Windows 8.1 USB microphone volume is extremely low

Anonymous
2014-03-14T02:41:12+00:00

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

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/2da97f80-f58b-4635-acbf-9dd7292ed752/microphone-very-low-volume?forum=w8itprohardware

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_8-hardware/low-usb-microphone-recording-volume-at2020/9528f797-65c8-4033-a4d6-39995cd0d074

Has there ever been a fix for this issue?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2014-07-31T00:46:56+00:00

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.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-10-25T14:01:16+00:00

    Hi,

    You could face this issue when the headphone has not been set as default source of sound or if it has been disabled. I suggest you to follow the steps given below to set headphone as default. 

    1. Right-click on the speaker icon on the right bottom of the desktop.
    2. Click on “Playback devices” to see a list of devices connected to the system.
    3. If it is not listed, it is possible that the device has been disabled accidently. Right click and select “Show disabled devices”.
    4. If your device is listed after this, right click on the microphone and select “enable”.
    5. After this, right click on the microphone and click “set as default” option present at the bottom of the same window.

    Let us know the status of the issue. We will assist you further.

    Hi,

    please, next time try to read and understand the issue before copying and pasting a random reply template.

    Thank you

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-10-25T08:05:46+00:00

    Hi,

    You could face this issue when the headphone has not been set as default source of sound or if it has been disabled. I suggest you to follow the steps given below to set headphone as default. 

    1. Right-click on the speaker icon on the right bottom of the desktop.
    2. Click on “Playback devices” to see a list of devices connected to the system.
    3. If it is not listed, it is possible that the device has been disabled accidently. Right click and select “Show disabled devices”.
    4. If your device is listed after this, right click on the microphone and select “enable”.
    5. After this, right click on the microphone and click “set as default” option present at the bottom of the same window.

    Let us know the status of the issue. We will assist you further.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-10-19T23:35:27+00:00

    Same issue. Have tried pretty much everything I can think of or that has been suggested here. The mic works it's just really quiet. AT2020 USB, and it worked beautifully in Windows 7 and now that I upgraded to 8.1 it doesn't. Finding it really hard to keep this post classy after reading Micro's "solutions". Microsoft, fix...your...software.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-10-19T12:41:17+00:00

    Same issue here, after a quick research I found this is a common bug.

    This is really annoying, I've just bought my new USB mic and can't use it...

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