I have been looking for solutions to audio issues in Windows 10 and 11 with Bluetooth headphones. So far, it has only happened to me with Sea of Thieves but apparently will happen with any game that has dedicated voice comms built into the game and will usually occur if you have a competing audio source (like Discord) open at the same time.
The poor audio and crackling sound comes from the audio source being processed as a headset instead of as headphones by competing sources. This usually happens with Bluetooth headphones due to hands free functionality for calls. If you have no intention of using the headset microphone when connected to your PC or you have a dedicated desktop mic, this should work:
Go to Device Manager
Locate your headset device under Sound, video and game controllers (it should also be listed under Audio inputs and outputs, but ignore this for now)
Find your headset device, not headphones, and right-click and disable it. E.g. Bose QC35 II and BoseQC35 II Hands-Free, disable the Hands-Free entry and leave the other
Restart your PC
If you try to disable it in 'Audio inputs and outputs' it won't work.
After you restart, the headset entry should be absent from 'Audio inputs and outputs' and marked disabled within 'Sound, video and game controllers'.
Hope this helps someone that comes across this down the road.
See you on the high seas.
