Oh how I hate HFP.<p>I'm not surprised this catches people off guard. I'm usually among the gadget folks and was intellectually aware of the A2DP/HFP situation, but hadn't put it all together until I tried to use my new headphones (which support AptiX, etc), went to play a video game, and my (Windows[0]) computer flipped me to HFP, destroying the game audio to my headphones. It was at that point that I understood why the console makers shied away from "just using bluetooth" for their headset channels[1].<p>It was a new laptop that has some rather slick features you can apply to the mic array which causes it to only pick up the voice of the person directly in front of the laptop, or limit it to the people in the room (but not, say, televisions/stereos/PC audio). If I want the higher quality audio from my headphones, I just use my laptop's mic; it sounds as good to everyone else.<p>It's a shame for my phone, though. Many conferencing apps support High Definition audio and there's a not-always-small difference between the Bluetooth and USB versions of some conferencing devices.<p>[0] Which, AFAIK, doesn't support AptiX; but my phone does.<p>[1] I haven't looked into this in three years or so -- I recall something about PS4/PS5 supporting certain Sony headphones and there are plenty of wireless headphones that work with a USB stick (along with at least one on the Xbox platform [Turtle Beach] that required no USB stick, licensing/utilizing whatever the wireless controllers use -- since most/all have a 3.5mm jack -- for communication).