Solved All bluetooth headphones are being set as headsets

It does not seam to matter what headphones I connect to the system.
Windows automatically designates them as headsets with 1 channel, 16 bits, 16000hz as the only available format.
I have tried 6 different set headphones and earbuds.
I have tried 5 different versions of the bluetooth driver, including the manufacturer driver.
I have the 7 different versions of the audio drivers, including the manufacturer driver.
Everything work great in windows 10.
Stopped working as soon as I upgraded to windows 11.
I have tried doing a fresh completely clean install of windows 11.

It is really frustrating having a beast of a machine that that cannot play music over headphone with any kind of quality.
Again everything worked flawlessly in windows 10.

My system:

Windows 11 Pro
Intel i9-12900k
MSI MEG Z690 Unify (Integrated Bluetooth)
Corsair 64gb DDR5 4800Mhz
EVGA RTX 3060 Driver v531.29
System Drive 2x Samsung 980 Pro 1tb NVe Raid 0
25tb Other Storage

Windows should detect both headset and headphones mode. The headset is most likely set to default audio(communication) device.

Disable the Headset hardware part in Audio device manager. You can get there via control panel.

After this you should get full Stereo playback.

Im sorry but I'm on mobile phone atm so can't post scenshots for you.

All I can think of is to check if you have the motherboard's correct audio drivers with Nahimic 3.

My JBL speaker is also detected as both speaker and headset. If I pair with the speaker I have excellent quality audio at full volume. If I pair with headset the quality suffers and the volume is lower (I guess this is because different protocols are used). I would uninstall the Bluetooth software and then open Device Manager, enable to show hidden devices and remove anything Bluetooth related. Restart the computer, Windows should install Bluetooth drivers automatically. Try these. If they work don't touch them. Otherwise try installing latest official Bluetooth drivers from manufacturer. I would do the same with the audio drivers. Uninstall the software, remove everything related from Device Manager and restart. Then install the latest official audio driver from manufacturer to enable all features.

SlicEnDicE said:

Windows should detect both headset and headphones mode. The headset is most likely set to default audio(communication) device.

Disable the Headset hardware part in Audio device manager. You can get there via control panel.

After this you should get full Stereo playback.

Im sorry but I'm on mobile phone atm so can't post scenshots for you.

Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time.

I have tried that and it just disconnected the bluetooth connection between the device and the computer?

I should have mentioned that I have tried every forum post, how to post or video I could scour from the old google.

I am really hoping for a out of the box type solution.
Something like editing the windows registry to force windows to recognize a device as whatever type you designate it to.
If something like that is even possible?

Ben

Fabler2 said:

All I can think of is to check if you have the motherboard's correct audio drivers with Nahimic 3.

View attachment 55521

View attachment 55522

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spapakons said:

My JBL speaker is also detected as both speaker and headset. If I pair with the speaker I have excellent quality audio at full volume. If I pair with headset the quality suffers and the volume is lower (I guess this is because different protocols are used). I would uninstall the Bluetooth software and then open Device Manager, enable to show hidden devices and remove anything Bluetooth related. Restart the computer, Windows should install Bluetooth drivers automatically. Try these. If they work don't touch them. Otherwise try installing latest official Bluetooth drivers from manufacturer. I would do the same with the audio drivers. Uninstall the software, remove everything related from Device Manager and restart. Then install the latest official audio driver from manufacturer to enable all features.

Click to expand...

I appreciate both of you taking the time to reply.

I have already tried all of that with no success.

When the headphones are connected it always the hand free connected and the headphones disconnected.
I can disable the hands free but the headphone never connect or enable.

bensimpson1981 said:

When the headphones are connected it always the hand free connected and the headphones disconnected.
I can disable the hands free but the headphone never connect or enable.

Click to expand...

The weird thing I noticed is that both your headphone and the headset are on the same "Playback" tab.

I checked with my Sennheiser bluetooth headphone and they are on differens tabs: headphone on "Playback" tab and headset on "Recording" tab. And they are both enabled and connected. You can't have 2 devices connected on the same tab I think but your headset is ruining it for you.




When I switch between tabs, it also switches between 1 channel and 2 channel on my headphone. Check for latest mobo drivers on MSI site.

A shot in the dark here - on a laptop the default recording device goes to Microphone Array and not the Headset. Noticed you have a USB 3 mic connected. Just wondering if you set the USB mic as default recording then connect the BT headphones and see if the setting sticks and If not then change it. See if anything different. Clutching at straws I know

bensimpson1981 said:

When the headphones are connected it always the hand free connected and the headphones disconnected.
I can disable the hands free but the headphone never connect or enable.

Click to expand...

Looks like your Headphones are disabled and disconnected. Disable Handsfree, Enable Headphones, unpair (remove connection) the headset from BT connection settings, then re-pair again. You should now be connected using BT AUDIO rather than BT VOICE

badrobot said:

The weird thing I noticed is that both your headphone and the headset are on the same "Playback" tab.

I checked with my Sennheiser bluetooth headphone and they are on differens tabs: headphone on "Playback" tab and headset on "Recording" tab. And they are both enabled and connected. You can't have 2 devices connected on the same tab I think but your headset is ruining it for you.

View attachment 55667 View attachment 55668


When I switch between tabs, it also switches between 1 channel and 2 channel on my headphone. Check for latest mobo drivers on MSI site.


View attachment 55669 View attachment 55670

Click to expand...

Fabler2 said:

A shot in the dark here - on a laptop the default recording device goes to Microphone Array and not the Headset. Noticed you have a USB 3 mic connected. Just wondering if you set the USB mic as default recording then connect the BT headphones and see if the setting sticks and If not then change it. See if anything different. Clutching at straws I know


View attachment 55678

Click to expand...

SlicEnDicE said:

Looks like your Headphones are disabled and disconnected. Disable Handsfree, Enable Headphones, unpair (remove connection) the headset from BT connection settings, then re-pair again. You should now be connected using BT AUDIO rather than BT VOICE

Click to expand...

I really appreciate the participation. But none of those suggestions have helped.

It shows on both playback and recording tabs.

If either the one in playback or the one in record is enable or connected then you only get 1 channel tape recorder quality audio.

The headphones in the playback tab are not disabled but will not connect no matter what is tried.

I get the exact same results with galaxy buds2, galaxy buds pro, AirPods Pro, soundcore life q20, soundcore life q30, and even my Bose quiet comfort.

I have been working on this problem for about 5 months now. I even try disabling my Bluetooth adapter in the bios and installing an add on Bluetooth adapter. Same results. Everything really points to a windows problem. I tested all of the headphones and the add on adapter on my windows 10 pc at work and all of them functioned flawless.

All driver are manufacturer’s drivers, tried original release as was updated manufacturer driver. It is beginning to make me wonder why the hell I even bother with windows 11.

I wonder if your system has the correct BT stack installed. Not all drivers/stacks are the same. While they all usually work somewhat, most of them are missing 90% of BT features and only contain the basic driver.

SlicEnDicE said:

I wonder if your system has the correct BT stack installed. Not all drivers/stacks are the same. While they all usually work somewhat, most of them are missing 90% of BT features and only contain the basic driver.

Click to expand...

That is a good question all I know is that I have tried both the original driver that cam with the board as well as several alternate updated drivers from the MSI website. I should hope the manufacturer would have the proper drivers but it wouldn’t be the first time they listed incorrect drivers..?

Which Intel WiFi/BT card is installed in your system? The MSI provided BT driver seems rather tiny to contain everything

Try this driver, maybe it will work properly:

v22.200.0

SlicEnDicE said:

Try this driver, maybe it will work properly:

Intel® Wireless Bluetooth® for Windows® 10 and Windows 11*

Installs Intel® Wireless Bluetooth® version 22.220.1 Driver version varies depending on the wireless adapter installed.

www.intel.com

v22.200.0

Click to expand...

Tried it already but I’ll give it another shot.

I am starting to suspect there is some interference and thus there is not enough bandwidth to connect to full HQ audio. Anything extra WiFi or BT related or big metallic objects should be removed from the vicinity of the BT/WiFi adapter. Also are the antennas properly connected?

Also try to wiggle the cables connected to the BT module.

Another thing...disable the BT mic entirely and try to reconnect...if the connection is shared between BT mic and headset, there may not be enough bandwidth to do full audio playback quality.

Another method:
Go to Control Panel --> Hardware and Sound --> Devices and Printers
Find your BT headset --> select Properties
In Properties window navigate to Services TAB and disable Hands-Free Telephony

Try to reconnect to the headset


To use the mic in conferencing, you have to re-enable this service.

SlicEnDicE said:

I am starting to suspect there is some interference and thus there is not enough bandwidth to connect to full HQ audio. Anything extra WiFi or BT related or big metallic objects should be removed from the vicinity of the BT/WiFi adapter. Also are the antennas properly connected?

Also try to wiggle the cables connected to the BT module.

Click to expand...

SlicEnDicE said:

Another thing...disable the BT mic entirely and try to reconnect...if the connection is shared between BT mic and headset, there may not be enough bandwidth to do full audio playback quality.

Click to expand...

I tried the suggested driver rechecked the antenna connections the only thing between me and the antenna is 18" of clear space all other wireless devices have been fully disabled and still same effect. Devices in system settings show them as connected but sound settings will not connect to headphones only handsfree playback device.

It is just weird that with the same hardware and same drivers I could not only get them to connect but full 24 bit audio and had a range of about half a block from the house while using windows 10.

Same hardware, same drivers, windows 11, wont even connect to the headphone function of the devices.