Bluetooth headphones constantly cutting out and popping

Question

I've been having some trouble for the past few weeks with my Bluetooth headphones connecting to my Windows PC. The audio is constantly cutting out for a few seconds, or skipping forward, or popping, or speeding up randomly, like a scratched up CD. It's been getting progressively worse for the past few days, even getting to a point where the audio just completely stopped playing until I disconnected and reconnected.

It's definitely not my headphones that are the issue, as they work perfectly fine with my phone. It's not the computer's audio, as wired speakers work perfectly fine. It's not the Bluetooth connection, because other Bluetooth devices don't have similar issues and attempting to troubleshoot the connection says that the connection to my headphones is perfectly fine (I even tested when I completely lost audio- still connected, troubleshooting returned no issues). It can't be an issue with out of date drivers, as when I got this PC I had to manually update or reinstall almost all of the drivers myself. I've been trying to fix this for weeks. I have no idea what could be causing this issue, as the only other time I've seen this happen is when I'm getting a lot of interference like from standing close to the microwave, but I'm not far away from my PC and there's no devices in this room that could do that as far as I'm aware.

Answer 1

My PC came with mini antennas that hook up in the back, those are for “WiFi” connections BUT helps with blue tooth AS WELL! I took them out recently while upgrading/ cleaning my setup. I use ether cable so I thought I didn’t need them for WiFi. WELL, I was having the same issue as you. I read and tried EVERYTHING. I happen to read on Reddit about those antennas, sure enough, as soon as I installed them back on… BOOM, insta fix 👍

Answer 2

Hello echo445

Welcome to the Microsoft community.

You have done a lot of troubleshooting and based on that I suggest you doing the following steps.

• Audio Privilege Mode

You may adjust the settings of the exclusive mode of the audio output device. Win + Q to open the search box, type "mmsys.cpl" and press Enterto open the "Sound" interface, right-click your device > Properties*>* Advanced tab, you will see "Allow application to take exclusive control of this device" and "Give exclusive mode application priority" two items, you can disable (or enable) these items to check if the audio is normal.

• Disable Audio Enhancement

You can adjust the audio enhancement settings for that microphone. Win + R to open "Run", type "mmsys.cpl", press Enter to open Sound > Recording tab > right-click your microphone > Properties > Enhancements tab, adjust the Audio Enhancement*(check or uncheck) and relative settings.* Since enable/disable audio enhancement may have different effects due to different audio hardware properties, so try both.

• Show Disabled Devices

Then you may make sure that the headset was not disabled as an output device. Win + Q to open the search box, type "mmsys.cpl" and press Enter to open the "Sound" interface > Playback tab, right-click on the blank space and tick "Show Disabled Devices" and "Show Disconnected Devices", then "OK" to save the settings. If the headset has been disabled, right-click on the device > Enable.

• Default audio device

You may Confirm your default audio output device. Win + R to open*****"Run"*, type "mmsys.cpl" and press Enter to open the "Sound" interface, right-click your target device in the "Playback" tab and "Recording" tab respectively > "Set as Default Device", then click "Ok" to save the settings.

• System communications activity

Then switch to the "Communication" tab and try switching the option from "Mute all other sounds" to something else, then "OK" to save the settings.

• Audio Troubleshooting

It is then recommended that you run the audio troubleshooter. Win + R to open "Run", type "ms-settings:troubleshoot", press Enter to open the troubleshooting page > Other troubleshooters*, and then click "run" next to "play audio" to run the sound troubleshoot, and then follow the prompts operate.*

Bluetooth: Fix Bluetooth problems in Windows - Microsoft Support

Services in Bluetooth devices (Hands free, etc.)

First, you can restart your Airpods' related services in the Control Panel. "Win" logo key + "Q", enter "control" to open "Control Panel" (viewed by Category) > Devices and Printers, right click your Airpods > Properties > Service tab, uncheck all services and "OK", restart the system and check them all back.

Bluetooth troubleshooting

You can Run the Bluetooth troubleshooter. SelectStart*>Settings>System>Troubleshoot>Other troubleshooters. Next toBluetooth, selectRunand follow the instructions.*

Fix Bluetooth problems in Windows - Microsoft Support

Supported Bluetooth profiles: Supported Bluetooth profiles (microsoft.com)

l Enable audio devices

1. In Windows Settings

Win + I to open Windows Settings, and navigate to the interface as shown below, and enable the device.

2. In Sound settings

Win + R to open "Run", type "mmsys.cpl" and press Enter to open "Sound", right-click the empty space > Show Disabled Devices*, you will see all your audio devices, then right click on the device >* Enable*, and press “OK” to exit.*

I look forward to your reply.

Best wishes

Angie - MSFT |Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 3

Why cut audio in my earbuds when connected to laptop

Answer 4

I FIXED MY ISSUE!!! FINALLY!!! I have my Windows 11 PC connected by HDMI cable to my LG TV OLED G3 4K TV and was frustrated that my excellent Bowers & Wilkins headphones (which work perfectly when watching the TV) were breaking up when I used them to listen to anything coming from the PC. The problem was the TV was not accepting, and the PC was not sending, the data with enough quality. I checked the display settings on my PC, and it wouldn't allow me to choose anything higher than 60Hz, even though I had the HDMI cable connected to my TV's port which supposedly accepts 4K at 120Hz. The trick was to tell my TV that this particular HDMI port was to accept 4K - tricky to find in my TV settings but I finally found it. Once I had done this, my PC now allowed my to change my display settings to 120Hz - problem fixed!!!!!!

Answer 5

Thank you for the guidance. I followed each step but my headset is still cutting out. My issue is the sound cutting out for a nano second constantly.

• However, when I go to 'System' / 'Sound' - the issue corrects itself.
• But when I close 'Sound' come out of 'System'... it starts again.
• As soon as I close the system window, my headphones make a sound "dum dum" - like it is changing settings - and the issue starts again where the sound is cutting out.

Can anyone help? Thanks. Gem