FSX: Route ATC audio to a Bluetooth headset and aircraft sounds to speakers

FSX: splitting ATC to a Bluetooth headset (and keeping aircraft sounds on speakers)

FSX itself is pretty limited here. The “pick separate devices for different sound categories” option you’ve seen mentioned is generally for add-ons (or later sims), not something stock FSX exposes in a simple way. In plain FSX you basically get one primary output device, and FSX sends everything to that.

That said, you can usually still get what you want using a practical workaround:

1) Make sure the Bluetooth headset is in the right mode
Bluetooth headsets often show up as two audio devices in Windows:

• Headphones / Stereo (higher quality, usually output-only)
• Headset / Hands-Free (lower quality, includes mic)

For ATC/voice you typically want the Hands-Free device, but be aware it can drag the audio quality down if Windows forces the whole system into “telephony” mode.

2) Use Windows default device switching + a separate ATC source
If you’re using built-in FSX ATC, it will follow whatever Windows has set as the default playback device (and FSX will too). So you can’t cleanly split “ATC only” vs “engine only” inside FSX.

If you’re using an external ATC client (VATSIM/IVAO voice clients, Teamspeak, etc.), those usually let you pick an output device inside the voice program. In that case you set:

• Windows default playback device = your speakers (so FSX stays on speakers)
• Voice/ATC client output device = your Bluetooth headset

That’s the cleanest way to achieve the split.

3) If you must use FSX built-in ATC
About the only “no extra software” method is to route audio at the Windows level with third-party audio routing tools, but that’s outside FSX and can get finicky fast—especially with Bluetooth devices that like to disconnect/reconnect or switch profiles.

A couple quick questions so I can steer you the right way:

• Which FSX version are you on (FSX boxed, Acceleration, or FSX: Steam Edition)?
• Are you talking about the default FSX ATC voices, or online ATC (VATSIM/IVAO) through a separate voice client?
• In Windows Sound Playback devices, does your headset show up as both Stereo and Hands-Free?