Terrible sound quality with bluetooth

[tsballx1]

Hello. Just built a new system with Z690-Plus tuf gaming w/wifi and DDR4. Bluetooth works ok but sound quality is extremely poor. Tried a pair of beats studio wireless and a pair of airpods. Both sound the same over bluetooth. Tried youtube videos and games as well. USB speakers sound fine. Drivers are up to date according to Armoury Crate. Anyone else with this issue? Really disappointing.

[Drayco31]

I'm gonna suspect it's something to do with the BT and audio codec combined? Slightly diff Z690 board and my Wifi Antenna + BT aerial is still in the box that is now shoved under the bed somewhere. I've used a Aptx - LL USB dongle, Creative BT-W2, specifically for low latency BT audio. Both must support Aptx-LL for it to work. Otherwise it's the SBC codec and 200+ latency. Aptx-LL is reasonable quality and 40ms latency. As I already have the hardware that utilises it I'm not about to change my headset for a new BT 5 capable headset that'll improve on BT 4's high latency.

Would have just stayed silent and subbed as it'd be interesting to know should my headphones break in the future but these forums don't have that ability. Even if I dug out the antenna I don't have a pair of BT 5 headphones and not sure my BT 4.2 would even sound the same without using the Aptx-LL codec.

[Saltgrass]

tsballx1 wrote:
Hello. Just built a new system with Z690-Plus tuf gaming w/wifi and DDR4. Bluetooth works ok but sound quality is extremely poor. Tried a pair of beats studio wireless and a pair of airpods. Both sound the same over bluetooth. Tried youtube videos and games as well. USB speakers sound fine. Drivers are up to date according to Armoury Crate. Anyone else with this issue? Really disappointing.

Are you completely sure the headphones are not being picked up as communication devices?

I think Microsoft has bent over backwards to make these systems see a headset and set it up that way to minimize the bandwidth needed for something like Teams.. I have seen complaints about Bluetooth sound from most types of platforms.

I have several headsets but one is a Bose Noise reduction version. Whenever I try to pair it, the description shows up as a LE Bose .... That is an indication of the Low Energy version. To make mine work as Headphones, I have to select the non-descript version that just shows Headphones.

It may not matter, but just to be thorough in case it might be involved, I have the onboard Thunderbolt disabled in the Bios.

Also, watch Windows for new drivers, they come through the advanced options in Win 11. But the older drivers should work fine.

@Drayco31 I have been looking for a Bluetooth 5.2 headset but haven't been able to purchase one, if one has even been released.

[Drayco31]

@Salt Only ever seen and heard of that happpening when something is using the mic and that often involves switching from a headphone/Stereo audio out to a mono audio + Mic. Another reason why I haven't been in a rush to try later versions of BT and BT headphones. As BT 5.2 is still quite new I#m not surprised. There are BT 5 available.

BT 5 over 4.x is good if just for the lower latency. I haven't tested the specifics but 5 is supposed to be low enough to combat any lip sync issues caused by higher latency and better for gaming. Thus most headphones meant for phones and tablets are likely BT 5

The issue is bandwidth. The headphones/headsets I mention above sound the same when in headphone mode and if they get switched to mono audio + mic, well besides mono instead of stereo. Issue is BT bandwidith can't handle stereo sound AND a mic. so 1 audio channel gets cut to allow for the mic use. No idea if that was improved in BT 5+ There's a reason why BT headsets use their own Dongles

[junioalbino]

tsballx1 wrote:
Hello. Just built a new system with Z690-Plus tuf gaming w/wifi and DDR4. Bluetooth works ok but sound quality is extremely poor. Tried a pair of beats studio wireless and a pair of airpods. Both sound the same over bluetooth. Tried youtube videos and games as well. USB speakers sound fine. Drivers are up to date according to Armoury Crate. Anyone else with this issue? Really disappointing.

I've solved this problem by uninstalling Asus Framework Service from control panel

[MasterC]

junioalbino wrote:
I've solved this problem by uninstalling Asus Framework Service from control panel

:eek:

[MasterC]

Please note that you have to connect the antenna - it's for both WiFi and BT. It's possible that you have low bitrate due to bad reception.

[Mack023]

I have solved my issue by making sure Bluetooth Driver is updated..