New
#1
Microphone way too quiet. Tried two different mics and sound cards.
Audio samples at various gains/input levels
My microphone is picking up sound WAY too quiet (even with it at max input level). I can boost up the gain to max (20% for Soundcard, 30% for on-board) and the voice quality it picks up is good, however with the amount of gain used there's hissy noise in the background (to be expected with that much gain).
I have done a lot of searching on google and found many people with the same problem with Windows 7. Some people have had no issues on previous OS's (XP or Vista) and when upgrading to 7 have instantly had mic volume issues.
To troubleshoot this on my own before posting here I have not only tried my headset in my soundcard, but also in the on-board (realtek) inputs. I have also tried a second standalone microphone and had the same exact results. Extremely quiet with no gain. I used the latest drivers for both soundcard and on-board, although I did not have them running at the same time to avoid conflicts. Also, I wanted to try my headset in another machine not using Windows 7 but unfortunately don't have access to one at home or at work.
The only way to get myself audible is to also have hissy noise from cranking up the gain. I find this unacceptable with a good quality headset/mic as I've heard crisp/clear/noiseless dialog on youtube/streaming videos with much lower quality mics.
My guess is there's some conflict going on with my hardware combination and windows 7 that is difficult to pinpoint.. I also reformat fairly often (a couple times a year) and have the same exact problem every time with the most up-to-date drivers.
Something tells me if I built a brand new system with new motherboard, sound card, etc. the problem would rectify itself. I'm going to build a new machine in the next few months anyways, but for now want to be able to do live streaming with noise-free voice. Hopefully someone has some insight here.
OS
Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate (SP1 and all updates installed)
Headset
Sennheiser PC360 G4ME
Soundcard(s)
Creative Labs X-Fi XtremeGamer
Realtek on-board sound
Motherboard
EVGA X58 SLi motherboard
Last edited by roper512; 18 Sep 2011 at 14:59.