Bluetooth headphones bad sound quality fix

Bluetooth headphones bad sound quality fix

Solution

On desktop press "Win+R", enter the command "devmgmt.msc" and click "OK".
In the window that opens, select "Sound, video and game controllers", find your headphones with the signature "Hands-Free", right-click on it and select "Disable device". Restart your computer.

Unfortunately, because of this, you will no longer be able to see the battery level of your headphones in Windows.

Please note that you only need to turn off the hands-free device, you do not need to turn off your main headphone device. Also, do not confuse that it is necessary to disable it in the "Sound, video and game controllers" item, disabling the device in the "Audio inputs and outputs" item will not lead to a result.

A little theory about what we did:
Hands-Free or HFP is a Bluetooth profile that allows you to communicate through the microphone built into your headphones. Unfortunately, this profile only supports mono audio, at a low bitrate, so it's not designed for simultaneous gaming and chatting - the quality is too poor, so gamers usually use either a wired headset or a separate desktop microphone.For some reason, in Windows 11, this profile is automatically enabled in some games that check for a microphone, even if the hands-free device is not set as the primary device or is disabled in mmsys.cpl. This behavior was not in Windows 10, so let's hope that Microsoft someday fix this problem, but for now, this is the only way to solve it.

[Dreddminator]

It works for me too. Thank you so much Pontifex

[bigcbiscuit]

U are a lifesaver

[Pontifex]

@hurmachik, unfortunately this option doesn't work for me

[hurmachik]

Actually what solved it for me without having to break anything: Enter gamebar (win button + G) -> audio -> voice -> set everything to laptop, not headphones.

[Dead Man]

I have this situation and have done a bit of research - including seeing this same post in a reddit thread but haven't had much success. I actually only see the "hands free" option in the "audio inputs and outputs" section - not the "sounds, video, and games controller". Any idea why that might be?

I've tried enabling and disabling several combinations of playback/recording devices as well as ensured all the ones I have (whether enabled or disabled) are are DVD quality were applicable.

[Cotto In Tokyo ™]

Thank you so much!

[Hzhz223s]

THANKS no one else has something that worked. Have a good one

[SlaB (drack779)]

just what i came here to fix! ty

[Fromthebee]

You must disable the Window's sound optimization

[FU_SU_LU]

Dude, thanks! The sound quality was absolutely abysmal. Sounded like hell's minions were choking my headset too death.