By skyforbes On Windows 10 it worked fine — stereo playback even with the mic active. But on Windows 11, Microsoft dropped legacy support and now the headset gets forced into “Hands‑Free” mode whenever the mic is enabled. That means mono, low‑quality audio in games and apps. Basically, my headset became useless for gaming overnight.
After hours of frustration, I finally hacked together a solution:
- Installed Voicemeeter Banana to create virtual audio devices.
- Routed stereo audio through Voicemeeter outputs.
- Separated mic input from stereo playback.
- Used Windows 11’s per‑app audio device selection to lock each game to the stereo output while keeping comms apps on the mic.
Result: I’ve got proper stereo sound in games again, while still being able to use the mic elsewhere. But it took hours of trial and error and third‑party software to fix something that worked natively in Windows 10.
My recommendation: Microsoft should provide legacy Bluetooth audio support until the market is actually saturated with Bluetooth 5.3/5.4 headsets that support LE Audio. Right now, affordable and comfortable LE Audio options are slim, and users shouldn’t have to jump through hoops just to keep older but functional gear working.