Mod Mic 5 very quiet (Software Issue?)

[ChalkChalkson]

Hi guys,

I got myself a nice pair of HD600s to replace my Kraken. Back then I got the little Zalman lav mic that is sort of bad... Recently I upgraded that to a Mod Mic 5 und my Motherboard to an M Power Gaming Titanium. It has quite good onboard audio and it sounds nice when I record a short clip in Audacity, but for my friends to hear me in Discord, Teamspeak, Skype etc I need to amplify it via software +10 dB which obviously sounds terrible. Do you have any ideas how I can fix this?

[Mr.Meerkat]

It may be difficult for you make your microphone any louder without making it have at least extra background noise...

What you can do is maybe move the mic closer to your mouth?

[ChalkChalkson]

As I said, it is pretty nice in Audacity

[Mr.Meerkat]

1 minute ago, ChalkChalkson said:

As I said, it is pretty nice in Audacity

And? Doesn't mean it's loud enough for them...I mean if it's affected by all VOIPs then it's technically your fault. People listens to stuff at different volumes you know...

I mean you could just tell your friends to turn their sound up where it's even easier in TS where they can just "change volume" of each individual user  

[ChalkChalkson]

^^yeah I know, but it kinda sucks having spent 50 bucks on a mic that performes significantly worse than the mic in my 50€ headset

[ChalkChalkson]

I am already thinking about doubling down and getting an audio interface for it... But I do know almost nothing about the mic end of audio

[ChalkChalkson]

Here is a file with the different amp levels

I guess you can see why this is an issue in TS and the like

audiotest.wav

[njmyers3]

Getting a cheap DAC really helps. My modmic 4 had an annoying hiss in the background so my friend gave me a cheap DAC and it's super clear and a bit louder now. I'd suggest buying it for the price. https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Adapter-Windows-AU-MMSA/dp/B00IRVQ0F8/ref=s9_simh_gw_g147_i1_r?_encoding=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=3JR48TY9JYYQQ4EA3RG9&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=a6aaf593-1ba4-4f4e-bdcc-0febe090b8ed&pf_rd_i=desktop

[AAJoe]

Boy I got this question a lot today! This is the second time I've seen it! 

 

I work with ModMic, and don't hesitate to drop me a line directly or hit up our customer service. We really do try to help everyone!

 

The USB stick suggested above (or a similar one) should solve the low volume issue. We're looking into why this is happening for some people... though it probably just comes down to how much phantom power your mic port is putting out (some MBs it just appears to not be enough). Anyway, more on that someday if we determine it is solvable in another way.

I apologize that our mic has not performed perfectly right out of the box, at anyrate. The tiny USB stick should solve this problem entirely. Apparently this is why so many gamer headsets use USB as their primary method

[ChalkChalkson]

5 hours ago, AAJoe said:

I apologize that our mic has not performed perfectly right out of the box, at anyrate. 

Well I am amazed that you actually tracked this thread down!

9 hours ago, njmyers3 said:

my friend gave me a cheap DAC and it's super clear and a bit louder now

5 hours ago, AAJoe said:

The tiny USB stick should solve this problem entirely. Apparently this is why so many gamer headsets use USB as their primary method

It's cheap enough, I am going to try it  Weird, that a gaming oriented MoBo would have a decent DAC/AMP for out and delivers to little phantom power... I guess I am going to test again on other audio interfaces and measure the power to compare.... Do you have any measurement what the impedance of the mic should be, so that I can check the unit itself, too?

 

Thanks for the great answers,

Chalky

 

[AAJoe]

Hey @ChalkChalkson - 

 

Impedance: 2.2 KΩ

 

Or so I am told (I am the marketing guy after all).

 

Here's some more numbers too, which I don't think will impact your testing

Operating Voltage: 1 to 10V

Max current at 2.0V: 500 μA

Max input SPL: 110 dB 

 

Let me know how it goes!

[ChalkChalkson]

^^Will take a week or so, my Multimeter is dead