This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
I have a Samson C01U USB mic. It is a plug-and-play microphone. There are no drivers for it. There is no firmware for it. You just plug it in, and it works.
This mic has always worked perfectly. When I used Windows 7, I set the volume level of it to about 40-50% and everything sounded crisp, clear, and loud. On Windows 8, it is inaudible unless I set the volume to 90% but even at that point it is not loud enough. Setting it to 100% results in a lot of noise in the background.
This is not the first time someone has brought this issue up as it is extremely common to everyone owning a USB plug-and-play mic:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1323451/windows-8-mic-issue
Has there ever been a fix for this issue?
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Hi,
Thank you for the reply.
As you have mentioned that you have checked the issue with other microphone but you still face this issue. We have already tried to uninstall and reinstall the drivers. I suspect this issue to be a hardware issue. Check the issue with a local technician.
That's an option as long as you don't mind being behind in updates and support in less than a year from now. Microsoft is sending Windows 7 out to pasture early when you consider DirectX updates and other things. It's really not an option for most people, especially those who this problem affects.
This is what I was affraid of if I would buy a XLR mic like the at20202 with a Behringer Xenyx 302USB.
The signal still gets handled by Windows 8.1 eventually so the problem will still exists.
No the scarlet and behringer come with their own drivers, bypassing Windows 8.1's shi**y usb audio driver. The signal is handled by the mixer/audio interface and then piped to Windows over USB but windows 8's driver doesn't handle the actual recording which is the issue. It does solve the problem, my recordings are not only louder but also less muffled, lower background noise and I can increase the audio even further without getting the usual distortion from "hitting the ceiling" or what ever you call it. But you are correct that it is an expense. And if you can switch back to Windows 7 you totally should, I couldn't...
I bit the bullet and bought a similar setup but am still dealing with audio level gain issues. AT2020 XLR and a Scarlette 2i2. The gain is positioned at about 3 o-clock, almost max, and in OBS I need to push the mic volume multiplier to 7.
This is what I was affraid of if I would buy a XLR mic like the at20202 with a Behringer Xenyx 302USB.
The signal still gets handled by Windows 8.1 eventually so the problem will still exists. Only because of the inbuild gain and the OBS mic boost you where able to get higher output volume. But this shouldn't be normally done like this. I think I'm going back to Windows 7 again.
I can hardly believe that this problem really still exists in these Windows 8.1 versions. This is just stupid. What a waist of money for buying Windows 8.
Might I suggest staying away from Windows 10 as well, I tried the beta(release candidate which is out now) and the issue still exists. Sad, really. Other than the low gain issues, I love the OS.
I bit the bullet and bought a similar setup but am still dealing with audio level gain issues. AT2020 XLR and a Scarlette 2i2. The gain is positioned at about 3 o-clock, almost max, and in OBS I need to push the mic volume multiplier to 7.
This is what I was affraid of if I would buy a XLR mic like the at20202 with a Behringer Xenyx 302USB.
The signal still gets handled by Windows 8.1 eventually so the problem will still exists. Only because of the inbuild gain and the OBS mic boost you where able to get higher output volume. But this shouldn't be normally done like this. I think I'm going back to Windows 7 again.
I can hardly believe that this problem really still exists in these Windows 8.1 versions. This is just stupid. What a waist of money for buying Windows 8.
