Notably, Apple headphones \u2014 including Beats \u2014 use AAC exclusively as their high-quality option. I\u2019ve tested many a product that only supported AAC (aside from the basic SBC), so this is pretty great news for this audio enthusiast.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s more good news. If you\u2019ve ever tried to use wireless headphones for a video call, chances are you\u2019ve come across an annoying quirk that causes Windows 10 to list two separate audio sources for the same device. One will say (Stereo) and the other (Hands-Free AG), but only the latter work for calls. For example:<\/p>\n
That\u2019s soon to be a thing of the past. Windows will now only show the single source and do any switching in the background. You know, the way it should have been all this time. This will also allow you to directly control the volume of your headset during a call.<\/p>\n Now, if anyone working with audio at Microsoft is reading this, can y\u2019all please<\/em> make it easy to see what codec is actually being used? It drives me a little nuts as an audiophile to not be able to tell if I\u2019m using a fancy codec or sucky SBC. I mean, sure, I can\u2019t tell the difference sometimes, but I need to know<\/em>. Especially now that AAC is onboard in addition to SBC and AptX.<\/p>\n The changes are rolling out with Insider Build 21370; they should roll out to users more widely with the next major Windows update later this year.<\/p>\n Did you know we have a newsletter all about consumer tech? It\u2019s called Plugged In \u2013 and you can subscribe to it right here<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/04\/unified_endpoint.png\")
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