand and other recording apps with zero issues, but during Zoom calls, I get this annoying crackling/static noise that comes and goes randomly. I’ve tried toggling the mic input settings in Zoom, making sure no other apps are accessing the mic, and even reinstalling Zoom. The problem only happens on Zoom, not on other platforms like Teams or Skype, which is super confusing. My MacBook is fully updated, and I’m using the official USB-C hub from Apple to connect the mic. I also tested the mic directly plugged in without the hub and still got the crackling. It’s not background noise, it’s definitely some audio glitch. I’m hoping to fix this without buying new gear since the mic works perfectly elsewhere. Has anyone seen this specific crackling issue with USB mics on Zoom for Mac? Any settings or workarounds that helped you get rid of it? Could it be a Zoom bug or some weird macOS compatibility thing?

That crackling on Zoom but not on other apps is super frustrating, especially since your mic sounds perfect elsewhere. One thing that helped me in a similar situation was disabling the “Use Original Sound” option in Zoom’s audio settings - sometimes Zoom’s audio processing can introduce glitches with certain USB mics, even if they work fine in other software.

Also, try lowering the mic input volume inside Zoom (not just macOS settings) to around 50-60% - too high an input level sometimes causes distortion or crackling. If that doesn’t help, I’d also check if any background processes or audio plugins are running that might interfere, even if they’re not actively using the mic.

Since you’ve tested both with and without the hub, it’s probably not hardware, so it could be a Zoom-specific bug or a macOS driver quirk. If you haven’t already, filing a bug report with Zoom might push them to fix it

@bp257, since you’ve confirmed the mic works perfectly outside Zoom and even without the hub, it’s likely something specific to how Zoom handles USB audio on macOS Ventura. One thing I’ve seen help is disabling “Use original sound” in Zoom’s audio settings if it’s enabled, or toggling it the other way around if it’s off. Sometimes Zoom’s noise suppression algorithms clash with certain USB mics and cause crackling.

Also, try setting Zoom’s microphone input level manually rather than leaving it on auto-adjust. I had a similar issue where auto gain caused weird glitches. If that doesn’t help, you might want to test a different sample rate in Zoom’s audio settings or even create a new Zoom account to rule out profile corruption.

It’s definitely a weird compatibility thing, but fiddling with those audio options often makes a difference. If nothing works, reporting it to Zoom with detailed logs might push them to patch it for M