Windows 10: A Choice Between Awful Audio Playback or Being Able to Use the Microphone

I'm facing an issue with a bluetooth headset Artic Steel 9x. This device is correctly paired with windows thanks to a bluetooth dongle. Both microphones and headset are recognized. When i'm playing sound with any app a web browser, an offline music player, a music streaming service, a videogame the sound is great. As soon as the microphone is activated within an app e.g. discord/teams/zoom and even within the windows settings the sound quality severely drops out... I'm going from forum to forum without a single hint. Also it's not a matter of "power" meaning the audio mixer shows unchanged

:)

 

Having to unplug microphone to hear playback.

Hi Mark,

There are several audio inputs on your PC depending on your motherboard. It is possible that you are plugging your
microphone in the jack which supports audio in and audio out (same as phone jacks) and is set as your playback device. When this happens, you will not hear the audio out because the audio signal is sent into the microphone. Simply unplug your
microphone and move it to the microphone jack and you will be able to hear the playback sound.





If you are sure that your microphone is connected to the microphone jack, it is possible that your playback device is being disabled by your microphone. To enable/change your playback device, kindly follow these steps:

• Right-click the Volume icon on the lower-left corner of your screen.
• Click Playback devices, right-click your speaker (or any preferred playback device), and click Enable.
  
  Note: If you cannot see your preferred playback device, right-click on your current playback device and click
  Show Disabled Devices.

Let us know how things go.

Regards.

 

Awful feedback aftermarket microphone.

Is this box checked ?

 

Playback Audio

To separate your speakers and headphones into their own playback devices on Windows, you can follow these steps:

1. Right-click on the volume icon in the taskbar and select "Sounds".
   
2. In the Sounds window, go to the "Playback" tab.
   
3. Right-click on the audio device you want to split (e.g. "Speakers") and select "Properties".
   
4. In the Properties window, go to the "Advanced" tab.
   
5. Under "Default Format", select a format that is compatible with your audio device (e.g. "16 bit, 44100 Hz (CD Quality)").
   
6. Check the box next to "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device".
   
7. Click "Apply" and then "OK".
   
8. Right-click on the audio device again and select "Configure Speakers".
   
9. Select the appropriate speaker setup (e.g. "Stereo") and click "Next".
   
10. Select the audio device you want to use as your default playback device (e.g. "Speakers") and click "Next".
    
11. Test your audio device by playing sound and verifying that it is playing through the correct device.
    

Repeat these steps for any additional audio devices you want to split. Once completed, you should see separate playback devices for each audio device in the Sounds window.