Microsoft is bringing a modernized audio mixer to Windows 11, and Windows Insiders are getting an early peek starting today. Microsoft is now rolling out Windows 11 build 25309 to Insiders in the Dev channel, which includes this new audio mixer, along with improvements to voice access and color management.

New audio mixer in Quick Settings

Screenshot of the audio mixer in Windows 11 Quick Settings

Microsoft has been slowly but surely transitioning more Ui elements from outdated design languages to the more modern Windows 11 look, and this time, it's the audio mixer that's finally being modernized. This allows you to change the volume of individual apps on specific playback devices connected to your PC. Now, you can find the audio mixer inside the quick settings panel, which is opened by clicking the audio icon on the right of the taskbar. In addition to changing the volume for each app, the audio mixer lets you switch between spatial sound technologies more quickly.

To be fair, Microsoft has previously modernized the audio mixer, but it was only available in the Settings app, so it wasn't the most intuitive process to get there, especially compared to the audio mixer in previous versions of Windows. This is much more accessible, and Microsoft is even adding a new keyboard shortcut (Windows + Ctrl + V) to bring up the audio mixer even faster. This new audio mixer is only available to select Insiders, so you may not see it right away.

Auto Color Management for more monitors

Screenshot of Auto Color management enabled in the Windows 11 Settings app

Another big improvement in this release is expanded support for auto color management on most displays. Previously, this feature was available for specific displays that were meant to support the feature, but now, you can enable it for just about any monitor you have to ensure colors are displayed consistently across different monitors.

the only requirement is having a relatively modern GPU that supports WDDM 3.0, and most panels can benefit from this feature, though Microsoft warns it will be more beneficial on monitors that support 10-bit color and have color gamuts wider than sRGB. You can enable Auto Color Management in the Settings app under System > Display > Advanced display.

Voice access improvements

Screenshot of Voice access language settings in Windows 11 with the option to choose different English dialects

For users relying on voice access to use your computer, there's some good news in this build, too. For starters, just like Live Captions did a couple of weeks ago, voice access now supports different English dialects, not just US English. What's more Microsoft has greatly improved the list of commands you can use for selecting and editing text, make it easier to write using your voice.

Theme-aware Search and Widgets

Various Widgets icons as displayed for light and dark mode on Windows 11

Starting with this build, the Search bar on the taskbar, as well as widgets icons will respond differently depending on the theme you have set on your PC. You'll now see a lighter search bar if you use a custom-colored taskbar, as well as if you're using a dark theme for Windows but a light theme for apps. As for widgets, the weather icons displayed on the taskbar now have slightly different colors so you get better contrast and visibility depending on the theme you're using.

Other improvements and changes

Aside from these more notable improvements, Microsoft has also made a few changes. For one thing, the company has brought back the new dropdown menu that lets you select the touch keyboard behavior, so it never appears automatically, always appears automatically, or only when there's no physical keyboard attached. Similarly, the design tweaks for Snap Layouts are now available again after being removed from the previous build. There are also new options in the Settings app for when you press the power button or close the lid on your computer, bringing over more options from the old control panel.

Screenshot of different messages shown on the Start menu when Windows 11 recommends the user back up their files

Microsoft has also further tweaked the messaging in the Start menu for when certain actions are required on your Microsoft account. Additionally, the "second-chance out of box experience" is now more personalized. This experience shows up if you didn't enable all the features Microsoft suggests during the initial set up, like setting up Phone Link or enabling Windows Hello. Microsoft is also now showing a new pizza icon in File Explorer to indicate that this version is now based on the Windows App SDK and WinUI 3, though functionality remains the same.

Meanwhile, the new Windows Spotlight experience that began testing a few builds ago has been temporarily disabled due to some issues.

Aside from all of this, this build also includes the usual array of fixes and known issues. The list of fixes is fairly long, and it includes a long-awaited fix for Windows Hello facial recognition of Arm64 devices, which should be functional again. Here's the full list:

As for the known issues, you can read up on those below before you install the update:

As per usual, the latest build is available to Insiders in the Dev channel by simply going to Windows Update and checking for updates. It will be installed automatically sooner rather than later, so you may want to get it at your earliest convenience. If you're not familiar with the Insider program, check out our explainer of the Windows Insider channels to learn more.


Source: Microsoft