At 10:26 on a Thursday morning in March 2024, an event manager looked up at me and asked the question that started the clock: Why is my headset echoing? On the table, an HP Reverb G2 was running a SteamVR environment. In 90 minutes, an executive team would arrive to try it. And every audio test sent a ghost copy of my own voice back to me.
I have coordinated more than 200 enterprise VR setups since 2019, many of them rush jobs for trade-show booths and executive briefings. The biggest lesson from that work is boring but useful: an echo is usually an audio-routing problem, not a hardware failure. The fix is to stop blaming the headset and look at the Windows sound path.
The demo setup
The setup was simple: an HP Reverb G2 connected to a Windows PC, SteamVR configured, and a virtual training scene waiting in the background. The Reverb G2 visuals were sharp. It tracked perfectly. SteamVR showed no errors. The headset speakers worked. All signs pointed to fine, except for the echo.
In some markets you also see this product listed as the HP Reverb G2 VR Brille. The language is different, but the diagnosis is not. If audio echoes in VR, you need to understand every device that Windows considers an active endpoint before you start changing hardware.
Why did it echo?
When I opened the Windows Sound control panel, the problem appeared faster than expected. I pressed Win+R and typed mmsys.cpl. The default playback device was not the HP Reverb G2. It was a Jabra headset. The Jabra headset had been connected to the same laptop through a USB dongle and was sitting on the table, switched on, waiting to be used as a backup.
Because Windows saw that Jabra headset as the default communications device, the conference software sent incoming audio to it. The Jabra speaker played into the open room. The Jabra microphone picked it back up and echoed it to the remote side. Meanwhile, SteamVR was also sending audio to the HP Reverb G2. Two audio paths. Two endpoints. One echo loop.
That is the pattern I see again and again: one extra connected device creates the problem. The headset was never broken. The Jabra headset was never even being worn. It was simply plugged in, powered up, and trusted by Windows.
The fix and the boring lesson
I disconnected the Jabra headset and disabled its USB audio device in Windows. Then I selected the HP Reverb G2 as the default speaker and recording device. In SteamVR, under Settings > Audio, I did the same. The echo disappeared instantly.
No driver reinstall. No replacement headset. No 45-minute restart. The fix was one single source of truth for audio. The way I see it, every extra audio device is another possible echo path.
The event manager had brought an Xbox gaming headset as backup, and I told him to keep it in the bag. A gaming headset with a single 3.5mm TRRS plug can create a different version of the same problem if the laptop uses separate headphone and microphone jacks. Without an adapter or a clear combo jack, Windows may misroute the mic and audio signals, which often leads to a buzzing mic or another echo loop. If you must use one, use a TRRS splitter and check the Windows audio endpoints again.
Here is what I now do before every enterprise VR demo:
- Open Windows Sound settings first and disable every audio device not in use.
- Run a live voice test, not just a headset test. Echo only appears when the microphone and speaker work as a pair.
- Check SteamVR audio settings separately. SteamVR can use a different default at its own layer, even when Windows looks correct.
- Keep backup headsets physically unplugged until they are actually needed.
Microsoft’s own Windows support documentation starts the same way: check the default playback device before updating drivers or replacing hardware. That approach saved this demo, and it has saved many others since.
There is something satisfying about watching a so-called audio failure turn into a one-way trip to the Sound control panel. The silence after an echo disappears is not empty. It feels like a win. In a room full of high-tech equipment, the answer is often to connect less, not more.
So if someone asks you why is my headset echoing?, look first at the devices you are not using. The HP Reverb G2 will thank you.