Sound card running too much current into my headphones. What should I do?

[Hammond]

My headphones are extremely loud. Currently I have them at 25% volume or so on the headphones themselves and my Windows volume is 32. Apps like Chrome have to be set even lower. In addition to the loud volume, my mic is pretty much dead. I ran through 3 headphones, all of which had the same issues. All of their mics died in a few months.

Current headphones: HyperX Cloud Stinger

Current Motherboard: Gigabyte Z370 HD3P.

Would getting USB headphones prevent them from getting damaged by the current? That's what my friend suggested. My PC is 2 years old by the way and I've had these issues ever since I built the PC. What should I do?

[Inelastic]

Your mobo has a headphone amp. Check the manual to see if there's a way to change the amp settings.

[TetraSky]

Don't buy headsets, just get proper headphones without a built-in mic and get a separate mic on a stand. (Also you have a warranty on them, you don't need to buy a brand new pair, just send them in for RMA)

 

Don't enable your motherboard's amp if it's not required by your headset. A 30ohm to 64ohm headset does NOT need an amp.

[Master Disaster]

You sure you've got them plugged into the headphone port and that Windows has detected them as headphones?

 

Any modern SPU will use impedance to try and work out what you plugged in.

 

Also if you have a Realtek HD Audio codec then open the Realtek Console, click the output device and make sure the amplifier isn't turned to Extreme.

[Hammond]

On 12/7/2020 at 7:35 PM, Master Disaster said:

You sure you've got them plugged into the headphone port and that Windows has detected them as headphones?

 

Any modern SPU will use impedance to try and work out what you plugged in.

 

Also if you have a Realtek HD Audio codec then open the Realtek Console, click the output device and make sure the amplifier isn't turned to Extreme.

Yep I'm 100% sure

 

On 12/7/2020 at 7:32 PM, TetraSky said:

Don't buy headsets, just get proper headphones without a built-in mic and get a separate mic on a stand. (Also you have a warranty on them, you don't need to buy a brand new pair, just send them in for RMA)

 

Don't enable your motherboard's amp if it's not required by your headset. A 30ohm to 64ohm headset does NOT need an amp.

How do I disable my motherboard's amp? Never turned it on or tinkered with my headphone settings.

 

On 12/7/2020 at 7:32 PM, Inelastic said:

Your mobo has a headphone amp. Check the manual to see if there's a way to change the amp settings.

The manual for my motherboard doesn't say if there's a way to change the amp settings.

[Master Disaster]

5 hours ago, Hammond said:

The manual for my motherboard doesn't say if there's a way to change the amp settings.

Start > Realtek Audio Console > Click Output Device > Amplifier

[Hammond]

2 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Start > Realtek Audio Console > Click Output Device > Amplifier

When I click the output device, the only amp related option I have is "Smart Headphone Amp" which does nothing for me.

[Master Disaster]

6 minutes ago, Hammond said:

When I click the output device, the only amp related option I have is "Smart Headphone Amp" which does nothing for me.

Here's what mine looks like.

 

Could you take a screenshot of yours and post it please.

[Hammond]

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

Here's what mine looks like.

 

Could you take a screenshot of yours and post it please.

Here ya go. If I scroll down, there's the useless sound effect stuff down there.

[Hammond]

2 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Here's what mine looks like.

 

Could you take a screenshot of yours and post it please.

Did some searchin' on this, and I believe the feature you're talking about is exclusive to ASUS mobos. 

[Ahoy Hoy]

Bit of a crazy thought her but have you tried just turning the volume down. 
When I plug my Sennheiser HD25 into my laptop I have the windows volume between 2 and 8 because its so loud.

I dont know why your microphones keep dieing

Maybe getting a cheap DAC AMP with a little volume knob would be more your thing. Then you have a separate amp with its own precise volume control knob.
Cant believe im about to recommend it buy I think you would like the sound blaster series

@Tigerleon
Apologise for the meme but the only thing tiger recommends is the sound blaster. Also I saw the opportunity for a Simpsons reference

[Tigerleon]

40 minutes ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

Bit of a crazy thought her but have you tried just turning the volume down. 
When I plug my Sennheiser HD25 into my laptop I have the windows volume between 2 and 8 because its so loud.

I dont know why your microphones keep dieing

Maybe getting a cheap DAC AMP with a little volume knob would be more your thing. Then you have a separate amp with its own precise volume control knob.
Cant believe im about to recommend it buy I think you would like the sound blaster series

@Tigerleon
Apologise for the meme but the only thing tiger recommends is the sound blaster. Also I saw the opportunity for a Simpsons reference

...... I would recommend Sound blas..... Just kidding.  Good meme. Just gonna point this out. I always recommend something I know is good. I would never recommend something that I am not that familiar with. But yeah. Any good and popular USB DAC/amp would work fine and fix the issue of the mic dying or whatever that was. Will also improve sound quality overall and gives you more options for other headphones as well. The sound Blaster G3 is going to work great and fix that issue. It has input for mic and out for headphones. Gives better performance than onboard realtek DACs.

[Hammond]

1 hour ago, Ahoy Hoy said:

Bit of a crazy thought her but have you tried just turning the volume down. 
When I plug my Sennheiser HD25 into my laptop I have the windows volume between 2 and 8 because its so loud.

I dont know why your microphones keep dieing

Maybe getting a cheap DAC AMP with a little volume knob would be more your thing. Then you have a separate amp with its own precise volume control knob.
Cant believe im about to recommend it buy I think you would like the sound blaster series

@Tigerleon
Apologise for the meme but the only thing tiger recommends is the sound blaster. Also I saw the opportunity for a Simpsons reference

Bit of a crazy thought but have you heard of apps literally blowing my ears off unless I set them to really low volume in volume mixer?

Apps like Zoom for example incinerate my ears completely. Besides, my headphone overdriving also killed all of my headsets' mics

[artuc]

Have you tried enabling the smart headphone amp and changing the headphone power ?

 

 

5 hours ago, Hammond said:

Besides, my headphone overdriving also killed all of my headsets' mics

 

Sure that wasn't your dulcet tones ?

 

The mic shouldn't be affected by how hard the output is rattling your brain cage...

[Hammond]

3 hours ago, artuc said:

Have you tried enabling the smart headphone amp and changing the headphone power ?

 

 

 

Sure that wasn't your dulcet tones ?

 

The mic shouldn't be affected by how hard the output is rattling your brain cage...

Yep. I have tried it at the lowest headphone power, and it doesn't fix my mic magically because my mic is already permanently dead. 

[artuc]

3 hours ago, Hammond said:

Yep. I have tried it at the lowest headphone power, and it doesn't fix my mic magically because my mic is already permanently dead.

I meant do those settings have an effect on your volume level issue?

 

 

 

Mics, have they been checked on other equipment to confirm ?

 

Same model for the 3 or different ?

 

Using TRSS connector straight in or with splitter ?

 

Can you rule out cable damage or damage at the connector ?

 

Again, even if your output is excessively loud, that should have no bearing at all on a microphone input (unless there's some sort of fault or other issue with your onboard)

[Hammond]

57 minutes ago, artuc said:

I meant do those settings have an effect on your volume level issue?

 

 

 

Mics, have they been checked on other equipment to confirm ?

 

Same model for the 3 or different ?

 

Using TRSS connector straight in or with splitter ?

 

Can you rule out cable damage or damage at the connector ?

 

Again, even if your output is excessively loud, that should have no bearing at all on a microphone input (unless there's some sort of fault or other issue with your onboard)

1. Those settings seem to change absolutely nothing. Tested audio, it's the same.
2. Haven't checked on other equipment but for my previous pairs of headsets, even on other equipment, their mics were dead.
3. Different models. The first 2 were the same. Some pretty mediocre budget headset.

4. My headset has a 3.5mm jack, and a cable extender. No splitters.
5. No cable damage, seems fine to me.