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Looking for a replacement mic for the Astro A40

Tags:
  • Astro
  • Microphone
  • Audio
September 30, 2014 3:39:00 AM

Hi all,

As the title says, I'm after buying or making a replacement microphone for the Astro A40s due to their own brand microphone failing.

This is partially a two part question I have. Since I would not only like a replacement microphone, but also confirm that my system isn't at fault.

To date, my brother and I have amassed 7 dead microphones. We have identical PCs and both Astro systems have been sent back to Astro and tested (passed with flying colours).

Our PCs consists of a Gigabyte z77x-d3h motherboard with a creative fatal1ty titanium pro for the dedicated soundcard and the motherboard having a VIA audio chip for onboard.

From the headset of the Astro, we use the supplied Y splitter to take the microphone feed directly to the PC (because the MixAmps sound gate cuts our voices off mid sentence), with the audio connecting to the MixAmp. The Mixamp then gets its audio from the PC by an optical cable.

The Astro itself is powered by a dedicated powered USB hub to isolate it from the PC, since with the Y splitter and USB connected, we get ground loop buzzing.

Could the above setup damage the microphone in anyway? I pretty sure the soundcard is okay since as a test, I plugged one of the now dead microphones into the onboard soundcard and it had also died within 2 days.

I've also had many other headsets and microphones plugged into the exact same PC for several years, none of those have failed me.

Astro now seem unwilling to send out any more microphone, and at £15 each... I'm unwilling to purchase ones that have keep dieing on me. So I'm having to look into replacement options.

I can't just get any old detachable microphone and a 90 degree connect and plug it in, since Astro have a weird 3.5mm jack on the headset that only accepts their mics. I would rather stay away from another wire running from the headset, so those mics that stick onto any headset I would prefer to stay away from.

So.... I decided to get an new microphone component, taking apart the Astro mic boom I found the mic to be a 6mm x 2.7mm noise cancelling one. So thinking I could just swap it out with a new one, I purchased http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/condenser-microphone-comp... and fitted it.

Plugged it in and.. whooohooo! We have audio, and then we noticed that it has really low volume.

I know nothing about microphones, did I get a rubbish one? I've tried the same microphone in a different headset and it sounds identical, so I know it is not the headset at fault.

My understanding is the lower the sensitivity, the louder it is (-44 is better than -45 etc), but I have a desk microphone (Labtec Verse 514 - http://www.cnet.com/products/labtec-verse-514-microphon... ) that is considerably louder and is rated at -47db... so I'm stumped.


Can anybody spread any light on this? If you made it to the end, congratulations and thanks!

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