Soundcore earbuds microphone on Steam Deck
Hi all, I have an interesting issue that I'm hoping can be solved. I have a pair of Anker Soundcore A40 earbuds and they connect fine to the Deck. However the Deck doesn't pick up on the microphone input at all - I've had a look under input devices and it fails to show up. Is there anything I can do (packages, drivers etc) to get this to work?
I'm pretty sure this is just a problem with Bluetooth capabilities for headsets in general. If you lower the sound quality to phone mode it should let you enable the microphone. I think phones just automatically switch modes when you go into a call but computers you have to do it manually. Some Linux distro configurations don't prevent you from choosing audio settings that don't work and I suspect steam deck os is one of them.
If the Steam Deck works the same as a PS5 for example, there's not enough bandwidth on Bluetooth to allow high quality audio for both mic and stereo from the headphones together so they don't allow it.
In desktop mode, try clicking on the audio icon in the system tray, then clicking on the menu next to the volume slider for your headphones. Try switching the profile to “Headset”.
I don't appear to get that setting. Am I correct in thinking I'd need 'HSP' rather than A2DP? I can't work out how to change it
I can't get my space a40s to connect! They connect and then disconnect immediately
That's odd! Do other bluetooth devices work ok?
No. Using the microphone on a Bluetooth headset forces it in to HSP mode due to bandwidth constraints
So if HSP mode is a thing on every Bluetooth headset, is there no way to trigger it on Steam Deck?
No, it’s working as designed. The 3.5mm Jack also can’t sense if there’s a microphone plugged in with the headphones and just assumes there is, completely disabling the onboard microphone. Which is super annoying if you’re trying to use a pair of sennheisers or something lol. Also by design according to valve engineers
Yeah in the case of the 3.5mm jack it disables the onboard mic, but still lets you use the mic on your headphones, if they have one.
Looking into Bluetooth headsets, it appears that Valve has disabled them. I tried following the guide here but that ended up disabling all output sources entirely for some reason...