Why Bluetooth Headsets Are Terrible on Windows PCs

Here we can see, “Why Bluetooth Headsets Are Terrible on Windows PCs”

Bluetooth audio is sweet now, right? That’s what I’ve been hearing, so I purchased a $300 Bluetooth headset for my Windows PC, expecting to possess a direct experience, and it had been terrible. I blame Bluetooth—and Windows.

Full disclosure: My coworkers have had great experiences with Bluetooth audio on both Android phones and W1-enabled Apple devices. This is often about PC headsets.

Windows Won’t Tell You If It’s Using AptX

Bluetooth is confusing. As audio website Darko. Audio puts it: “Bluetooth audio’s dirty secret isn’t that it doesn’t sound excellent , it’s that it’ll only sound good if certain conditions are met.”

Modern high-end Bluetooth headsets support AptX, an audio codec compression scheme that gives better sound quality. But AptX is merely enabled if it’s supported on both the transmitter and receiver. When employing a Bluetooth headset with a PC, it only works if your PC’s hardware and drivers are compatible.

Other configuration issues can also disable AptX audio. As Darko. The audio explains, on a Mac, if you’re using 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, if you’ve got quite two Bluetooth devices connected to a desktop, or if you’ve got quite one connected to a laptop, macOS drops right down to lower-quality SBC audio over the Bluetooth Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) connection. That’s consistent with Apple.

Windows 10 now has integrated support for AptX, but it’s impossible to inform if your Bluetooth connection uses AptX. Android and macOS allow you to see this information, but it isn’t visible anywhere in Windows. So you’ll never know if you’re getting the very best sound quality possible.

Bluetooth Doesn’t Support High-Quality Audio When a Microphone Is In Use

My Headset had an integrated microphone, so I expected to use the headphones while using the microphone generally.

But, shockingly, this doesn’t work. If you’ve got a stereo headset with an integrated microphone, you can’t use the Headset with average sound quality while using the microphone. There isn’t enough bandwidth available to Bluetooth devices, as Sennheiser explains.

Technically, when you’re just using the headphones as a sound output device, they’re using the A2DP Bluetooth profile and ideally using AptX for max sound quality. Once you need the microphone, they’ll use the Headset or hands-free profile (HSP or HFP). This enables both recordings via the microphone and playback via the headphones, but the headphone sound quality is terrible when using HSP or HFP.

Suppose you’re employing a Bluetooth headset to require a call, which may be fine. If you want to talk into your Headset’s mic while taking note of music, playing a game, or watching a video on your PC, you’ll be frustrated.

For a PC headset with an integrated microphone, Bluetooth may be a terrible choice. You’re happier getting a wired headset, or maybe just getting a separate microphone.

Bluetooth 5.0, which has already been announced, offers much higher bandwidth. In theory, this could let future Bluetooth headsets replay audio at top quality while the microphone is getting used.

Windows Shows the Profiles as Different Audio Devices

When you connect a Bluetooth headset with a microphone to Windows, you’ll see two devices: the quality A2DP high-quality stereo headphones, and thus the hand-free profile that has the worse sound output and supports sound input.

This seems to confuse applications. Once I started an audio turn the Headset, the hands-free audio mode worked correctly, and that I could hear the person I used to be a lecture. But, after I launched a PC game, the sport was utterly silent. Even setting the hands-free headset device because the default sound playback device didn’t work. I had to travel into the Windows sound properties and manually disable the A2DP device, forcing the sport to use the hands-free profile and output sound. The game’s audio sounded very compressed and inferior, but I could a minimum of hearing it.

In other words, the Bluetooth profile switching confuses some Windows applications unless you twiddle it manually. It’s not a seamless experience in the least, and that’s frustrating.

Bluetooth Connections Are Still Unreliable

The Headset sometimes disconnects from the PC, even while sitting a couple of feet from the pc. Fixing this required powering off down the Headset and turning it back on—in other words, rebooting my headphones.

When the connection came back online, some applications worked fine, and a few didn’t.

I was a lecture, someone, during a voice-calling application when the headphones lost the connection, which application immediately ended the decision because the audio device had vanished. I had to start the decision again after rebooting my headphones. So, not only is Bluetooth audio potentially flaky, but many Windows applications can’t gracefully handle that flakiness.

I’ve had a solid reference to AirPods that use Apple’s W1 chip while connected to an iPhone for the foremost part. But a typical Bluetooth headset with a Windows PC doesn’t seem as reliable.

Microsoft is functioning on easy pairing for Bluetooth devices, which is good, but that won’t help much if it still loses the connection while paired.

Good PC Headsets Aren’t Great For iPhones

A solid Bluetooth headset might be used with both a PC and your smartphone, which might be very convenient. But, if you’re an iPhone user like I unfortunately am, your AptX headset won’t offer you great audio quality when connected to an iPhone. That’s because Apple refuses to support AptX on iPhones and iPads, although Macs do support AptX. You would like a headset with AAC support to urge good quality with an iPhone—and the $300 Sennheiser HD1 wireless headset I purchased only supported AptX.

Android users are in luck, as modern Android phones do support AptX. Unlike on Windows, it’s even possible to see if the connection is using AptX!

I briefly considered purchasing a Beats headset from Apple, as those use Apple’s W1 chip for a stable reference to Apple products and have AAC support. But Beats headsets don’t support AptX, which suggests they won’t have excellent audio quality when connected to a Windows PC. and lots of reviewers note that Beats headphones have flaky Bluetooth connection quality when paired with a tool without W1 support, sort of a Windows PC.

Bluetooth is Always a Few Years Away From Working Well

So, in summary: the Headset’s connection is unreliable, it’s impossible to inform if it’s using the very best quality audio with my PC, and it can’t function as a standard pair of stereo headphones while using the integrated microphone. And, if I connect it to my iPhone, I won’t get the very best quality audio.

I’m returning the Headset to Amazon. I’ll stick with a wired headset with traditional analog audio cables on my computer thanks. I’ll take another look during a few years when Bluetooth 5.0 headsets are out.

How to Fix Bluetooth Headphones Sound Bad on PC

When you pair your Bluetooth headphones or Headset with your Windows 10 PC, you discover the audio quality is terrible. Which will be frustrating as you can’t hear music, watch a video or play a game properly. But to not worry. You’ll fix this issue quickly with the methods below.

Method 1: Select the high quality option

When you get poor-quality sound from your Bluetooth headphones or Headset, the inferiority option may be chosen. To repair the matter, you only got to uncheck the poor-quality option and select the top-quality option instead.

Here’s the way to do it:

1) Right-click on the speaker icon on the proper taskbar and choose Sounds.

2) within the Playback tab, you’ll see the Headset Hands-Free (the low audio quality option) is about because of the default device. Just unselect it and choose Headphones Stereo (the high audio quality option) because of the default device.

If the Stereo option isn’t available, you’ll follow these steps to re-add the Bluetooth device again.

2a) On your keyboard, press Win+I (the Windows logo key and therefore the I key) at an equivalent time to open the Windows Settings window.

2b) Select Devices.

2c) within the left pane, select Bluetooth & other devices, then within the right pane, click on Add Bluetooth or another device.

2d) Click on Bluetooth to attach your Bluetooth headphones\headset with PC. Follow the additional instructions if they seem, then select Done.

2f) Once adding the device, confirm the Stereo option is chosen.

3) Select Apply->OK to save lots of the changes.

4) Restart your computer, and your Bluetooth audio quality issue should resolve.

More info:

Windows 10 creates two devices once you connect your headsets with the PC. One is that the Headset, the opposite one is that the Headphones.

If Headset is chosen as the default device, you’ll use the headphones and, therefore, the integrated microphone at an equivalent time. But you’ll get poor sound quality from the headphones because there isn’t enough bandwidth for both audio output and input.

If Headphones are selected because of the default device, you only can hear sound from your Bluetooth headset but cannot speak via the integrated microphone. But you’ll get high sound quality.

Which option do you have to select? It depends on what you favor. If you prefer top-quality sound, choose the Headphones option.

This is often a Windows 10 system issue. It’s impossible to urge top-quality sound from a Bluetooth headset with an integrated microphone. You’ll think about using a wired headset or maybe just getting a separate microphone.

Method 2: Pause other things that might be using bluetooth

The Bluetooth audio poor quality issue is perhaps caused by insufficient bandwidth. If you’ve got multiple items using Bluetooth at an equivalent time, your Bluetooth headphones\headset might not have enough capacity. Therein case, the audio quality is often low.

To fix the matter, you’ll disconnect other things and leave the Bluetooth headphones or Headset. Then check to ascertain if the sound quality improves.

Conclusion 

I hope you found this helpful guide. If you’ve got any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to use the shape below. 

User Questions:

1. Why is Bluetooth audio quality so bad?

Given the limited bandwidth of Bluetooth, it’s impossible to transmit audio without some lossy data compression. Some devoted listeners believe that lossy compression inherently degrades audio quality, and therefore, Bluetooth audio isn’t acceptable to them.

2. Why is Bluetooth audio choppy on a PC?

The wrong or outdated audio drivers might be the rationale for the Bluetooth audio stuttering issue. You’ll manually update your audio driver from the manufacturer’s website, which needs time and computer skills. If you do not have time, patience, or computer skills, we recommend Driver Easy.

3. Is audio quality worse with Bluetooth?

Many people believe that transmitting an audio signal via Bluetooth will always degrade sound quality, but that’s not necessarily true. … If you employ these two things alongside a wireless speaker or headphones that also support AAC, Bluetooth won’t impact the sound quality.

4. Why is Windows so bad at handling Bluetooth?

Why is Windows so bad at handling Bluetooth? from windows

5. Is Bluetooth audio quality that bad in Windows 10?

Is bluetooth audio quality really that bad in Windows 10? from Windows10