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.
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.
This has been nearly a month with no response from MS Support.
Is there an escalation path when I'm getting ignored?
Anyone who's experiencing this issue and has an ASIO-capable DAW (for instance, Reaper can be tried for free on both Windows and Mac), does this problem still exist if you use ASIO4ALL? http://www.asio4all.com/
Posted this in another thread related to this subject but it should bring some light to the problem here as well.
I've been dealing with this problem for over a year now since Windows 8. I recently called Audio-Technica as a last ditch effort as the audio problem with my AT2020 is now affecting my work. According to one of the leads at Audio-Technica, the problem is entirely on Microsoft's end. The developer I talked to specifically stated it had to do with the the way Microsoft hard coded the driver into Windows 8 and that there is nothing they can do to fix it. He also mentioned it has to do with the way the audio device is treated. It apparently treats all USB microphones similarly which screws up the gain and levels of higher quality end microphones. The tech used AT2020, the Blue Yeti, and a few others as examples of a few microphones that are affected but explained that ALL microphones are in this and that it makes most USB audio microphones sound worse than they should.
He explained that all of the higher quality condenser microphones will have low audio volumes along with worse background noise than they should. According to him, Microsoft not only knows of the problem, but admits that there is no way to fix it even on their end. The tech returned my call in a matter of minutes of calling Audio-Technica and knew of the problem immediately. He told me they had back and forth talks with Microsoft over the span of a couple of weeks about it until they stated that nothing could be done.
This problem is pretty easy to see though just using my own AT2020 as an example. In Windows 7, I only had to use a level of 23-27 to produce perfect sound with little to no background noise. Now on Windows 8, I have to use 95-100 to get people to even hear me with a massive amount of background noise. Audio-Technica suggested I try to sell the USB AT2020 on Ebay and buy a mixer along with the XLR version. Audio-Technica doesn't expect a solution to the issue. If Microsoft wasn't such a dominant platform for what I have to do for work, I would consider going to another OS. Instead, I'm out of luck and just have to go out and spend more money on something that will get me a fix rather than MS fixing the problem.
TL;DR: They know about the problem. They can't fix it. Sell your USB Microphone. Buy an XLR version along with a cheap 40-60 dollar mixer to solve the issue.
