My Headphone's microphone sound muffled and hard to understand

May 27, 2018
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I have a pair of Corsair Voids (A USB headset), the microphone has been good up until this point. It was fine one day and when I woke up the next the microphone sounded terrible.

Fix Attempt 1

I assumed it was maybe a faulty port or something, so I switched and swapped around ports but to no avail. The microphone still sounded terrible or just didn't work at all.

Fix Attempt 2

Next, I tried to update every driver through device manager, and I thought I struck gold when Communications Port 1 "couldn't start on boot", so I disabled it then re-enabled it and it worked fine, but my microphone sounded the same. It was after this that the microphone stopped working all-together

Fix Attempt 3

I reset my computer so that there was nothing on my hard drive except for my OS (Windows 10). The microphone however, started to make sound again! Although it was still the same distorted, muffled sound from before.

Fix Attempt 4

I tried searching for answers as to why this could be happening, but I kept getting the same answers:

"Disable audio effects" - This was never an option for me as for some reason I don't have that option.

And

"Clean out the dust from the microphone itself and the port" - this wouldn't make sense, if a build-up of dust made my microphone start working, why would the quality deteriorate overnight? Also, I HAVE tried using every single USB port on my rear I/O and the two on the front of my case.

Fix Attempt 5

More of a temporary solution, was to use my mobile earphones and use them as a line-in microphone, but these did not record audio at all (I tried both the front and rear ports).
So I resorted to using Discord Mobile, with my ear phones plugged into my phone, in my ears and my headset over my earphones, over my ears. The problem is with this setup is that my earphone's microphone ALSO has stopped working. What an unfortunate coincidence :(

Fix attempt 6

I tried using many different voice-changing software (Voxal, Adobe Audition, etc.) although I could do nothing to improve the quality of my microphone.

Fix Attempt 7

Here I am! Asking the same place I got my previous solution from. What the hell is wrong with my microphone and can I fix it, and how?

I am happy to provide any other information or media that you need to help me figure out my problem, thanks for your time!

Vocaroo sample of my voice.


UPDATE 1:

I tried using my mic on a different computer (my mother's Lenovo laptop), they sounded fine - they sounded like they always do. Vocaroo Sample

Although, they still don't work on my PC.
 
Solution
Not necessarily the motherboard.

Perhaps some corrupted audio driver.

Or some Windows update bug.

Windows 10?

Run the built-in troubleshooters.

Failing that, reinstall the sound/audio card drivers. Download from the manufacturer's website.
May 27, 2018
5
0
10


Yep, they work great on my parent's laptop. So I suppose this means the problem lies within the computer? It would be the motherboard, wouldn't it?

I have a Gigabyte H110M-2SH-CF.
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Not necessarily the motherboard.

Perhaps some corrupted audio driver.

Or some Windows update bug.

Windows 10?

Run the built-in troubleshooters.

Failing that, reinstall the sound/audio card drivers. Download from the manufacturer's website.
 
Solution
May 27, 2018
5
0
10
Thank you so much, Ralston. I appreciate the time you took to help me.
It hurt to not be able to speak to my friends at all these past few days.

By the way, you were right about the corrupt driver. I went through and uninstalled every communications driver and reinstalled them and my microphone is working again.
 
Dec 12, 2018
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Yo, I have the same exact headset as you, it worked perfectly on my trash laptop.. and i recently just finished building my new computer, my audio still sounds the same, but the microphone is actually garbage and i have no idea how to fix it. I have tried everything like you have but im just curious which audio drivers that you uninstalled because i swear i have uninstalled and reinstalled everything with the name "audio" or "sound" about 99999999 times now and no improvement. Thank you!
 
Dec 13, 2018
1
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10
Yo, I have the same exact headset as you, it worked perfectly on my trash laptop.. and i recently just finished building my new computer, my audio still sounds the same, but the microphone is actually garbage and i have no idea how to fix it. I have tried everything like you have but im just curious which audio drivers that you uninstalled because i swear i have uninstalled and reinstalled everything with the name "audio" or "sound" about 99999999 times now and no improvement. Thank you![/quotemsg]

I had the exact same problem you are describing (Actually scary how similar of a situation I was in) so I made an account to tell you the answer. I found this 2 year old forum post and it fixed it for me instantly. Seems like the Void defaults to "Telephone Quality" lmao. Just change it to DVD.

Try this:
Right click sound icon on bottom right, click Recording Devices
Click Headset Microphone and hit Properties
Click Advanced Tab
Under Default Format - if it is on DVD change it to CD then click apply then change it back to DVD. If it is on CD then click DVD and hit apply.
Retry microphone

Unfortunately you need to do this EVERY TIME you restart your computer. It seems like the default format is actually not setting itself correctly. Would be nice if we'd get a patch for this; this is an old as **** problem that I've been experiencing for over a year now.
 
Dec 12, 2018
2
0
10


I had the exact same problem you are describing (Actually scary how similar of a situation I was in) so I made an account to tell you the answer. I found this 2 year old forum post and it fixed it for me instantly. Seems like the Void defaults to "Telephone Quality" lmao. Just change it to DVD.

Try this:
Right click sound icon on bottom right, click Recording Devices
Click Headset Microphone and hit Properties
Click Advanced Tab
Under Default Format - if it is on DVD change it to CD then click apply then change it back to DVD. If it is on CD then click DVD and hit apply.
Retry microphone

Unfortunately you need to do this EVERY TIME you restart your computer. It seems like the default format is actually not setting itself correctly. Would be nice if we'd get a patch for this; this is an old as **** problem that I've been experiencing for over a year now.
[/quotemsg]

Thank you so much man! It worked! I don't have to end my life now!
Don't got the money for another headset. We strugglin out here. Thanks again!