[Discuss] Bluetooth

[epp at mcom.com (epp at mcom.com)]

I bought a USB Bluetooth dongle that works with Linux and have
successfully paired two different headphones to it. The headphones are
primarily for use with mobile phones.

The PulseAudio Volume Control shows two profiles:

High Fidelity Playback (A2DP Sink)
Headset Head Unit (HSP/HFP)

One of the headsets shows both profiles, the other only shows A2DP.
When I use the headphones with both profiles, switching it to HSP/HFP
should then allow microphone access, but it also switches the audio to
the PC speakers. The resulting audio from both headphones, is nothing
short of perfect.

The headset with only the A2DP profile, shows HSP/HFP as 'unavailable'
in the PA Volume Control.

However, in trying to test the other headset's microphone at one of the
test web sites, I can't get the microphone to turn on. The button to
activate it, I presume, would be the same button that's pressed when
answering a phone call. And all I hear is a 'beep' when that's pressed.

At this point, can it be reasonably assumed that this type of headphone
will not work with the PC and something special would be required? I
also have a set of wired Logitech USB headphones that includes a mic
and those work perfectly. The mic built into the (apparently, cheap)
web cam is junk, so I wanted to be able to use something wireless for
online meetings, rather than deal with a wired headset.

Thanks in advance.