Windows 10: Headphones not able to use microphone and playback audio at the same time

I have been struggling with getting my headphones microphone and audio playback to work at the same time e.g. in a discord I can hear the others or I can talk to the others, not both at the same time. I have this issue with my Bose QC35ii headphones as well as my Beats Studio 3 Wireless. The only way that I have found around this issue is using the laptop's microphone and the headphones audio playback. Given that my headphones have both a better mic and better audio playback, I would like to use them for both. When the microphone is working, the headset's audio ambience changes so I know the microphone is working, and then when playback works the ambience changes back. So for example, if I am playing Spotify and hearing the audio, then I turn onto any program that uses the microphone, the song will continue to play but not be audible, and the microphone will begin to work. Using the Bose as an example, I have my audio output as "Bose QC35ii Stereo" and my audio input as "Bose QC35ii Hands-Free AG Audio". I know those settings are right since they both work, just not simultaneously. My headphones software is fully updated, and the drivers are fully up to date. Furthermore, when I use the headphones on my phone I can use the microphone and hear playback simultaneously. I have both the headphone stereo and hands free audio enabled and set as my default devices in the Sounds settings for "Playback" and "Recording" tabs. Any help is greatly appreciated.

:)

 

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.

 

Headphone audio works but microphone doesnt work.

Hi,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

Please reply to the following questions to get a better understanding on the issue:

• Are you able to use any other microphone on the computer?
  
• Are you able to use the headphones microphone on any other computer?
  

However, you can follow the troubleshooting steps from the article
Fix microphone problems.

Also, you can follow the steps mentioned below to check if the Microphone is disabled:

1. Go to Settings >> Sound.
   
2. Go to Check Input Devices >> Manage Sound Devices.
   
3. Under Input Devices check if the device is Disabled.
   
4. For Eg: You might see Stereo Mix.
   
5. Click on Stereo Mix and click on
   Enable.
   
6. Now, test the Microphone and check if you are able to record audio.
   

Hope it helps. Please reply to this post for further assistance, we will be glad to help you.

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator

 

How do I add headphones to the playback section?

So awhile I back I mistakenly damaged the audio and couldn't hear sound (red x symbol ), but recently I had got some new headphones and plugged it in and I can hear sound fine (of course the red x wasn't there for some reason ).
So the main sound was disabled ( no red x there ), but yet when I plugged in headphones I was able to hear sound.

Okay so here's the main issue:

The internet was going slow, so I restarted it and now the red x is back and not only that, but now no sound s playing when the headphones are plugged. So now I want to set the default audio output to headphones.

I want to change the default sound to headphones. The red x is where the sound is. Yes, I did go to Control Panel, and etc and I end up in the Sound/Playback section. Right clicked and selected "show disconnected devices" And it says that "no audio devices are installed under the playback section.

Step by step, how do I add the headphone symbol to the playback section so that I can set it to be the default audio output? And for the record since if I were to set headphones to default audio output, will it play sound as long as headphones are plugged in? And yes I do have headphones plugged in at the moment.

I'm just really confused right now. hopefully I'll check back in soon.