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

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.

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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
    2015-02-24T14:05:34+00:00

    Omg! This just s*cks bigtime! I just bought the Blue Snowball microphone just to read the conversations here with the same problems I run into. The crazy thing is that Microsoft knows of this problem and let their customer support respond to the known problems with low mic volume and give their costumers fake solutions what they know of that it won't work. Just think of this crazyness!

    so, what should I do? Buy an AT2020 with a mixer? But do I need an USB mixer or do I need an extra pci audio card? What is the best and cheapest solution with keeping great mic audio quality without Windows 8.1 ruin my mic volumes?

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-02-24T14:30:10+00:00

    Sell your USB Microphone. Buy an XLR version along with a cheap 40-60 dollar mixer to solve the issue.

    Or switch to Windows 7

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-02-24T18:05:48+00:00

    so, what should I do? Buy an AT2020 with a mixer? But do I need an USB mixer or do I need an extra pci audio card? What is the best and cheapest solution with keeping great mic audio quality without Windows 8.1 ruin my mic volumes?

    Any semi-professional XLR mic should do the trick. Mine happens to be an AT2020 XLR version. My audio interface is a Focusrite Scarlette 2i2...bout $150.00  They sell a solo version for $100. Look into Behringer if you want even cheaper. Their Xenyx 302USB is $50.00. (prices via Amazon)

    XLR is completely different than USB (obviously and I'm a newb myself) my advice is check out a Guitar Center or audio/music store to get free information.

    Or if you have Windows 7 switch to that...that'd be cheapest.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-02-24T18:54:32+00:00

    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.  It's eliminated almost ALL of the hiss from my previous mics and it's bearable now.  If you wanna get better gain, I'd suggest picking up something like the Cloudlifter CL-1 to help boost the gain on the mic.  I'm not sure if that'll work, but from what I've read, it works wonders on dynamic mics, I'd assume it'll work great with our condenser mics.

    Please keep in mind, I pretty much only use the mic for streaming on OBS, which is my whole reason to buying the mic.  I have yet to try recording using other software, but I'm pretty sure my issues are solved with my setup alone.  I don't mind doing software gain adjustments as long as there's no hiss!

    It was an expensive 'fix' but at least now I don't have to worry about sound quality.

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