There are many different problems and errors associated with connecting wireless headphones to a computer. And one of them is poor sound through Bluetooth headphones that are connected to a PC or laptop. This issue has been written about many times in the comments to other articles on this site. Immediately after connecting the headphones to the computer, there is sound, but it is very bad. And this is not the bad sound that music lovers talk about when comparing cheap and expensive headphones. The sound from the headphones is so bad that listening to music is simply impossible. No bass, something hisses, wheezes, etc. The problem may arise not only immediately after connecting the headphones, but also after a while, after reconnecting, using a program.
Based on the information in the comments to the same article about connecting Bluetooth headphones to a computer, I can say that problems with the sound quality in Bluetooth headphones occur both in Windows 10 and in Windows 8 and Windows 7. Absolutely on different devices, with different Bluetooth -adapters, different drivers, etc. That is, in most cases this is not a problem of a specific version of Windows, hardware, drivers, etc. The same applies to wireless headphones. Bad sound can be found in AirPods, some expensive JBL, Marshall, Sennheiser, or cheap Chinese headphones. Regular or TWS format. As an experiment, to understand the problem itself, I tested everything on AirPods 2 and JBL. The problems with poor sound on both wireless headphones are identical. The sound is quiet, wheezing, snarling and nothing is heard. And when you connect the same headphones to a phone or other device, the sound is good and clear.
Why is the sound from the computer bad through wireless headphones?
The problem is with the microphone, the "Headset" mode in Windows, and especially the Bluetooth profile. I'll explain everything now. Who cares - read. If you don't, you can go straight to the solutions.
Almost every Bluetooth headphone has a built-in microphone. They can be used as a headset. When connected to both a phone and a laptop or desktop computer. When we connect wireless headphones to the computer, Windows sees them as headphones (Stereo) and as a headset (Headset - Hands Free). In Windows 10, for example, the inscription "Connected voice, music" appears near the headphones. Accordingly, "Voice" is our headset mode (Hands Free), and "Music" is the Stereo mode of the headphones (good sound quality). By the way, the same problem can arise with a Bluetooth speaker, since many models are also equipped with a microphone.
What we get:
- When the headphones are used in the Hands Free headset mode, the sound from the Bluetooth headphones is poor. But Windows uses a microphone. You can speak on Skype, in other messengers, or use it for other tasks.
- When Windows uses headphones in Headphone (Stereo) mode, the sound quality is excellent. You can listen to music, watch movies, etc. But the microphone does not work.
The question arises, why is this happening? How to get good stereo sound and a working microphone in the same Windows 10 at the same time? The answer is no way. This is a feature of the Headset Profile (HFP). When the microphone is engaged, sound is transmitted in mono only. Hence the poor sound quality of the most wireless headphones. And stereo sound is transmitted through the A2DP profile. It does not support microphone operation.
It's simple: either we get poor quality sound and use a microphone, or good sound, but no microphone.
What is the reason we figured out. And here, probably, one more question arises due to the fact that many do not need this microphone at all, they do not use it, and the sound quality is all exactly bad. You just need to change the profile in the Windows settings. Or switch to "Headset" and then back to headphones. More on this later in the article.
Solving the problem with poor sound quality from Bluetooth headphones in Windows 10
I will show it using Windows 10 as an example. In Windows 7 and Windows 8, it is even simpler, there the sound control panel is not as far hidden as on a dozen.
Plug in your headphones. You can follow my instructions for connecting wireless headphones to your computer. Or a separate instruction for AirPods. If you have these headphones.
1First of all, we need to go to the sound control panel and check which device is selected by default. "Headset", or "Headphones".In Windows 10, right-click on the sound icon in the tray and select "Open Sound Options". In the options, on the right, open the "Sound Control Panel".
In Windows 7 and Windows 8 (8.1), just right-click on the sound icon and select "Playback Devices".
The window that opens will be the same on all Windows versions.
2In the "Sound" window, on the "Playback" tab, there should be our Bluetooth headphones in the form of two devices: just "Headphones" and "Headphone". The headphones must be in the "Default device" status. And "Headset" can be like "Default communication device". But not vice versa. Like this:
If this is not the case for you (it is clear that the name of the headphones will be different), then right-click on the headphones and select "Use as default".
After that, your wireless headphones should be able to produce high quality, clear stereo sound.
3It happens that headphones are used as the default device, but the sound is still bad. In this case, try to set "Headset" as the default device first and then switch back to Headphone (Stereo).
If it helps, great. You can write about it in the comments.
Disable the microphone (service) on Bluetooth headphones
If the solution that I showed above did not help, then you can try to disable the "Wireless Telephony" service in the properties of our Bluetooth headphones. After that, the computer will see these headphones as simply headphones, not a headset. The "Headset" will disappear in the sound settings. And in the Windows 10 settings next to the device it will simply say "Connected music" (without "voice").
- We need to go to the classic "Control Panel". In Windows 7 we open it in the usual way (in the Start menu), and in Windows 10 - through the search.
- Find and open the "Devices and Printers" section.
- There should be our wireless headphones in the list of devices. Right click on them and select properties.
- Go to the "Services" tab, uncheck the "Wireless Telephony" service and click "Apply" and "Ok".
The control panel can be closed.
The control panel can be closed.After we turned off the Bluetooth wireless phone service, Windows 10 will not use the microphone on the headphones. She won't see him at all. As I wrote above, the "Headset" will be completely disabled.
After that, the problem with bad sound should definitely go away. If not, remove the headphones, restart your computer, and reconnect them.
Important! Remember that you have disabled the Wireless Telephony service. If it becomes necessary to use the microphone on wireless headphones, then it will need to be turned back on, otherwise the headphones will not work in headset mode.
Additional solutions
A few additional solutions to look out for if none of the above helped.
- Reinstall Bluetooth adapter. In the device manager, under the "Bluetooth" tab, simply remove the main adapter and restart your computer. In the same place, remove the headphones that have a problem with the sound quality. After rebooting, the system should install the adapter. Reconnect the headphones.
- Reinstall the Bluetooth adapter driver. Especially true for laptops. The driver can be downloaded from the laptop manufacturer's website. If you have a PC with a USB Bluetooth adapter, then it is more difficult, since there are usually no drivers for them (the system installs itself). But you can look at the manufacturer's website. Unless, of course, you have some kind of Chinese Bluetooth adapter. Read more in the article connecting a Bluetooth adapter and installing a driver.
- If possible, connect another wireless headphone or speaker to test the sound. Or these headphones to another device.
- If the problem is through the USB Bluetooth adapter (and not the built-in board in the laptop), then check this adapter with the same headphones on another computer.
- If any other Bluetooth devices are connected to the computer, disconnect them. Leave only the headphones. Also, as an experiment, try turning off Wi-Fi.
Be sure to write in the comments how you solved the problem with poor sound through wireless headphones. If it was not possible to fix it, the sound is still output in mono mode, then write what hardware you have, what Windows is installed and what you have already tried to do. I will try to help you.
