Z
Zack Ternan
I recently performed a fresh install of Windows 10 Pro on my PC - prior to doing so I had my Bose QC35s paired and it worked great. I remember in the days of Windows 7, getting Bluetooth to work was practically a sacrificial ritual you had to perform. I was really pumped about Windows 10 because of how much MS improved Bluetooth. After I reinstalled, I was able to pair my headphones in a few seconds, but I noticed Windows had paired them a bit differently than on my previous installation.
At the time of writing this, I'm running Windows 10 Pro 1909 (Build 18363.815), so I'm fairly certain I'm up to date with everything... Windows Update is showing that lovely "You're up to date"message too.
Before, within the Windows Settings "Bluetooth and other devices" menu, underneath the "Audio" section, my headphones would be listed (as they are now), but below it would say "Connected voice, music". Now the headphones just say "Connected voice". I didn't think this was a big deal until I attempted to use my headphones with Windows 10. The result was god awful, ear piercing, abrasive sound quality that I wouldn't wish on any other living thing.
Now, I know my headphones aren't the best on the market, but they aren't exactly tin cans either... plus they sounded so much better prior to reinstalling Windows (and sound great on any other device). Is there a way to change the device from this menu to be used for music as well? That'd be really handy!
I took a look in the Sound settings (the "Sound" Control Panel menu) for Windows to try and fix this, and I noticed there was a big difference under "Playback" from before I reinstalled (my device's name is the one very obviously blacked out):
In the image above is what I had under 'Playback" in Windows before reinstalling, minus one difference. The difference is, the "Stereo" device didn't show as disconnected. This doesn't make much sense - how can the "Headphone" device be disconnected if the "Headset" device connected without issues? They're the same device!
So next I ventured into services.msc, to check that all Bluetooth services were running correctly:
ALSO, if there's any other services I should be checking, let me know! I'm not a Windows expert by any means
Everything looked fine and dandy there.
The device is showing up normally in Device Manager under "Bluetooth" (my device's name is the one very obviously blacked out):
The device is showing up normally in Device Manager under "Audio inputs and outputs" (my device's name is the one very obviously blacked out):
I found it odd here that the same device would be coming up twice - shouldn't one of those be my Stereo device like before?
Under "Devices and Printers", my headphones show no errors (my device's name is the one very obviously blacked out):
Within the "Properties" window accessed from my device within "Devices and Printers", the Stereo device I mentioned being connected before I reinstalled is visible (third from the bottom, my device's name is the one very obviously blacked out):
So if Device Manager and Devices and Printers show no errors, and the Properties of the device itself show the Stereo device, it should be working correctly right?
I've tried all sorts of things, Windows Troubleshooting the device, attempts on updating drivers, and updating drivers via Windows Update have done nothing. As I've said before, I'm fully up to date running the latest possible build... I even updated my Bluetooth driver to the latest version available from my manufacturer. The Bose QC35s have been updated as well. Maybe Bose broke something in their last update? Then again.... they still work perfect on any other device....
At this point I basically accepted the fact that I was stuck with horrible quality audio, the cause of which was Windows electing to treat my headphones as a hands-free headset instead of a pair of headphones. This really bummed me out because I'm genuinely stumped as to what's wrong here - not to mention that the Stereo device that worked before is showing up in Windows, but is mysteriously rendered unusable.
Since I'm stuck with one device, I tried to at least improve the quality by right-clicking the "Hands-Free AG Audio" device in Sound and clicking properties. From the "Advanced" tab, I noticed something hilarious that explained the unbearable audio quality:
As you'll notice, my device is using... tape recorder quality? To make matters worse, it's locked to that setting, and unchecking the checkboxes below can't change that either...
Why in the world would Windows 10, one of the most widely used operating systems on the planet, elect to use tape recorder sample rate/bit depth on a pair of Bose QC35 headphones? Also, can you even hook a tape recorder up to Windows 10?
All jokes aside, if someone could advise me on either:
1. Changing the quality of the sound device I appear to be stuck with
2. Getting the sound device that worked before reinstalling to work again
3. Somehow changing the device to appear to be used for both voice and music under the Windows Settings Bluetooth menu
Has anyone else struggled with an issue similar to this recently? From a quick Google search I see a few posts from a few years back with similar issues and similar devices.
Continue reading...
At the time of writing this, I'm running Windows 10 Pro 1909 (Build 18363.815), so I'm fairly certain I'm up to date with everything... Windows Update is showing that lovely "You're up to date"message too.
Before, within the Windows Settings "Bluetooth and other devices" menu, underneath the "Audio" section, my headphones would be listed (as they are now), but below it would say "Connected voice, music". Now the headphones just say "Connected voice". I didn't think this was a big deal until I attempted to use my headphones with Windows 10. The result was god awful, ear piercing, abrasive sound quality that I wouldn't wish on any other living thing.
Now, I know my headphones aren't the best on the market, but they aren't exactly tin cans either... plus they sounded so much better prior to reinstalling Windows (and sound great on any other device). Is there a way to change the device from this menu to be used for music as well? That'd be really handy!
I took a look in the Sound settings (the "Sound" Control Panel menu) for Windows to try and fix this, and I noticed there was a big difference under "Playback" from before I reinstalled (my device's name is the one very obviously blacked out):
In the image above is what I had under 'Playback" in Windows before reinstalling, minus one difference. The difference is, the "Stereo" device didn't show as disconnected. This doesn't make much sense - how can the "Headphone" device be disconnected if the "Headset" device connected without issues? They're the same device!
So next I ventured into services.msc, to check that all Bluetooth services were running correctly:
ALSO, if there's any other services I should be checking, let me know! I'm not a Windows expert by any means
Everything looked fine and dandy there.
The device is showing up normally in Device Manager under "Bluetooth" (my device's name is the one very obviously blacked out):
The device is showing up normally in Device Manager under "Audio inputs and outputs" (my device's name is the one very obviously blacked out):
I found it odd here that the same device would be coming up twice - shouldn't one of those be my Stereo device like before?
Under "Devices and Printers", my headphones show no errors (my device's name is the one very obviously blacked out):
Within the "Properties" window accessed from my device within "Devices and Printers", the Stereo device I mentioned being connected before I reinstalled is visible (third from the bottom, my device's name is the one very obviously blacked out):
So if Device Manager and Devices and Printers show no errors, and the Properties of the device itself show the Stereo device, it should be working correctly right?
I've tried all sorts of things, Windows Troubleshooting the device, attempts on updating drivers, and updating drivers via Windows Update have done nothing. As I've said before, I'm fully up to date running the latest possible build... I even updated my Bluetooth driver to the latest version available from my manufacturer. The Bose QC35s have been updated as well. Maybe Bose broke something in their last update? Then again.... they still work perfect on any other device....
At this point I basically accepted the fact that I was stuck with horrible quality audio, the cause of which was Windows electing to treat my headphones as a hands-free headset instead of a pair of headphones. This really bummed me out because I'm genuinely stumped as to what's wrong here - not to mention that the Stereo device that worked before is showing up in Windows, but is mysteriously rendered unusable.
Since I'm stuck with one device, I tried to at least improve the quality by right-clicking the "Hands-Free AG Audio" device in Sound and clicking properties. From the "Advanced" tab, I noticed something hilarious that explained the unbearable audio quality:
As you'll notice, my device is using... tape recorder quality? To make matters worse, it's locked to that setting, and unchecking the checkboxes below can't change that either...
Why in the world would Windows 10, one of the most widely used operating systems on the planet, elect to use tape recorder sample rate/bit depth on a pair of Bose QC35 headphones? Also, can you even hook a tape recorder up to Windows 10?
All jokes aside, if someone could advise me on either:
1. Changing the quality of the sound device I appear to be stuck with
2. Getting the sound device that worked before reinstalling to work again
3. Somehow changing the device to appear to be used for both voice and music under the Windows Settings Bluetooth menu
Has anyone else struggled with an issue similar to this recently? From a quick Google search I see a few posts from a few years back with similar issues and similar devices.
Continue reading...