Microsoft is dramatically improving Bluetooth audio in Windows 10
With the release of Windows 10 Build 21370 yesterday, Microsoft gave us a glimpse of the direction in which it is taking the operating system in the coming months. As ever, the Insider build includes a number of enhancements, and chief among the improvements this time are changes to Bluetooth audio.
Perhaps the most exciting change is the arrival of support for Bluetooth AAC, delivering higher quality wireless audio streaming. There's also an important fix for an issue that has plagued people using wireless phones.
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Microsoft explains the implications of the introduction of a unified audio endpoint: "No more clicking through multiple audio endpoints to make your Bluetooth headset's voice and mic work properly. We now only expose one audio endpoint in the UI and will switch to the correct one automatically for you for a seamless experience. Listening to Spotify and then have to hop onto a Teams call? You can also now directly control the volume of your headset".
If you've not experienced the problem first-hand, this image shows a before and after:
But while this bug fix is nice, it is the arrival of Bluetooth AAC support that's rather more exciting, particularly for anyone who is a fan of Beats headphones:
Support for AAC codec: Enjoy premium audio streaming quality wirelessly on your Bluetooth headphones and speakers with AAC codec. Short for Advanced Audio Codec, AAC is a lossy codec that delivers high quality audio streaming in smaller files -- great for listening to music online.
For the moment, these two improvements are only available to Insiders running Windows 10 Build 21370, but hopefully it won't be too long before they roll out to everyone.
Image credit: metamorworks / Shutterstock