The equalizer and noise control come to the Microsoft Store version of KikuTune with KikuTune Bridge, a free companion you install from this site. The same installer brings noise control; the Bridge page lists what it needs.
Why the setting is missing
Standard Bluetooth audio carries sound and a few transport controls. Everything a manufacturer adds on top, including noise control, runs over its own channel that Windows does not implement.
That is why the modes appear on a phone, where the manufacturer ships an app, and nowhere on a PC.
What carries over from your phone
The mode you last selected stays active when you connect to a PC, because it is stored in the headphones. So a pair left in Noise Cancellation arrives on Windows in Noise Cancellation.
Anything automatic, such as switching modes by location or activity, belongs to the phone and stops when you leave it.
- 1Set the mode you want while connected to your phone.
- 2Connect to the PC and it stays where you left it.
- 3To change it again without a PC app, go back to the phone.
Press and hold still works
The physical control on the earbuds keeps cycling modes on Windows, since the headphones handle it themselves. What you lose is the ability to see which mode you are in.
On models with a stem, a long press usually cycles between Noise Cancellation and Transparency. Which modes are in the cycle is set on the phone.
How KikuTune helps here
KikuTune shows the current noise control mode on supported AirPods and switches it from the PC, so the control is visible instead of being a guess after a long press.
It comes with KikuTune Bridge, a free download from this site, installed next to the Microsoft Store app. Battery, output switching and reconnecting work without it.
Where this does not help
- Support depends on the model. A headphone that exposes no mode control to any PC cannot be switched by an app.
- Which modes appear depends on the model and its firmware, the same as on a phone.