Muffled on calls,
and why
Music sounds great until you join a call, then everything turns flat and muffled. That's Bluetooth, not your headphones, and there's a simple way around it.
Short answer
When a Mac uses your Sony headphones' microphone, Bluetooth switches to a mode that carries the microphone and audio together, and sound quality drops until the microphone is no longer in use. Apple describes this for all Bluetooth headphones.
To keep the good sound on calls, use the headphones only for listening:
- Open System Settings → Sound → Input and choose your Mac's built-in microphone (or a USB microphone).
- Choose the same microphone in your meeting app.
- Keep the headphones as the Output.
Two Bluetooth modes, one of them for calls
Bluetooth headphones connect to a Mac in one of two ways. Sony calls them Stereo (A2DP), for music, and Hands-Free (HFP/HSP), for calls:
| Stereo (listening) | Hands-Free (calls) | |
|---|---|---|
| Used when | Only sound goes to the headphones | An app uses the headphones' microphone |
| Sound quality | Full quality | Reduced: call audio runs at 8 kHz or 16 kHz |
| Microphone | Not in use | In use |
Apple puts it plainly: when Bluetooth switches to the second mode, "audio quality is reduced until the microphone is no longer in use." The drop isn't a fault in your headphones, and every Bluetooth headset behaves this way on a Mac. It's why the other people on a Zoom call, and any music or video, suddenly sound muffled, thin or "underwater".
Keep the headphones in high-quality mode
The headphones only switch to Hands-Free when something uses their microphone. Give your Mac another microphone and they stay in Stereo:
- Open System Settings → Sound.
- Under Output, select your Sony headphones.
- Under Input, select MacBook Air Microphone, MacBook Pro Microphone, your iMac's microphone, or a USB microphone or webcam.
- In your meeting app, choose the same microphone, not the headphones.
You hear the call in full quality, and the others hear you through the Mac's microphone. A Mac mini has no built-in microphone, so plug in a USB microphone or use a webcam's. Step-by-step settings for each app are in Sony headphones for meetings.
If it stays muffled after the call
Sometimes the quality doesn't come back when the call ends, because an app is still holding the headphones' microphone. Apple suggests:
- Quit apps that use the headset's microphone, including meeting apps still running in the background and browser tabs with a call in them.
- Close the Sound settings if they're open.
- In Control Center, open Sound, choose the Mac's built-in speakers, then choose your headphones again.
Why the equalizer doesn't fix it
The reduced quality comes from the Bluetooth mode itself, so changing the sound afterwards can't bring back what isn't there. The equalizer and DSEE live in the headphones and shape the sound they receive; they don't change the Bluetooth mode. On the WH-1000XM6, DSEE is turned off during calls anyway, and on the WH-1000XM5 and newer the app shows DSEE as unavailable while a call is active, when the headphones report it.
It isn't a volume problem either: if calls are quiet rather than muffled, see Sony headphones too quiet. If music sounds bad all the time, even with no microphone in use, look at stuttering and crackling or codecs on a Mac.
What Open Sound Connect can and can't do
Open Sound Connect changes the headphones' settings over Sony's control connection. It doesn't handle the Mac's audio, so it can't change the call mode, the codec or the microphone. What it can do for calls is help you set up the rest: switch to ambient sound so you hear your own voice, turn Speak-to-Chat off, and do both automatically with a scene when your meeting app opens.
Common
questions
Is my headset microphone broken if calls sound bad?
No. The drop in quality is the Bluetooth call mode, which every Bluetooth headset uses on a Mac. Choose another microphone under System Settings → Sound → Input and the headphones keep their normal sound.
Why does music sound worse while Sound settings are open?
The Input section's level meter listens to the selected microphone. If that's your headphones, Bluetooth switches to the call mode while the settings are open. Close them, or select another input, as Apple suggests.
Will a better codec like LDAC help?
No. Codecs such as AAC are for listening; calls use the Hands-Free mode. A Mac uses SBC and AAC for music in any case, not LDAC. More in LDAC, AAC and lossless on a Mac.
Where to next
- Microphone not working on a MacFix a Sony headphone mic that doesn't work on a Mac: input, permissions, the meeting app and the cable.
- Meetings: Zoom, Teams, Meet, DiscordSpeaker and microphone settings for Zoom, Teams, Meet and Discord, plus a scene that sets up your headphones for calls.
- LDAC, AAC and lossless on a MacWhich Bluetooth codecs a Mac uses with Sony headphones, why lossless needs a cable, and what an app can't change.
Put your headphones
in the menu bar
macOS 15 or later · Apple silicon and Intel