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

Hello,

I have studied this in-depth since the same issue appeared with my AirPods and I can answer your question. 

There is no way you can get both good sound and capability of recording with your Bluetooth headset (meaning any device with speakers and microphone) at the same time. The fault is not on Microsoft's side, although their optimization and integration in Windows is rather sad. Let me explain in a more detailed manner.

When you first connect your headset to any device, two Bluetooth profiles are installed. One of them is called A2DP (stereo) which is optimised for sharing audio, but only works one way (can only share sound). The second one is HSP (headset profile) which works both sides, sharing your voice and receiving sound from PC, at the expense of sound quality.

"Okay but it works on my Android device, iOS device, Linux and MacOS device!!! It must be Microsoft's fault!!!"

Well, yeah, but no. As I mentioned before, Microsoft did not optimise this well. Other OS's did better job at masking that you can't get both good sound quality and microphone at the same time. Notice that if you turn on some music on your phone (with your Bluetooth headset on), it is great quality (A2DP). But once you go into your voice memos application and start recording, the music stops. That is because in order to record sound from your headphones, the profile needs to be set to HSP. If the music did not stop at the time of recording, you would be hearing the same sound you be hearing from your Windows PC. I also tried the same thing on my MacBook - played a song, everything was perfect. When I started recording a voice memo, the sound was terrible, but just as I finished recording, the profile changed back and the audio was all clear again.

So what does Windows wrong?

The problem is that Windows just lets you set manually whether you want to you want to use the A2DPor HSP profile and is unable to switch it automatically. I do not know why it can not have this functionality or why it has not been added already, but I am not qualified enough to answer for Microsoft.

Solution? 

The best thing you can do without investing any more money in your setup would be to just manually switch between these two profiles (you can do that in sound settings.) It is sub-optimal since you won't have neither great sound nor great microphone, but hey, it's wireless.

If you want both great sound and to sound great, you will have to buy a cable microphone that will stand on your desk. Audio will still be wireless and in great quality (your voice is recorded through the standing microphone, so the headset does not need to switch to HSP.)

Apparently this is not a Windows issue but a lack of support from Bluetooth. You can get a better idea of what's happening in here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sony/comments/fqf71z/wh1000xm3_can_only_use_stereo_or_handsfree_but/

it's absolutely a Windows issue. Mobile phones can do it and so can Macs. Did you actually read it?

I read it and understand it. Did you?The difference is that when using bluetooth headsets with cellphones or airpods with macs they are smart for switching between the HSP and A2DP profiles.

I see that your problem is the mic quality, the are some reddit posts that mentioned using a BT dongle and installing their drivers to connect to the airpods. They report good call quality.

If you have problems switching between the profiles, it is easy to do it. You just click on the speaker icon and select between headphone and headset.

the fact that Windows does not do what Macs and mobiles  can do makes it a Windows problem NOT a Bluetooth problem (as you claim).

The problem is not mic quality, it is that Windows sets the quality of audio through the headset to 1 channel, 16 bit, 8000 Hz (TELEPHONE QUALITY) which is too poor to use.

I also made it clear that I'm not using Air Pods.

You sure you understand the problem?

Apparently this is not a Windows issue but a lack of support from Bluetooth. You can get a better idea of what's happening in here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sony/comments/fqf71z/wh1000xm3_can_only_use_stereo_or_handsfree_but/

it's absolutely a Windows issue. Mobile phones can do it and so can Macs. Did you actually read it?

This very informative video helped me out a great deal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5ipSrWjacQ&ab\_channel=BLOVE

You clearly haven't read the thread because someone else posted that video and once again I'll explain that turning the microphone off is not an option.

There is no user fix for this, only Microsoft can solve it and for whatever reason they are remaining quiet.