Windows 10: Bluetooth earphone was not listed in sound output

My Bluetooth earphone was connected to the Windows 11 laptop, the device was listed in the Bluetooth device list, and it was listed in the sound device list, but it was not listed in the sound output quick menu. So I can't use the Bluetooth device as a sound output device.

:)

 

Earphones not working

Recently received my Windows 7 / Samsung Focus phone. All setup and syncing music and even adding NetFlix with no problems. However, when I plug in the earphones...the sound continues to come from the phone speaker. The earphones
do not have any sound output to them. I'm trying to figure out if this is a hardware issue or if there is something that I haven't found yet related to enabling the earphones.

Any Suggestions?

 

Why does Spotify take control of my Bluetooth earphones' stereo output?

I own Bluetooth earphones, which I have paired with my Windows 10 laptop.

I can happily listen to audio from various different sources, until I play music through Spotify. Once I do, Spotify seems to completely hijack the stereo output device. If I pause the music and attempt to listen to another source (such as YouTube), I can no longer hear the audio playback despite seeing the amplitude bar move in the Windows sound settings. However, if I resume the Spotify music whilst the other sound source is still outputting, I can hear the other sound in the background of Spotify's output. Without restarting the earphones, I have found two ways of restoring the ability for other applications to output sound:

• If I right click on the earphones' Hands-Free device in the Windows playback device list and select "Test", I briefly hear the test output via the Hands-Free device and then suddenly the stereo output from the non-Spotify application continues.
  
• If I close Spotify whilst music is playing (and so the other app's audio can be heard in the background), the audio from the non-Spotify application can be heard again. However, if I close it whilst Spotify is paused, the non-Spotify audio does not resume.
  

I've found a hotfix in which disabling "Show desktop overlay when using media keys" from the Spotify settings prevents this issue from occuring, but what is causing this strange behaviour?

Note: I've disabled the ability for applications to take exclusive control of both the "Stereo" and "Hands-Free" playback devices for my earphones, to no avail.

 

Sound Isolating Earphones

Sound Isolating earphones preferred as I already have a good pair of cans, but open to all suggestions.