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HS70 Mic level so low it's unusable


Spudmeister

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Just got the HS70 after reading/watching great reviews of it online. The sound quality of the speakers is fine, the features are fine, but the output level of the mic is so low that the headset is pretty much unusable. I have all the mic levels (win/icue/discord) maxed out, but still I people can barely make out what I'm saying over Discord. Even recordings on the Windows Voice Recorder are really low on volume. No amount of adjusting really solves the problem, neither from the software or the actual mic.

 

Is there anything that can be done, other than try to get my money back?

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  • Corsair Employee
Just got the HS70 after reading/watching great reviews of it online. The sound quality of the speakers is fine, the features are fine, but the output level of the mic is so low that the headset is pretty much unusable. I have all the mic levels (win/icue/discord) maxed out, but still I people can barely make out what I'm saying over Discord. Even recordings on the Windows Voice Recorder are really low on volume. No amount of adjusting really solves the problem, neither from the software or the actual mic.

 

Is there anything that can be done, other than try to get my money back?

 

Do you happen to have any other sound management software installed? i.e: Realtek Audio Manager? If so, try uninstall it and see if it makes a difference. Another thing you can try is to do a firmware flash on the headset via iCUE. (Setting > Select the device > Update)

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Do you happen to have any other sound management software installed? i.e: Realtek Audio Manager? If so, try uninstall it and see if it makes a difference. Another thing you can try is to do a firmware flash on the headset via iCUE. (Setting > Select the device > Update)

 

No additional sound managers installed. Also, firmware flash doesn't change anything. If I record the misc, the sound quality of is pretty ok (for a cheap headset), but it's just really really quiet, so I'm willing to guess there might not be anything physically wrong with the mic, just the gain gets cut to minus one billion decibels...

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I found a solution, from a another thread. It's a program called Equilizer APO, and I used it to set the preamp gain to +17dB, I think it was at -6dB. It has to be something in Windows that set the gain to -6dB, as this is a brand spanking new computer, with no additional sound managers or anything like that.

 

Maybe you can add a line of code to the HS70 drivers that automatically sets the gain to at least a positive setting?

  • Confused 1
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I'm having the same issues with my HS70 headset. The sound is super low and my friends commented from Day 1 since i have had this headset.

 

There are no options under sounds to increase levels or to microphone boost. Windows, Discord and iCUE levels are all at max. We are left to increase the mic boost with 3rd party software which shouldnt be the case. Why is there no microphone boost within the iCUE software or ways to control the dB levels to adjust.

 

THis sucks.

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  • 2 months later...
I'm also having issues with my HS70 mic being so quiet it's worthless. I don't have any third party sound management installed. Running Windows 10. Corsair, I think enough people are having this issue that you should start taking it more seriously. We shouldn't have to download a third party program to fix this...
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  • 2 weeks later...

Having the same issue here also. Not good for Corsair brand. Had their products past 15 years because easy of use and reliability. First time asking for help. My future with them depends now on the support.

 

I updated the firmware first and then the whole headset died. Did the reset (5 seconds dongle with a pin) and now got the headset working but the microphone is still useless. Brand new from the shop.

 

Please fix these issues as soon as possible Corsair. I tried in 4 computers so far. Should not waste valuable time with simple thing like this. Windows 7 and Windows 10 same issue.

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  • 1 month later...
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  • 3 months later...
I found a solution, from a another thread. It's a program called Equilizer APO, and I used it to set the preamp gain to +17dB, I think it was at -6dB.

 

Thank you for posting that, this is the only way I was able to fix this issue. If some open-source project can do it this simply it's a wonder how Corsair can't.

 

:headbang:

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  • 2 months later...

In my latest scoring work for video games I've used Corsair headsets as one of the references for knowing how my music will translate. I've also used them for gaming, of course ;) and some of my fellow gamers colleagues+friends told me the headset was quiet.. so I ventured in fixing it.

 

While EqualizerAPO is a great choice (as it can do a lot more than just raising the mic volume), I found a way to fix this that requires no additional software. Also, in my experience EqualizerAPO disables the Corsair driver so it will not make the "Virtual Surround" or "Re-positioning" features work.

 

 

I thought I would post it as it could be useful to someone. I've used this method with both my HS60 and 70 and it worked. I would imagine it works on the 50 as well and it's worth trying with any headset that is having mic volume issues.

 

 

1. Go to Control Panel > Sound

 

r5WX46B.png

 

2. In the Recording tab, double click on your headset mic, a new pane will open.

 

In that pane you can go to the 'Custom' tab to enable AGC (Automatic Gain Compensation).

 

IA9sv0O.png

 

If you are monitoring your mic input, you'll immediately notice the bump in volume.

 

At this point, the mic slider actually makes sense: I like to keep it close to 75. Bear in mind that lowering the volume from the vertical slider in the iCUE app equals to moving the horizontal volume slider in the 'Levels' tab of the Sound Control Panel Properties.

 

If you click the vertical iCue slider and use Up/Down arrow, you'll go by increments on "1".

 

aJdOLef.png

Edited by albertors
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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I bought a HS70 end of 2019, at first all was ok.... at first only.

Since the first quarter 2020 an issue with the mic volume happened, people can hardly hear me (on discord, teams etc..).

I checked everything, uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers etc... tried to change every parameter ... tried to find solutions on the web ...

 

But nothing is ok !! Nothing.

 

Regarding the price of this device i am very very very disappointed and i would say to everybody to avoid buying such a headset.

 

In the past i had an other headset from another brand which lasted many many years with no problem ....

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