Manual Make it yours
Choose your microphone
Pick which input device Neato Echo listens to, and why the built-in one is often the better choice.
By default Neato Echo uses whatever microphone Windows is using. If that's the wrong one — or if you've plugged in something better — you can choose explicitly.
Choosing a device
Open Settings, then Preferences, and find Input Device.
Pick a specific microphone from the list, or leave it on System Default to follow whatever Windows is set to. The app confirms the current choice underneath — "Using: …" — and marks your machine's own microphone as (Built-in).
Prefer Built-in Microphone
There's a separate setting called Prefer Built-in Microphone, and the app is blunt about why: "External microphones may cause latency or reduced transcription quality."
That reads backwards if you've bought a good microphone, so it's worth explaining. The problem is usually not the microphone — it's the link. Bluetooth headsets in particular switch to a low-quality, low-bandwidth mode when they're being used as an input device, which is exactly what speech recognition is worst at. Your laptop's built-in microphone, unglamorous as it is, is a clean wired input at full bandwidth.
Rules of thumb:
| Setup | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Bluetooth headset (AirPods and similar) | Prefer the built-in microphone. Use the headset for listening |
| Wired USB or XLR microphone | Use it — this is the case where an external device is genuinely better |
| Wired earbuds with an inline mic | Either. Try both and compare |
| Laptop on its own | Built-in, which is what you'll get anyway |
If no microphones are listed
The app will say "No microphones were detected" and point you at Windows settings. That's a Windows-level problem rather than a Neato Echo one — see my microphone isn't working, which covers the Windows microphone privacy settings.
If the list is populated but you get "Unable to access microphone," it's a permission rather than a device problem, and the same article covers it.
Meetings use the same input
The microphone you choose here is the one used for dictation and for recording your side of a meeting. Capturing the other participants is a separate mechanism entirely — see capturing both sides of the call.
Related
Still need help?
Write to [email protected] with your Windows version, your Neato Echo version (Settings → System), and what you were doing. A person reads every message.