According to this post it should be fixed already in Insiders Build (currently Dev Channel only).
Airpods Pro: very bad quality in Headset mode on Windows 10
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Anonymous
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
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Anonymous
2021-07-03T18:32:42+00:00 Just for information:
My AirPods Pro connected only with 8000 Hz on my Lenovo Laptop.
The microphone also connected with 8000 Hz.
The sound was so bad, that I could not use the Airpods as Headset.
Today I updated the Bluetooth driver for the laptop and then reconnected the Airpods with the Laptop.
Now I have 16000 Hz in Headset mode, both for speakers and microphone!
The quality is totally acceptable for Teams calls!
Hope this helps.
Hey can you give us more details? I have a lenovo, I had a driver update but it hasn’t changed anything.
Which laptop do you have? Which bluetooth device and driver version do you have now?
Thanks in advance!
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Anonymous
2021-06-28T05:57:10+00:00 For everyone wondering why a Macbook can function with full duplex high quality audio and Windows cant, it goes beyond just a simple codec. MacOS is providing some extra sound emulation on top of the normal "telephone quality" mode to enhance it and bring it up to par with "cellphone quality" audio. If you attempt to play music from your macbook while engaging in a zoom call on your airpods you will notice the music quality is worse than without the conference running. The most likely explanation here is that MacOS is doing some fancy audio correction to improve quality while airpods are being used in "headset" mode. Windows lacks this finesse, and simply reduces all audio quality until you switch back to "headphones" mode.
The inclusion of AAC audio should not address this, and is only a minor update meant to support the popularity of that codec in general as it is considered better than aptX for general music listening purposes. It is true that the windows audio selection menu will remove the "hands free AG" mode but this is only to reduce user confusion, not make Windows function as well with airpods as Macbook's do.
This is just one of those things where MacOS shines. If you want a handsfree headset that works well with Windows you'll have to get a gamer/conference style headset that includes an auxiliary USB dongle to handle the audio stream.
@Uviuar very well explained. Luckily, there are options available that won't break the bank and work very well.
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Anonymous
2021-06-11T01:11:12+00:00 That’s great news. What did you think about the quality of the headset?
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Anonymous
2021-06-09T06:42:23+00:00 The next version release will be announced on the 26th. The insider preview version has not fixed the issue.
...fingers crossed here, though Lord knows how long that will take to grind through to my company's update approval/push process... we just got "October 2020" (lol)