- Microsoft improves the sound quality of bluetooth -headphones
- This allows for high quality audio in Windows 11 while using a microphone that benefits from players often using in the game with a headset
- However, PC and headphones need to support Bluetooth Le Audio and run the latest version of Windows 11
Microsoft has announced that it gives a big boost to the sound quality of Bluetooth headphones in Windows 11.
As Microsoft explains in a blog post (highlighted by Neowin), it replaces the current way to facilitate wireless headphones, Bluetooth Classic Audio, with Bluetooth Le Audio in Windows 11. (The remarkable warning is that you need hardware that supports the latter – and I’ll come back to it).
Bluetooth Classic Audio is a rather clumsy beast, having two modes of operation that none of them offer a full solution for sound and microphone. With the advanced audio distribution profile (A2DP) you get full quality audio, but there is no ability to use a microphone, which can be a problem if you say you are gaming and want to use the headset’s microphone for chat in the game.
The alternative hands -free profile (HFP) gives you support for the microphone, but at a price, namely lower sound quality. In fact, you don’t get stereo with HFP, just Mono Audio played back in both ears. It has serious restrictions on not only poor sound quality – Microsoft compares it to listening to AM -Radio, Versus CD quality with A2DP – but there is also a lack of spatial effects (which requires stereo to their virtual positioning).
Bluetooth Le Audio solves these problems in a fall and offers the same CD quality sound as A2DP, but also allows the use of the microphone at the same time. In fact, this new way of working on Windows 11 ‘Super Wideband’ offers sound with a 32 kHz test speed, which means even better voice quality.
Analysis: It is honestly
This is a welcome lift on the sound front, although it is in fact more about getting Bluetooth to work properly – as it should – rather than a big step forward for Windows 11. Not having stereo playback if you want to use the microphone is a huge downer, but unfortunately this is the case for most people on Windows 11 right now.
What do you need to take advantage of this new technique?
As already mentioned, your wireless headphones need to support Bluetooth Le Audio, and your Windows 11 -PC also needs to support Le Audio. Note that it is not enough for your PC to support Bluetooth Le, but specifically you need Le Audio. Microsoft explains how to check if your Windows 11 device has this feature in a support document here.
If you have Le Audio – supported by your headphones as well as a PC – you should also run Windows 11 24h2 updated to the latest version (August update).
At the top of this you need a Bluetooth sound driver that carries support -and Microsoft notes that later in the year, “some existing PC models will receive driver updates from the manufacturer to support the feature”. So you may need to be patient for a while yet.
Microsoft also tells us that most new laptops released late in 2025 should have this support baked in and be good to go off with this improved bluetooth sound.
