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
    2015-01-31T12:31:52+00:00

    Hi, 

    I don't know if you guys have sorted this yet, but...

    For me (using a Samson C01U on Windows 10 TP - Build 9926) I couldn't even get the device to be installed, Windows drivers couldn't be found automatically at all, never mind with low sound levels. 

    I did eventually manage to get it installed, by doing the following, I don't know if it will help you guys... it does look like there are some drivers from Samson as part of this, so there's a chance it will help. 

    First, download Samson's Sound Deck software for Windows:

    http://www.samsontech.com/site\_media/support/manuals/SamsonUSBAudioBasic.exe

    Everything I read labels it as some rubbish looking utility for controlling the hardware, and it looks like it's designed for Windows 98 or Windows XP... old looking either way, but go with it anyway. 

    Once it's installed. Go to device manager, and right-click, Update drivers for your mic. 

    Choose browse for drivers, and choose the following folder:

    c:\program files (x86)\Samson

    For me, it then found a drivers that's signed, and compatible. For some reason the mic levels don't move in the 'Recording' tab of the Sound applet in Control Panel, but when I ran up Samson's Sound Deck (which will appear in the system tray) it let me record and control the volume levels. I don't have a Windows 7 machine to compare against, but given I couldn't get the Mic to work at all in Windows 10, I'm one giant leap further.

    I do agree with everyone else's posts though... this should be easier... being a Windows developer, and recently switching from Mac to a Surface Pro 3, where everything (on my Mac) used to 'just work' this has wasted a lot of my time today.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-01-20T11:13:01+00:00

    Mainly just figured I'd throw this tidbit into the ring...as I don't think USB is the problem.

    I'm (now) inclined to agree.

    I spent the weekend slowly transplanting the driver files that were listed from Windows 7 into Windows 8.  This involved some fun with the command line, and also disabling driver signature enforcement. 

    Whilst the mic still worked with the windows 7 driver files in place, it still had the same issue.

    I need to find a microphone that I can test with the on board soundcard, to see if the issue persists withn non-USB microphones, but this might take a while (unless I can find that damned adapter for my headset to not use it's puck :)

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-01-20T11:09:47+00:00

    David: try installing audacity (search it on google) and see if, at a 40% level, it picks up anything on your mic.

    If it does, then it's not the same issue.  

    You might just need to remove the checkboxes to give exclusive access for the mic to stop windows turning it down, which might be the issue for you (Sorry if it's not, but the automatic turning down of the level kind of muddys the water as to whether this is the same issue).

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-01-20T06:45:26+00:00

    I recently bought an Andrea Electronics NC-181 headset to use with my laptop for speech recognition (using Windows built-in capabilities). I've successfully used speech recognition in the past (under Windows 7) on this laptop using much inferior equipment (the built-in microphone and a pairing of my android phone with the laptop), but am having absolutely no luck with the NC-181...

    I don't think this is a USB only issue. This headset uses the traditional audio jacks and I am experiencing the same issue. I'm noticing that when I run speech recognition it turns down the levels of the microphone and if I turn them back up it just automatically turns them back down. Does this happen to anyone else?

    Mainly just figured I'd throw this tidbit into the ring...as I don't think USB is the problem.

    Dave

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