Windows 10: Windows 11 keeps treating headphones as headsets resulting in bad audio quality

I have now tried to use 3 brand new wireless headphones with my Windows 11 PC. Each is from a different manufacturer. Windows 11 keeps treating headphones as headsets resulting in bad audio quality. I cannot force windows 11 to output to the headphones as headphones, instead it treats each set of headphones as a headset with a maximum of tape recorder quality audio. This is driving me nuts. This is an issue affecting millions of people and has been going on since windows 11 was released. Each time Microsoft appears to try to get blame the headphone manufacturer. Well I've have tried using 3

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Headset audio quality vs headphone audio quality

So I have a pair of headphones that have a mic built into them and in the sound control panel I can set them as either "Headphones" or as a "Headset". The difference is, I can't use the built-in mic when I have it set as headphones. But the audio quality
is drastically worse when it's set as a headset (not even sure how the difference can be this apparent), is there any way to fix this?

 

Bluetooth headphones drop in audio quality when running a game

I predominantly use my Skullcandy Hesh ANC headphones on my gaming desktop with Windows 11. For the most part, they work just as well with same quality audio as I had with Windows 10. That is, until I launch a game. Every game I've tried this with, including but not limited to Modern Warfare, Doom Eternal, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla, results in the same issue.

I'm watching a youtube video in Chrome, and the audio sounds perfectly normal, as expected. But as soon as I launch Modern Warfare, the quality drops, and it the audio from the youtube video sounds like it's being played through a phone call. The audio quality returns only after I quit the game. I also experience a similar issue when I launch Discord, but only briefly, and then the audio quality reverts back to normal after a few seconds.

I know that on Windows 10, there are two separate outputs for my headphones that I can switch between. One labeled "Headphones (Hesh ANC)" and "Headset (Hesh ANC)." On Windows 10, in the volume panel, I was able to switch between these easily, and the former would provide normal audio, but the latter would result in a similar low quality audio that I am experiencing on Windows 11 while running any game. On Windows 11, however, when I look into the volume control, "Headset (Hesh ANC)" is missing from the list of outputs. For my headphones, I only see the "Headphones (Hesh ANC)" option, but it does not give me the consistent quality of audio that I expect.

I have tried troubleshooting both the sound and the bluetooth. I have tried updating the drivers. I have fiddled with the advanced properties System>Sound>Properties for my device in the Windows 11 Settings. "Enhance audio" doesn't help. Please help me fix my bluetooth audio problems.

 

Bluetooth headphones bad sound quality on windows 11

My WH1000XM4 Sony Bluetooth headphones have bad sound quality when connected to my laptop, compared to other devices such as an iPhone where the sound is fine. This is presumably because of the hands free headset mode. I am unable to disable the hands free setting in windows 11 compared to windows 10 where I could simply fix this issue in the bottom right volume settings.

I have tried searching in device manager, but the hands free device is the only available audio output. The sound quality for this device is also stuck on 16 bit 1600Hz, again because of the hands free device mode.

Thankyou in advance for assistance.