Airpods Pro: very bad quality in Headset mode on Windows 10

Anonymous
2020-04-02T12:50:11+00:00

Dear all,

I've got my new Airpods Pro, they work well with my iPhone.

Also on Windows 10 via bluetooth, sound quality is good when using the "Airpods stereo" mode.

However, in the headset mode ("Airpods Hands-Free AG Audio") sound and especially microphone quality is extremely bad. I tried to change the default format (see screenshot, it's only 8000Hz), but I cannot change it as it's grey. Any advice to get a better microphone quality?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2022-01-17T19:57:00+00:00

According to this post it should be fixed already in Insiders Build (currently Dev Channel only).

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-02-04T14:44:16+00:00

    I don't have other bluetooth headsets, but I can confirm that with AirPods 2 microphone quality went from mono 8KHz (Telephone quality) to mono 16KHz (Tape Recorder Quality). Which I believe uses mSBC codec.

    Audio quality is still much worse in headset mode comparing to headphones mode (at least it switches automatically without issues since 21H2 update) but mic is better (2 times arguably).

    iOS/iPadOS/MacOS devices will use AAC-ELD codec instead (24KHz) so it is still better compared to Windows 11.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-01-27T07:26:39+00:00

    what did it solve? Is the mic now on 16 bit 16000hz?

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-01-26T23:45:54+00:00

    I found a solution, I just deleted the AirPods from my computer and re-bluetoothed them again.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-01-18T13:19:15+00:00

    I tried my airpods pro with magsafe charging case to connect with Windows 10 laptop, and the audio was pathetic, then tried with a Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter connected to USB, and that has solved the problem.

    You can give it a try, it will cost hardly $13 for a 2 way Bluetooth Transmitter.

    Cubetek USB Bluetooth Transmitter V5.0

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