Setting up my Headphones

Corbin

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 5, 2008
Messages
509
Sorry, but I am very inexperienced with sound devices and I just can't get my Corsair HS1A to work with my sound card. I have a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI Sound Card which I have had for 3 years. I believe my drivers are up to date, and I think the microphone jack goes into the blue port on the soundcard and the headphones go into the green port on the soundcard (that's the only one where the sound would work). My mic would not work though and I am unsure of the settings to make it work/ sound good. I am on a vista pc and it is up to date. Could anyone walk me through the process of setting this up?
 
The jack probably doubles as a digital-out, you may have to go into the driver control panel and toggle that jack over so it says Microphone.

Then go into your audio control panel for Windows, make sure it's set as the default recording device, then go into the volume mixer and set the Microphone-in/Line-in volume to max with the boost enabled.
 
The jack probably doubles as a digital-out, you may have to go into the driver control panel and toggle that jack over so it says Microphone.

Then go into your audio control panel for Windows, make sure it's set as the default recording device, then go into the volume mixer and set the Microphone-in/Line-in volume to max with the boost enabled.

+1 to this. My mic was giving me troubles because it was not set as my default recording device. After tinkering with it and reinstalling my sound drivers, everything was perfect!
 
Thanks for the help you two! The problem still isn't solved but I believe I'm getting closer to it. I can get the mic to work by unmuting the microphone setting in the speaker settings in the windows sound settings, but this mutes the line in setting, and I get major feedback whenever any sound comes through the headset. If I mute the mic and unmute the line-in in the speaker setting, I get great sound but no mic. I also do not see where to "driver control panel and toggle that jack over so it says Microphone" because there isn't much to do in the creative control panel.
 
If you're on XP, the way it should look in the volume mixer, is that FOR PLAYBACK (you toggle this in main menu of the volume mixer applet), both Line-in and Mic-in should be muted. Now, switch it to RECORDING volume, at main menu, and max out and enable the Microphone recording volume (there may also be a checkbox for "boost" enable that if you have a crappy mic, and make sure Line-in is muted or disabled in the recording section.

So:

Playback: Both muted/disabled
Recording: Mic enabled/max volumed; Line-in muted/disabled
 
If you're on XP, the way it should look in the volume mixer, is that FOR PLAYBACK (you toggle this in main menu of the volume mixer applet), both Line-in and Mic-in should be muted. Now, switch it to RECORDING volume, at main menu, and max out and enable the Microphone recording volume (there may also be a checkbox for "boost" enable that if you have a crappy mic, and make sure Line-in is muted or disabled in the recording section.

So:

Playback: Both muted/disabled
Recording: Mic enabled/max volumed; Line-in muted/disabled

I have vista but the interface is very similar. I set it all up and it still didn't work (I could hear everything fine, and even the mic meter would bounce up whenever loud music was playing, but I couldn't actually talk into the mic). So I finally search around for some set up vids and I notice everyone is wearing the mic on the left side of their head, so I checked mine and I have it on the right. So I guess there is a possibility I broke the mic by swiveling it the wrong way? I remember when I opened it yesterday that I didn't use much force at all and it seemed to swivel just fine, but there is a possibility that it may have been broken. I guess I'll check with their support..
 
I have no experience with the actual headset in question, all I can help with is software settings that might be off. It's always possible it's broken, but more often than not it's not set up correctly in drivers/Windows, because the settings are a bit arcane in earlier versions of Windows. Windows 7 has simplified it a bit.

Call up their support and let us know what they say.\

EDIT: I'm assuming you're testing the recording capacity of the mic in Windows Recorder or some kind of VOIP option. You shouldn't be hearing yourself speak into the mic through the speakers, that's called monitoring, and I instructed you to specifically disable that capacity by turning off playback volume of the mic.
 
EDIT: I'm assuming you're testing the recording capacity of the mic in Windows Recorder or some kind of VOIP option. You shouldn't be hearing yourself speak into the mic through the speakers, that's called monitoring, and I instructed you to specifically disable that capacity by turning off playback volume of the mic.

I'm testing to see if I can hear myself in both the steam mic test and the windows mic set-up program. Neither will show any sign of myself talking. I did disable the playback volume and the line in volume of the mic in the playback settings. I find it weird though whenever I'm listening to loud music, the "volume bar" by the microphone pulses as if I'm talking into the microphone, but maybe it always does that? I'm standing by to see what corsair says.
 
I would just load up Windows Sound Recorder and try to record yourself, then play it back. Sounds like you still may have a software issue. But if you've verified that in the driver control panel, the jack is set to Microphone, and you have the recording volume of the mic is maxed/enabled with boost on, it could be a problem that Corsair can help with.
 
I would just load up Windows Sound Recorder and try to record yourself, then play it back. Sounds like you still may have a software issue. But if you've verified that in the driver control panel, the jack is set to Microphone, and you have the recording volume of the mic is maxed/enabled with boost on, it could be a problem that Corsair can help with.

I double checked all the settings, and then went into the recorder and could still not receive any sound. It may still be a software issue, but it could also be something with the mic. Thanks for your help, I'll post back anything significant.
 
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