Suppose you are in the middle of a team deathmatch in Valorant, and suddenly the Discord audio goes blank. Chaos ensues, and you cannot do anything about it until the match is over.
Well, there can be a lot of things that can cause such audio issues. You can narrow down this list once we add Bluetooth headphones to the mix.
So, if your Bluetooth headset is not acting nice with Discord, follow the fixes mentioned in this article and get the audio back in no time.
Why Bluetooth Headphones Don’t Work With Discord?
Discord normally works very well with Bluetooth. But sometimes there can be some issue that is only specific to your device. Like that time when my friend’s Bluetooth headset kept disconnecting all the time during a Discord call. Later the headset turned out to be faulty.
Below you will find some common issues which are prevalent among a wide audience of Discord users.
Dropping connection: Connectivity is the primary reason for this. Since Bluetooth is connected using a wireless protocol, you can experience interference in the signal. This can cause signal loss, and calls can drop.
Wrong device selected on Discord: Incorrect audio settings are also a common issue. While Discord is pretty smart and switches automatically to your Bluetooth device for audio output, sometimes it does not do that. Then you would not hear any audio coming from Discord.
Internet Speed: Lastly, if the internet connection is not stable, there will be an audio issue on Discord. So also keep this in mind and troubleshoot it before fixing the issues with your wireless headset.
How to Fix No Sound in Discord With Bluetooth Headphones
The easiest way to fix no audio on Discord with Bluetooth headphones is by checking if they are paired and if you can hear audio output from any applications. If this passes the check, then Discord needs troubleshooting. If it does not pass the check, then your Bluetooth headphone is at fault.
Let’s look at how you can approach both situations below.
Situation 1: Troubleshoot Bluetooth Headphone Connectivity
Check if Bluetooth Headphones are connected
A proper connection between your system and the headphone is needed for proper audio playback. Sometimes if you go out of the range, the connection is terminated instantly.
So checking if your headset is disconnected is actually a great idea before going to the other fixes that require tweaking Discord’s other settings.
On Windows
Follow these steps to check if your Bluetooth headset is connected to Windows:
- Click on the Wi-Fi-icon on the left of your taskbar.
- Ensure the Bluetooth toggle is turned on.
- Click on it to see the list of the connected devices. You should see your headset here. If you do not see anything, you may need to pair again. In that case, push the pairing button and click on your device as it shows up on the Bluetooth menu.
On Android and iOS
Follow these steps to check if your Bluetooth headset is connected to Android/iOS:
- Pull down the notification bar and long tap on Bluetooth. For iPhone, open Control Centre and tap Bluetooth.
- If you have a headphone connected, this will show up here. Otherwise, you have to connect it by pressing the pairing button.
Once you have established the connection between the headphone and your device, it is time to check if you can hear audio from it.
Before you can do that, set the Bluetooth device as the default audio device. This is shown in the next section.
Set Bluetooth Headphones as the Audio Device
Often your speaker will be the default device for audio playback. This is prevalent in Windows. When you connect a Bluetooth device, check if the default playback device has been changed to that. Otherwise, play any audio you want; you would simply not hear it.
So, let’s see how you can do it.
On Windows
Follow these steps to change the default audio device on Windows:
- Right-click on the speaker icon and select Sound Settings.
- Select your Bluetooth headphone from the list in the Input and Output sections.
- Ensure that the volume slider is not muted. Do not increase the volume slider all the way up; just keep it on normal levels.
Next, take a look if the Bluetooth headset is disabled inside the Windows Sound Settings. Normally this does not happen, but weird bugs do exist, right?
Thankfully you can enable it very easily. Just follow the steps mentioned below.
- Scroll down the Sound Settings menu and click on More sound settings.
- Under the Playback and Recording tab, find your headphone, right-click, and click the Enable button.
- Click the Ok button.
Now try playing audio through any apps and see if you can get an output. If there are no connection issues, you will hear an audio playback. That should clear you to proceed to the next step.
But if you remain unsuccessful till now, things do look bleak for you. Go back to the earlier step and try reconnecting the headphone again.
On Android and iOS
By default, the connected Bluetooth earphone is selected as the default playback device. You do not need to switch it. This is a problem only when you have multiple Bluetooth devices connected to your phone. Then you need to select which device you wish to use to play back the audio.
Situation 2: Troubleshoot Discord
Increase Discord’s Volume
Windows can sometimes mute audio on third-party applications. This is due to privacy and security reasons.
In that case, you will hear audio from all apps barring Discord. To fix this, just find Discord from Windows Sound Settings and unmute the volume slider.
On Windows
These are the steps to increase Discord’s volume from Windows Settings:
- Right-click on the speaker icon and click on Open Volume mixer.
- Find Discord under Apps and set its Volume slider to your desired level.
After this, go check if the volume levels on Discord are okay.
- Open Discord and click on the gear icon to open Settings.
- Go to User Settings > Voice and Video.
- Ensure you have the Bluetooth device selected under the Input and Output field.
- Move the volume slider up.
Now is a good time to run an audio test on Discord itself. This will reveal whether there is a problem with your Bluetooth device or the app.
To do this, open Discord and go to its Settings. Navigate to the same Voice and Video Settings as shown above. Click on Let’s check and then speak anything, and it will be played back to you on your set Audio Device. If everything goes okay, you will hear the audio playback perfectly.
Switch Discord’s Audio Subsystem
Discord has multiple audio interfaces built-in. These are the Legacy, Standard, and Experimental. You can switch between these and see if this fixes the audio issue you are currently experiencing with the Bluetooth headset.
Standard is set as the default. But if your audio drivers are old and you are not getting good-quality playback, you can switch to the Legacy subsystem. Similarly, for trying cutting-edge new features, you can select the Experimental channel.
These steps will help you switch Discord’s Audio Subsystem:
- Click on the gear icon and open Settings.
- Under User Settings, go to Voice and Video.
- Find Audio Subsystem and change it to Legacy.
As with the earlier step, do check if changing these has any impact on the overall sound quality on Discord.
Change Discord’s Voice Region
Discord hosts its app across different servers across the globe. This plays a part in reducing the overall latency during voice calls.
It happens very rarely, but an issue with the server will mean that you will experience a drop in call quality or, worse, not hear anything at all.
This may be a temporary outage, and it fixes automatically after some time. But if you continually experience quality degradation, changing to a different server is a good option.
Follow these steps to change Discord’s Voice Region:
- Open Discord.
- Click on any channel present in the left tab.
- Under Voice Channels, click on Edit Channel.
- Scroll down and find Region Override. Select the nearest region and click on it.
![discord-region-override]](https://10scopes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/discord-region-override.jpg)
If a server problem specific to your region was present before, this should fix it.
Disable Audio Enhancements
Any apps that enhance the audio on your PC or phone can cause a problem and prevent Discord from playing back. For example, if you use a custom EQ to improve the audio, disable it or close the app when Discord is active.
Some users have said this affected their voice calls. This may not happen to you, but it is good to know that a bug similar to this is there.
Reset Discord Audio Settings
If nothing seems to work for you, you can reset Discord to its default settings. This also means all configurations you changed up to this point will no longer be there.
Discord will run at the stock Settings, and this will remove any Settings that are causing the audio to not play on your output device.
To reset the audio settings to their default configurations, Open Discord’s Settings and navigate to Voice and Video. Scroll down and click the Reset Voice Settings button. Press the Ok button when the system prompts with a dialog box.
Last Resort: Tweak Windows Settings
Restart Windows Audio Services
The Windows audio driver can sometimes cause problems, which will affect audio playback. Then not only Discord, but every app will be unable to play an audio stream.
Well, I won’t ask you to uninstall and reinstall the audio drivers as countless other guides will ask you to. What you need to do is check if the driver is updated. It’s not a necessity, but what harm should it pose with the latest drivers installed?
The next thing you can try is to disable and re-enable the Audio services. This turns off the driver and restarts it.
Here’s how to do it.
- Press Win + R to open Run.
- Type in services.msc, and press the Ok button.
- Scroll down to find these services: Windows Audio Endpoint Builder and Windows Audio.
- Right-click on both of these and click the Restart button.
- Double-click to open the options for these services.
- Under Startup type, set this to Automatic.
- Click Ok.
Now restart the computer. Try running an audio test to see how everything holds up now. Once you hear the audio playing back, that means you have successfully completed troubleshooting Discord’s Bluetooth headphone issue.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the audio quality bad on Discord when using Bluetooth headphones?
When you are on a call using a Bluetooth headset, there is a two-way communication going on that limits the quality of the audio that is being transferred. Hence you will hear bad audio with calls but not with general audio playback.
How do I change the audio output on Discord mobile?
Click the gear icon and navigate to Voice and Settings. Here set your correct audio output device under Output.
How do I fix Discord not detecting my headset?
First, make sure the Bluetooth headset shows up under the Output device in Discord’s Settings. If not, quit Discord and try pairing the headset with your device again. Once you confirm that you can hear audio from the headset, open Discord and it should work now.
Next Steps
By now your Bluetooth headset should be up and running with Discord. If you are still unable to hear anything from it, there can be two deductions from this. Either you need a new Bluetooth headset or there are some driver problems with the Bluetooth device on your PC or phone.
Whichever happens, it is a good idea to test the same headset on a different device. Then you can be sure if your Bluetooth headset needs replacing.
That’s all we had for this troubleshooting guide.
If you have any queries do let us know in the comments below.
